It was A Hard Day's Night as there was nonstop action from 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday night until 4:00 a.m. ET Sunday morning with Formula One capping off the morning. It was really weird realizing all the racing for the weekend was done Sunday at 9:00 a.m. ET. With that said, it left a lot of time to catch up on some much needed sleep. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.
We All Pay Respect Differently
Just one week after Jules Bianchi's accident, Marussia was back on the grid for their home grand prix in Sochi. It had to be a difficult week for the team. From the accident to scurrying to pack everything in Japan as a Typhoon breathed down their necks then land in Russia midweek to prepare for another race with no time to stop and digest what had happened. The teams were already physically beat after two weeks on the road and having to cross many times zones but Bianchi's accident had to have done it's toll mentally.
We all pay respect differently. While Bianchi clings for life in a hospital in Japan, the team choose to go on. The team built and had Bianchi's car go through scrutineering but left the car sitting in the garage this weekend as Max Chilton was the only Marussia driver to take to the track this weekend. They didn't have to show up at all thought.
History shows they didn't have to. After Wolfgang von Trips perished in the 1961 Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari choose not to run the season finale at Watkins Glen. Nine years later at Monza Jochen Rindt would lose his life in qualifying and Colin Chapman withdrew the remaining three Lotus entries of Graham Hill, Emerson Fittipaldi and John Miles. François Cevert lost his life three years later at Watkins Glen and the Tyrrell drivers Jackie Stewart and Chris Amon did not partake in the 1973 season finale and it was the final time Stewart appeared in a Formula One car. Ferrari withdrew Didier Pironi after Gilles Villeneuve's accident at Zolder at 1982.
While Bianchi is still alive, the precedence was there for Marussia to take the week off if they wanted to and no one could blame them if they did. The act of running Chilton only while Bianchi's #17 sat idle in the garage was a phenomenal gesture of respect.
Eventually they are going to have to field that second car. Deep down I wish Alexander Rossi got his shot to make his debut at Sochi but Marussia made the right decision. Everything was happening so fast and instead of rushing someone into the car, it was better to let it sit. With that said, you can't have the car sit on the sidelines for the remaining three races. There are still points on the line in the Constructors' Championship and Marussia possibly could jump Lotus-Renault for ninth or be jumped by Sauber-Ferrari of Caterham-Renault for tenth. You can still pay your respect to Bianchi while fielding two cars.
With the United States Grand Prix next on the schedule it would only be fitting for Rossi to make his debut. You are going to have to run the second car eventually. Why wait to run it? You paid respect to Bianchi at Sochi and you can continue to pay your respects to him in the final three races. It's an unfortunate circumstance but motorsports produces these kinds of situations. One misfortunate accident opens the door of opportunity for another. It's the cruel nature of motorsports and It's never going to change. All we can do is keep Bianchi in our hearts and prayers and hope he can make a full recovery and someday be back on the grid.
Bathurst 1000
If you didn't stay up until about 3:30 a.m. ET for the end of the Bathurst 1000, I can't blame you. A red flag for deteriorating pavement in turn two and more safety car periods than anyone would have liked made it the longest Bathurst 1000 but provided one of the most compelling finishes.
Championship leader and four-time Bathurst 1000 Jamie Whincup had already overcome a poor starting position as he worked his way from 23nd to 5th in thirteen laps but an accident with Todd Kelly and a penalty for unsafe track reentry put him and co-driver Paul Dumbrell a lap down. A slew of late safety cars got the #1 Holden back on the lead lap and in position for the victory after leaders had to pit for fuel. On his heels was Chaz Mostert, the 22-year old in only his second Great Race. Mostert had already overcome his own obstacles after starting dead last due to his qualifying time being disallowed for disobeying a red flag and his co-driver Paul Morris put the car in the tires under a safety car conditions earlier in the race.
Whincup had to save fuel but was running qualifying-caliaber laps coming down the stretch. He finally started saving fuel on the final lap, allowing Mostert to close to his rear bumper at the top of the mountain. Mostert made his move at Forest's Elbow and cruised to victory. Mostert had all two career victories entering Bathurst and his co-driver Morris only victories came at Calder Park in 2001. Morris' Bathurst triumph comes 17 years after initially being declared 1997 Bathurst 1000 winner with co-driver Craig Baird but later disqualified after Baird had exceeded the limit of three hours of continuous driving. Geoff and David Brabham would go on to claim the 1997 victory.
