2017 Open Wheel Racing Chat

[RedRenesis]

Now that was quite the reversal from the bore fest of last years race at Baku.  I'm interested to see if there is anymore additional fallout from the Vettel / Hamilton clash, if you want to build a gap to the safety car, doing it at the outlet of a corner may not have been the best spot.  Congrats to Alonso for finally getting a car to stay in one piece for a race distance.  

[rvrdgsfn]

Results from Azerbaijan:

1. Ricciardo

2. Bottas

3. Stroll

4. Vettel

5. Hamilton

6. Ocon

7. Magnussen

8. Sainz Jr.

9. Alonso

10. Wehrlein

 

Everything form teammate issues to the "brake check" Baku was a complete 180. It was crazy. Although IMO, neither were in the right of what they did. I still can't believe Stroll's driving today, he actually made it to podium, almost second if Bottas didn't catch up but he drove a great race, especially from coming back from last after lap 1. Finally, McLaren has points, but to some this race was the IF race as I found online...

 

Ricciardo won the race
Stroll would have won if Ricciardo made any error
Bottas would have won if he didn't slightly slip Lap 1 Turn 2
Vettel would have won if he didn't have such a temper
Hamilton would have won if his mechanic checked his headpiece
Ocon would have won if he didn't get a puncture
Raikkonen would have won if Bottas didn't hit him
Perez would have won if Ocon didn't hit him
Verstappen would have won if he didn't have a mechanical

 

Next up Austria

 

Results from Road America:

1. Dixon

2. Newgarden

3. Castroneves

4. Pagenaud

5. Power

6. Kimball

7. Jones

8. Rahal

9. Chilton

10. Aleshin

 

Road America is such a great track for IndyCar, good to see Dixon get a victory. All the Penske cars had all 4 finish together, but Dixon was ahead. Pit strategy caught Newgarden but this kid is good, he'll be a champion soon enough. Overall, it was just good racing all around.

 

Next up Iowa

[LAWeaver]

That was the first IndyCar race I've seen from start to finish, mostly because it was on before today Cup Series race in Sonoma.

 

It was a lot of fun. I was kind of hoping Helio would end his skid, but it was some great racing nonetheless. Can't wait to see Iowa. The Texas race was a lot of fun to watch, so I can only imagine how a shorter track like Iowa will play out.

[rvrdgsfn]

Results from Iowa:

1. Castroneves

2. Hilderbrand

3. Hunter-Reay

4. Power

5. Rahal

6. Newgarden

7. Pagenaud

8. Dixon

9. Kanaan

10. Hinchcliffe

 

30th career win for Castroneves & ends a 3 year drought. This is a big win for Helio considering the rumblings about his future in IndyCar, who knows if he may be back or if he & JPM will go to IMSA with Penske's new DPI program? Great racing all over in Iowa, I was even impressed with Gutierrez with how he held up on an oval track today.

 

Next up Toronto

 

Results from Austria:

1. Bottas

2. Vettel

3. Ricciardo

4. Hamilton

5. Raikkonen

6. Grosjean

7. Perez

8. Ocon

9. Massa

10. Stroll

 

Bottas has now put his name in contention with the World's driver's championship after that performance. I imagine Lewis won't be too happy with that, nor would Vettel. Bottas just looked good altogether, controversy struck again when Seb thought that Bottas jumped the gun, however the FIA said otherwise. Kvyat took out Alonso & Verstappen. The torpedo may find himself on the way out if he keeps this up. Great racing in Austria.

 

Next up, a classic, Great Britain

 

News & Notes:

- Recently mentioned but basically the world's kept secret, Penske is expected to join IMSA in DPI with a factory effort backed by Honda & Juan Pablo Montoya & Helio Castroneves are rumored to be the main drivers & could have a trial run as early as Road Atlanta this season.

- Audi & Ford may join in when it comes to DPI in 2020 to step up from GTE/GTLM

- Max Verstappen may replace Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari, especially after the last 5 starts, who could blame him. Kimi has been criticized by Sergio Marchionne although Verstappen's dad says he will be Red Bull next year & Sergio himself said Alonso nor Verstappen would be a replacement (silly season, am I right?)

- Cosworth may come back to F1, with Aston Martin (hopeful along with Audi)

- FIA reveals their new cockpit shield for F1

[bosrs1]

Sounds like IndyCar is going to test a similar shield to the FIA F1 shield.

