A Reminder I Am Flawed
I said this after Mikhail Aleshin's accident and I will say it again after the accident that involved Jules Bianchi. I am flawed. Bianchi suffered a severe head injury after spinning into a crane late in the Japanese Grand Prix. The crane was retrieving the car of Adrian Sutil, which had spun into the barrier a lap prior.
Here is a statement from the FIA regarding Jules Bianchi:
The #FIA statement on @Jules_Bianchi #ForzaJules pic.twitter.com/MvadQnJiWu
— F1 Racing (@F1Racing_mag) October 5, 2014
My prayers go out to Jules Bianchi on a speedy recovery.Bianchi is a talented young driver who was on the verge of getting a big break in Formula One. I hope he is back on the grid as soon as possible because, though stuck at Marussia, he is a great asset to the Formula One grid.
I am flawed. After the race had ended and the drivers solemnly partook in the podium ceremony, I realized Alexander Rossi is Marussia's reserve driver and I remembered how close he was to his debut at Spa only to have it snatched from him on Friday of the race weekend after already participating in the first free practice. Unless Bianchi has a miraculous recovery, Marussia will have a new driver at Sochi next week and Alexander Rossi could be making his debut. Nobody wants there debut to come this way. They would want to earn it, not be handed it. However, should Rossi or whomever gets the call (it could be Will Stevens for all I know and I wouldn't be surprised if Vitaly Petrov got the call) they have to take advantage of this opportunity. It's unfortunate it is coming this way but you have to go out and race at the highest of your ability and put on the best showing, not just for themselves but for Bianchi as well.
I pray Bianchi is back on the grid as soon as possible but at the same time I hope Rossi gets his opportunity in Formula One. It's a conflict I wish didn't exist.
Formula One's Driver Carousel
Late Friday night, everything hit the fan in the Formula One paddock. The first bombshell was Red Bull releasing their 2015 driver line-up: Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat. This confirmed the four-time World Champion and Red Bull ace since 2009, Sebastian Vettel would be leaving the team he made famous.
Christian Horner then opened his mouth saying Ferrari must have made, "a very attractive offer" to the German. This turned the conversation to Fernando Alonso, who's only option now appears to be a return to McLaren with the return of Honda in 2015.
Let's start with Vettel. I'm completely stunned he is leaving. He was Red Bull Racing. He was the one who carried the team after years of being a middle of the road team with the likes of David Coulthard, Christian Klein and Robert Doornbos to the top of the mountain. He was changing the game, a driver with no manager, no agenda, racing for the 21st Century race team owned by an energy drink company. The stalwarts of Ferrari and McLaren were struggling to keep up, Mercedes was stumbling since reentering Formula One and once glorious teams such as Williams and Renault were falling by the wayside.
The records were falling left and right. The combination seemed unstoppable and at the end of 2013, they were unstoppable. Nine consecutive victories, a world championship by a country mile and a constructors' championship by a country mile. Vettel was king. His once challenging number two Mark Webber was leaving and in was coming Ricciardo, a kid who toiled around at HRT and Toro Rosso, with a handful of points finishes but nothing spectacular that showed he stood head and shoulders above most the grid.
The rule changes caught Red Bull out. The car struggled with overheating during testing. It was clear Mercedes had the upper hand and the fight to remain on top would be the most challenging of both Vettel's Red Bull career. At Melbourne, Vettel retired while Ricciardo had a second place finish wiped away when he was disqualified for exceeding maximum fuel limits. The following round, Vettel finished third while Ricciardo retired but it was clear Mercedes wasn't going to be beaten easily, if at all in 2014. It was clear Red Bull were not going to retain the constructors' title and Vettel would be dethrone as world drivers' champion.
Red Bull kept taking the fight to Mercedes and finally broke through but it wasn't Vettel leading the way, it was Ricciardo with victories at Montreal, Hungary and Spa. Vettel couldn't even get on the podium and in fact, entering Suzuka had as many podiums as Ricciardo had victories (Of course Vettel got his fourth podium at Suzuka). Vettel knows, for the first time in his career, a teammate will probably beat him in the championship standings. Ricciardo made Vettel human in 2014.
With that said, it hasn't been a catastrophic season for Red Bull and Vettel. They aren't winning every third race and won't be champions but it's been much better than Lotus-Renault who have eight points from fifteen races after having 315 points all of last year, good enough for fourth in the constructors' championship. Red Bull were beat this year but it would be crazy to think Mercedes would keep this much of an advantage in 2015. It looks like Vettel is leaving because of one bad year. The going got rough and instead of holding on, Vettel is abandoning ship.