[rvrdgsfn]

Well, there has been some rather big news so far this week...

 

- The world worst's kept secret was official, Honda & Team Penske will join forces with Acura DPI.

- McLaren may go with a Ferrari engine

- Honda may leave Sauber & possibly F1

- Haas' engine's may be labeled as Alfa Romeo (would make total sense)

- BMW is fully joining Formula E

- Andretti may go back to Chevy engines in IndyCar

 

[rvrdgsfn]

Bumping for results on a busy open wheel day....

 

Results from the British Grand Prix:

1. Hamilton

2. Bottas

3. Raikkonen

4. Verstappen

5. Ricciardo

6. Hulkenberg

7. Vettel

8. Ocon

9. Perez

10. Massa

 

That was a rough final lap for the prancing horse. Once Kimi had an issue, Seb would follow which cost him the podium & well needed points at the Silver Arrows dominated, Lewis secured his 4th straight win at Silverstone. Vettel leads by one point.

 

Next up Hungary

 

Results from Toronto:

1. Newgarden

2. Rossi

3. Hinchcliffe

4. Andretti

5. Pagenaud

6. Hunter-Reay

7. Chliton

8. Castroneves

9. Rahal

10. Dixon

 

I'm glad to see mayor Hinch on podium. The story of the day was Will Power & Scott Dixon tangling up in the first lap. Toronto is such a good race IMO, Newgarden is going to be a force to be reckon with now that he's with Penske. Next thing you know, he'll be a IndyCar champion.

 

Next up: Mid Ohio

 

Results from the Formula E New York Prix:

 

Race 1:

1. Bird

2. Vergne

3. Sarrazin

4. di Grassi

5. Duval

6. Turvey

7. Gasly

8. Prost

9. Frijns

10. Carroll

 

Race 2:

1. Bird

2. Rosenqvist

3. Heidfeld

4. Gasly

5. di Grassi

6. Prost

7. Dillman

8. Vergne

9. Frijns

10. d'Ambrosio

 

Sam Bird with the sweep in a very thrilling e-prix in New York. Race 2 was probably some of the best racing I've seen in Formula E this year.

 

Next up the finale, in Montreal.

 

Some news & notes & rumors:

- Sainz Jr. may got Renault after an alleged falling out with Red Bull possibly as early as Hungary

- Toro Ross may switch to Honda engines

- Porsche will decide by the end of the month whether to keep their LeMans program.

-  Mercedes won't be going anywhere after signing a contract extension with Petronas

[bosrs1]

On 7/12/2017 at 7:03 PM, rvrdgsfn said:

Well, there has been some rather big news so far this week...

 

- The world worst's kept secret was official, Honda & Team Penske will join forces with Acura DPI.

- McLaren may go with a Ferrari engine

- Honda may leave Sauber & possibly F1

- Haas' engine's may be labeled as Alfa Romeo (would make total sense)

- BMW is fully joining Formula E

- Andretti may go back to Chevy engines in IndyCar

 

 

Wait, so Penske is going to be running as "Acura" during the coming season?

 

 

[rvrdgsfn]

1 hour ago, bosrs1 said:

 

Wait, so Penske is going to be running as "Acura" during the coming season?

 

 

Whoops, my mistake, he's running Acura in IMSA, he's still using Chevy in IndyCar. Although the rumored drivers are Castroneves & JPM

Speaking of IndyCar....

 

Last but not least, somewhat breaking news, Mercedes is leaving DTM after 2018 & will enter Formula E

http://www.racer.com/international/item/142547-mercedes-to-quit-dtm-enter-formula-e

 

 

 

[bosrs1]

Better looking Indycar than the current one, and WAY better than the DW12's predecessor, the old Crapwagon. Almost looks like the love child between the Chevy DW12 and the old DP01 Champ Car.

[raysox]

One thing I don't get is they're saying its safer but they don't have the rear tire protectors. I feel like those are pretty important on ovals as we've seen with Dan Wheldon.

[bosrs1]

2 hours ago, raysox said:

One thing I don't get is they're saying its safer but they don't have the rear tire protectors. I feel like those are pretty important on ovals as we've seen with Dan Wheldon.

 

Turns out the rear tire protectors caused more problems while not really solving the issue that killed Wheldon. They were a good idea in theory that never panned out.