Who is to say Ferrari is going to be any better than Red Bull in 2015? Maranello has experienced a much rougher season in 2014 than Red Bull. Alonso is performing wonders in that car. He is making an average car look like a contender very easy but we all know that's not the case. What will Vettel do if Ferrari doesn't come out on top and Mercedes and Red Bull remain 1-2 and what if Williams remains third? Vettel doesn't have a manager, he makes deals as he goes along. A one-and-done could be a very real possibility at Ferrari but who would take Vettel if it doesn't work out between him and the Italian manufacture? Who else on the grid beside Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari have the capability of matching the financial numbers Vettel demands? Vettel could be setting himself up to fall out of Formula One before the age of 30 if he is not careful.
As for Vettel's replacement, Daniil Kvyat. While the Russian has scored nine points in 2014 and been able to run comparable laps in qualifying to the senior Red Bull team, is it too soon for the 20-year old? Jean-Éric Vergne paid his dues at Toro Rosso. If anything, he earned that Red Bull seat. He is the second best driver Toro Rosso has ever had behind Vettel. Outside of Vettel victory at Monza in 2008 and his fourth at Shanghai in 2007, the next best finish for a Toro Rosso driver is sixth on three occasions. One being Vitantonio Liuzzi at Shanghai in 2007, the other two belonging to Vergne at Canada last year and Singapore just two weeks ago. And all Vergne gets is his walking papers. He will likely be out of Formula One for good.
Who is Toro Rosso going to promote to team with 17-year old Dutchman Max Verstappen? Carlos Sainz, Jr., who is 20? The 18-year old going on 19-year old Pierre Gasly? Or 21-year old, GP3 championship leader Alex Lynn? Either way, all three options have the same amount of Formula One race experience as Verstappen, zero. Toro Rosso will look like two lost puppies if they hire two drivers with no Formula One experience. Keeping Vergne makes the most sense but it's clear that bridge has been burned.
As for Alonso, I never thought we would see him back at McLaren after what happened in 2007. After the internal riff with Lewis Hamilton and the shenanigans and the Ferrari-McLaren espionage case, I thought Alonso would never be welcomed back in Woking. I thought once Alonso got the Ferrari seat, he would be in red for the remainder of his career. It was a natural fit. He could be the undeniable number one driver at Ferrari. The opportunities seemed endless, especially after all the rumors of Ferrari returning to Le Mans and Alonso waving the Tricolour this year at Le Mans. Do you really think Alonso got the honor of waving the Tricolour because of his Formula One success? If anything, it was a less subtle way of saying, Ferrari is returning to Le Mans than if Luca di Montezemolo had done it or Piero Ferrari.
It seemed Alonso was the man for the job of bringing Ferrari back to Le Mans as one of the best drivers in the last generation of Formula One. Maybe he still is. Maybe all these rumors of an unluckily reunion with McLaren are just that. Maybe he isn't leaving Maranello. Maybe he is leaving Formula One but only to be become Ferrari's lead sports car driver with a return at Le Mans next year with the Garage 56 entry before making a return to LMP1 in 2016.
Or maybe NBCSN's Will Buxton hit the nail on the head at Suzuka:
So here’s one for the mix. Fernando stays at Maranello. So does Kimi. Seb’s Ferrari deal is thus the first confirmation of 3 car teams.
— Will Buxton (@willbuxton) October 4, 2014
What if the three-car teams become the way of Formula One in 2015? What if Alonso isn't leaving, rather Ferrari is pulling another seat up to the table for Vettel? Three-car teams are an interesting proposition as they create more desirable seats but the raising questions over whether they would go to veterans or rookies. We'll touch on that in a moment.
As of now, three-car teams aren't happening so let's just stick to the Alonso-to-McLaren rumor. Does he replace Jenson Button or Kevin Magnussen? Button will be turning 35 this January and the senior statesman on the Formula One grid. The last two years have been agonizing for Button who went to McLaren fresh off his world championship in 2009. While he has piled up eight victories in his five years at McLaren, he hasn't won since the 2012 season finale and has only one podium in his last two seasons. Magnussen finished second on debut at Melbourne earlier this year but hasn't been that close to the front of the field since. He has been scoring points regularly and would have much more if it weren't for questionable penalties at Spa and Monza.
I hate to say it but we are possibly watching the final Grands Prix of Jenson Button's Formula One career. He won't go down as an all-time great but his career was anything but uneventful. He was the most highly covenanted prospect for years and then appeared to be the biggest bust in Formula One history. Fortune in the form of Ross Brawn gave Button a chance to show he was truly world championship material and he joined the Pantheon of British world champions joining the likes of Hawthorn, Clark, the Hills, Surtees, Stewart, Hunt, Mansell and Hamilton. No one can take that away from Button.
The IndyCar Pitch to Jenson Button
With Jenson Button's Formula One career appearing to be coming to an end, maybe he should come to the United States and run IndyCar. Here are five reasons why:
1. IndyCar is an Old Man's Game
Good news for you, Jenson Button. If you comes to IndyCar, you easily could race another six or seven years. Look at all the success drivers who would be considered too damn old in Formula One are having.
Hélio Castroneves is turning 40 next year and he just finished second in both the championship and the Indianapolis 500 in 2013.
Your old Formula One rival Juan Pablo Montoya won and finished fourth in the championship and he had been out of an open-wheel car for nearly eight years before returning to IndyCar this year.
Your old BAR-Honda teammate Takuma Sato is turning 38 and loving IndyCar. He is still inconsistent as hell but he gets a pole position a season and has two or three races that makes you think he is turning into a great driver only to follow it up with nine consecutive finishes outside the top 17. If he can do it, you should have no problem in IndyCar.
Tony Kanaan is turning 40 on New Year's Eve and he won an Indianapolis 500 at 38 and finished 2014 seventh in the championship after winning the season finale at Fontana. Plus, Kanaan is super active doing Ironman competition and we all know how much you love to train. Kanaan would be a perfect mate for running or cycling.
Your old karting buddy, Justin Wilson is 36 and is still doing well. Sébastien Bourdais is 35 and is coming off a race win in 2014. In Formula One, you are considered old news but in IndyCar, you would still be considered a star of the future.
2. You Would Still Get To Travel
Guess what? IndyCar is going to Brazil and might be heading to Dubai so there will be a few familiar stops for you and think about all new places you'd get to experience if you came to IndyCar. You'd get to run at Long Beach and I bet you'd love to add your name to the list of winner that already features the likes of Andretti, Villeneuve, Piquet, Lauda, Unser, Zanardi, Montoya, Hunter-Reay, Franchitti and Bourdais.
Ever been to a state fair? You could go with Robin Miller and the gang to the Indiana State Fair and no one would recognize you. You could have a breaded tenderloin and deep-Fried snickers and Oreos and then burn it all off on a 13.1-mile run the following morning.
Like wine? That's a silly question. Who doesn't like wine? IndyCar heads to Wine Country in Sonoma. I bet you and Jessica would love to spend a week out there.
And you'd get to return to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for not one but two races. One of which is one of the most historic races in the world.
3. Ovals Aren't That Hard
You would love ovals. Would they be different? Hell yeah but who is against a little challenge? If Carlos Huertas can run all 200 laps in his first Indianapolis 500, you can handle ovals. Look at all the drivers from Formula One backgrounds who did well on ovals: Jim Clark, Emerson Fittipaldi, Nigel Mansell, Alex Zanardi. Heck, another one of your old teammates Rubens Barrichello did really well on ovals his one year in IndyCar. There is nothing to be worried about when it comes to ovals. You will get plenty of testing and practice.
4. Any Team Can Win
Unlike in Formula One where if the chassis is crap from race one, it's going to be a long season and you might be lucky to get a podium or two; in IndyCar you have a legitimate shot to win every week. The DW12 chassis being the only choice has something to do with it but the DW12 chassis has put on some great racing. Had a bad week? Put it all behind you and move on to the next one. The Chevrolet and Honda engines have become really reliable and the only time you have to worry about engineers telling you how to drive the car is when they want you to conserve some fuel.
5. Choosing IndyCar Is Choosing All Other Forms of Motorsports
The IndyCar season is ridiculously compacted into six months. It's going to be a nonstop sprint but good news is IndyCar team owners aren't stingy in preventing their drivers for moonlighting in other series during the offseason. Want to run the 24 Hours of Daytona? No problem. How about Sebring? Once the season ends in late-August or early-September, take a few weeks for rest and relaxation and then you can plan to do Petit Le Mans or the Bathurst 1000. Look at all the opportunities IndyCar gives you. What driver wouldn't want to be in IndyCar?