[crashcarson15]

19 hours ago, bosrs1 said:

 

Turns out the rear tire protectors caused more problems while not really solving the issue that killed Wheldon. They were a good idea in theory that never panned out.

I think it probably helped a little with some crashes, but the Dixon wreck at the 500 showed it wasn't anywhere near a great fix.

 

 

EDIT: Looking around this photo is pretty incredible. All the photogs are shooting at Castroneves, not Dixon, and there's that woman walking up to her seat, completely unaware of what's happening behind her.

[jc...]

I said to my girlfriend sitting next to me, look, there is one slowing. I was surprised he banged the wall right in front of us. I don't know if he panicked trying to keep the car away from the traffic. Then it broke the control arms and Dixon hit him and Oh. My. God. There were people (women) crying because they thought Dixon was dead. I, myself, was shaking pretty bad.

[bosrs1]

2 hours ago, jc... said:

I said to my girlfriend sitting next to me, look, there is one slowing. I was surprised he banged the wall right in front of us. I don't know if he panicked trying to keep the car away from the traffic. Then it broke the control arms and Dixon hit him and Oh. My. God. There were people (women) crying because they thought Dixon was dead. I, myself, was shaking pretty bad.

 

Testament to how much safer the DW12 is than the previous Crapwagon... and how lucky Dixon is.

[mfatty500]

I know it's a little late but here are some more from Dixion's crash @ Indy

[mfatty500]

A couple of shot from Mid-Ohio test prep this coming week, them radiators are sure close to front the inlets.

[rvrdgsfn]

Results from Hungary

1. Vettel

2. Raikkonen

3. Bottas

4. Hamilton

5. Verstappen

6. Alonso

7. Sainz Jr.

8. Perez

9. Ocon

10. Vandoorne

 

Despite having steering issues, Vettel hangs on to win & give a boost to him standings for the championship. Ferrari just looked good all weekend. I was shocked that Hamilton allowed Bottas to pass him in the last lap to get podium. Trouble will probably be brewing within Red Bull since Verstappen caused Ricciardo a DNF. It also caused Verstappen a 10 second penalty. There was also no love loss between Hulkenberg & Magnussen. Last but not least, it seems that McLaren not only got double points, Alonso had the fastest car in the final lap. Maybe this is a sign of things turning around for McLaren & Honda? We shall see during the summer break

 

Next up, Belgium:

 

Results in Mid Ohio

1. Newgarden

2. Power

3. Rahal

4. Pagenaud

5. Sato

6. Rossi

7. Castroneves

8. Hunter-Reay

9. Dixon

10. Daly

 

We have anew points leader, Josef Newgarden took over the points lead. Rahal was giving Will Power a run for his money but just couldn't catch him. Newgarden just drove like there was no tomorrow. First time an American has lead the championship standings since Ryan Hunter-Reay.

 

Next up, Pocono

 

Results from Montreal from the Formula E finale:

 

Race 1:

1. di Grassi

2. Vergne

3. Sarrazin

4. Abt

5. Bird

6. Prost

7. Evans

8. Frijns

9. Rosenqvist

10. Dillmann

 

Race 2:

1. Vergne

2. Rosenqvist

3. Lopez

4. Bird

5. Heidfeld

6. Abt

7. di Grassi

8. Sarrazin

9. d'Ambrosio

10. Dillmann

 

Oh how a lead in the championship completely went up in smoke. Buemi was DQ'd from race one & with di Grassi winning, that basically the end of his chances at a championship. Congrats to Lucas di Grassi on a well earned championship. I truly think that Formula E is going to provide some excellent & with more manufactures coming in the next couple of seasons, I think it's the safe to say that the future is looking good.

 

News & notes:

-Porsche is pulling out of LMP1 to focus on Formula E

- Audi Sport Team Sainteloc won a competitive & awesome 24 hours of Spa

- Sauber will not be using Honda engines & go back to Ferrari

- Alonso may consider going full time in IndyCar

[Michael Bolton]

It's absolutely incredible Dixon's ENTIRE car practically disintegrated, except for the entirety of the driver's compartment, which seems to be basically 100% untouched. Major kudos to the safety innovations in inydcar. Wow, those after pictures.

[rvrdgsfn]

Acura has sent a teaser for their ARX-05 DPI

 

 

 

LMP1 much? Then again, ORECA made the chasis for this machine.