To Be Fair, there are reasons why Button shouldn't come to IndyCar. Here are five of them:
1. Xenophobia
It is almost guaranteed if you came to IndyCar Mr. Button, Twitter, comment sections and forums would be full of comments such as "Formula One reject" and "we don't need foreigners." I am pretty sure you would ignore them and I am pretty sure you don't spend your time reading comment sections but it would be inevitable. I don't care if a driver is American, British, German, Brazilian, French, Australian or Japanese. I want a grid to be filled with drivers who are qualified to be there on their talent. Don't get me wrong, IndyCar needs Americans to survive and a few more on the grid would help the series but I don't think IndyCar should be an exclusive all-American series. There are plenty of talented drivers from around the globe and not all of them can land in Formula One. IndyCar would benefit from their presence.
2. Bring Your Own Funding
Your not landing with Penske or Ganassi. Andretti Autosport would be your best option but even then I am not sure they would take you (although why would a team turn down Jenson Button?). Outside of those three teams, you are going to have to find your own funding. I know that sounds awful and you have never done that before in your career but it's the state of most motorsports series today including IndyCar.
3. Do You Like Racing at Places with Lots of Elbow Room?
Let's just put it this way, more IndyCar events will look like Bahrain in terms of attendance than Silverstone. Other than Indianapolis, Long Beach, Barber, Toronto, Mid-Ohio and maybe Iowa, the stands will have some bare spots. It doesn't look pretty but don't let that get in the way of how great the racing will be on track. Promoters can worry attendance.
4. You're Not Going to be Making €16 million a Year
This kind of ties into bring your own funding. You'd be fortunate if you made $2 million in a season, let alone the $20 million you make yearly in Formula One and most of your earnings in IndyCar will come from your finish in the Indianapolis 500 and if you crack the top ten in the championship. Because of how IndyCar pays their teams one lump sum known as the Leader Circle fund, race-by-race purses are crap. Winning a race outside of the triple crown races pays a $30,000 bonus, less than a percent of your current contract with McLaren. It's not pretty and it's one of the many areas IndyCar has to improve.
5. Race Control
Understanding the rules will be complicated. Contact at Long Beach that doesn't get you penalized may get you a penalty at Mid-Ohio. There isn't that much blocking. Whether or not your team gets called for a pit lane violation really comes down to which team you are on. Hit an air gun and be driving for Penske or Ganassi, you'll be fine. Hit an air gun and be driving for Dale Coyne, you're probably going to be penalized. Good news is, if you fail technical inspection you won't lose a victory or points. Your team might lose $5,000-$20,000 but that's not too bad of a hit.
If 2014 is your final year in Formula One, I hope you consider IndyCar for 2015 Jenson Button. We would love to have you.
Did NASCAR Get it Wrong Changing the Chase Format?
I calculated the points after Kansas had NASCAR stuck to the Chase format prior to this season.
First off, Clint Bowyer and Kyle Larson would have made the Chase under last year's format. Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola and A.J. Allmendinger would not have made it.
After four races, Joey Logano would lead the championship with 2184 points after winning Kansas, his fifth win of the season and second of the Chase. Kyle Larson would second in points with 2164 and finishes of 3rd, 2nd, 6th and 2nd from the first four races.
Here is how the top 12 in the championship would look like:
Joey Logano: 2184
Kyle Larson: -20
Kevin Harvick: -28
Brad Keselowski: -35
Jeff Gordon: -36
Carl Edwards: -54
Ryan Newman: -54
Matt Kenseth: -56
Jimmie Johnson: -59
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: -74
Greg Biffle: -83
Clint Bowyer: -87
The intervals would be bigger but no one would have been eliminated already or be guaranteed to be eliminated after Talladega in two weeks.
In reality, because of a bad race at Kansas, Keselowski, Johnson and Earnhardt, Jr. are all on the outside of the second round cutline despite winning five races, three races and three races respectively. The new Chase format was meant to make winning worth more but with those three drivers sitting 22, 25 and 27 points on the outside and Jeff Gordon who has won four races on the bubble, only eight points to the good, Ryan Newman and Matt Kenseth both have yet to win a race and sit in position to advance to the next round.
Those three all have a shot of winning at Charlotte or Talladega and locking themselves into the next round regardless of their position in the points but this do-or-die feeling is contrived. This isn't what motorsports is about. It is about a season-long journey with the aggregate of all the races deciding the champion, not nearly three-quarters of the season shrinking the championship contenders down to a little more than a dozen, then the aggregate of three races deciding which drivers still alive and which drivers are eliminated in three rounds. It's disappointing NASCAR can't leave the Cup Series championship alone and let it be decided organically like they do the Nationwide Series and Truck Series.
Penne Toro Rosa
I was fortunate to have dinner with my uncle on Saturday night (we went out for pasta hence the title) and as usually we talked motorsports. First we talked about ticket prices for the United States Grand Prix. My uncle, who will be turning fifty in less than a month, brought up that the current generation of current college students and recent college graduates are struggling to find jobs and are deep in debt and aren't going to spend $150 for general admission. He continued saying twenty years from now Formula One will have lost many potential fans because they were priced out and couldn't afford to experience it in their younger days. As someone in that category of current college student/recent college graduate I understand exactly what he is talking about.
We then talked about three-car teams in Formula One. While he was intrigued by the idea, he thought making three-car teams mandatory would not solve the issue of it being too expensive for teams to compete in Formula One. He said other than Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren, which teams could field three cars without being financially stretched too thin? Instead of having Caterham, Marussia and Sauber struggle to stay on the grid, now Lotus, Force India and Williams are struggling to stay on the grid with three-car teams.
The question I have about three car teams is where are the drivers going to come from? Let's say Caterham and Sauber go away after this year. Are Adrian Sutil, Esteban Gutiérrez, Marcus Ericsson and Kamui Kobayashi just going to fill those seats? Are the likes of Nico Hülkenberg, Romain Grosjean and Sergio Pérez going to get promotions or would these third seats go to drivers in junior formulas? Do will see the likes of Giedo van der Garde, Charles Pic, Jérôme d'Ambrosio and Bruno Senna return to Formula One?
Random Thoughts
Why isn't there a 16-hour endurance race? We have 6, 8, 10, 12 and 24 hours races and starting this December a 32-hour race but no one does a race between once and twice around the clock. You could start a race at 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. and have end at 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. Just throwing it at the wall and seeing if it sticks.
The Maxi Endurance 32 Hours is too long. Twenty-four hour races is long enough. Spa and Thunderhill each do 25-hour races but an extra hour isn't that bad. An extra eight is mind-boggling.
Daniel Ricciardo made a set of great passes on the outside of turn six into turn seven, first on Massa then on Bottas. Lewis Hamilton's pass for the lead and ultimately the victory on the outside of Nico Rosberg into turn one.
Champions From the Weekend
Christian Fittipaldi and João Barbosa won the Prototype championship in the first year of the United SportsCar Championship. The pair won three races and scored eight podiums.
Kuno Wittmer won the GTLM championship. Wittmer won two races and scored seven podiums.
Dane Cameron won the GTD championship. Cameron won four races and scored six podiums.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Lewis Hamilton and Joey Logano but did you know...
Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor and Max Angelelli won Petit Le Mans. The Taylor brothers become the first Americans to win Petit Le Mans overall. The #8 Starworks Oreca of Renger van der Zande, Alex Popow, Mirco Schultis and John Martin won in PC. Team Falken Tire won GTLM for the second consecutive year with drivers Wolf Henzler, Bryan Sellers and Marco Holzer. The #48 Paul Miller Racing Audi of Bryce Miller, Christopher Haase and Matthew Bell won in GTD.
Jari-Matti Latvala won the WRC Rallye de France Alsace. He cut the gap to Sébastien Ogier down to 27 points after the Frenchman finished eleventh after lost many minutes on day one due to gearbox issues.
Sylvain Guintoli and Marco Melandri split the World Superbike weekend at Magny-Cours. Jules Cluzel won in Supersport.
Tom Chilton and Robert Huff each picked up their first wins of the 2014 WTCC season at Beijing.
James Rossiter and Kazuki Nakajima won their second consecutive Super GT race in GT500 in Thailand. Kazuki Hoshino and Lucas Ordóñez won in GT300. Rossiter takes a 3-point lead in the GT500 championship. Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka extended their GT300 championship lead to nine points.
Kyle Busch won the Nationwide Series race at Kansas.
Coming Up This Weekend
Don't plan on sleeping this Saturday into Sunday.
NASCAR is at Charlotte Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. ET.
The Bathurst 1000 also begins at 7:30 p.m. ET.
The FIA World Endurance Championship is at Fuji and begins at 10 p.m. ET Saturday night.
MotoGP is also in Japan, running at Motegi with the race starting at 1:00 a.m. ET Sunday morning.
WTCC will be in Shanghai and race one is scheduled for 3:00 a.m. ET.
Formula One will make their inaugural stop to Sochi, Russia at 7:00 a.m. ET.
Asian Le Mans Series is at Shanghai with WTCC and will race Saturday morning at 3:00 a.m. ET.