Whincup would run out of fuel and fall to fifth in the final results. Nissan's James Moffat and Taz Douglas would finish second, the first podium for the Japanese manufacture since finishing second in 1998 with Steven Richards and Matt Neal as there drivers. Holden's Nick Percat and Oliver Gavin rounded out the podium while Will and Alex Davison made it four different manufactures in the top four beating the coasting Whincup to the line in the #9 Erebus Motorsport Mercedes.
It was a thrilling finish that saw the most unlikeliest winners. It saw heartbreak for Shane van Gisbergen and Jonathon Webb after the start motor failed on the van Gisbergen on the final pit stop for a splash of fuel while the Kiwi was the leader. David Reynolds had his alternator fail on him while he was second behind Craig Lowndes under safety car.
The race might have occurred a half way around the world and live timing might have quit working after 30 laps and never cameback but it was an breathtaking race that I would gladly trade valuable hours of sleep to follow again.
Stop Trying To Fool Us IndyCar
Apparently IndyCar thinks an All-Star Race is the solution to all the problems. As the 2015 schedule is getting it's final touches, IndyCar continues to look for ways to increase attendance, ratings and looks to make more money. I understand that. It's a business. But was anyone asking for an All-Star Race? First off, IndyCar doesn't have any stars, not on a national level at least. The series has plenty of talented drivers but none of them are stars.
IndyCar floating out this All-Star Race idea is giving the impression they are getting things done. Stop trying to fool us and get to the problems at hand. All the oval races other than Indianapolis need a significant boost in attendance. A third engine manufacture would relieve Chevrolet and Honda of some of their duties as engine manufactures and hopefully create another partner to promote the series and add to the already competitive on-track action. Along with another engine manufacture, aero kit manufactures independent of the engine manufactures would add more diversity to the field.
Having an All-Star Race isn't the deal breaker for expanding IndyCar's fan base. IndyCar needs to focus on promoting the series and increasing awareness of the series. And if IndyCar has a sponsor willing to put up the type of dough to make an All-Star Race worth a damn, instead of putting all the chips on having one big event, spread them around to improve anyone of the numerous of races on life support.
Champions From the Weekend
Marc Márquez clinch his second consecutive world championship with three races in hand with a second place finish to Jorge Lorenzo at Motegi.
Mercedes-Benz AMG Petronas clinched the 2014 Constructors' Championship as Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg went 1-2 at Sochi.
After his Sochi feature race victory, Jolyon Palmer clinched the 2014 GP2 Series championship.
American Greg Hancock won his third Speedway World Championship on Saturday from Toruń, Poland. He broke his own record of oldest champion at 44 years and 130 days. Krzystof Kasprazak won the race and finished second in the championship.
Random Thoughts
James Hinchcliffe should run #99 in 2015. Sam Schmidt drove #99, the #99 is synonymous with Canada, from Wayne Gretzky to Greg Moore. I couldn't think of anything that would look better than Hinchcliffe in the #99 next year. I know CART retired the #99 after Moore's fatal accident but Idon't believe in retiring numbers. I think it would be a great privilege for someone to drive the car number of a legend. Think about what type of motivation that would be for a driver to succeed.
With Fernando Alonso's 2015 season still up in the air, deep down I hope IndyCar puts the farm on signing him even if it is just for one season. The same five reasons why Jenson Button should and should not come to IndyCar apply for Alonso. It would be nice to see but it would never happen in a million years.
It is such a disappointment that the Daytona 200 has been cancelled for 2015. I don't want to pin AMA's downfall on the take over by Daytona Motorsports Group but it hasn't been a pretty seven seasons under DMG control. I hope the new promoters MotoAmerica/KRAVE can turn American motorcycle racing around but it will have to do so without there staple event.
Why not run Nationwide races on Saturdays when Cup runs Saturday night? It would increase the value of the ticket for the fans and give them a nice full day at the track.
If you could have any two non-V8 Supercars drivers for Bathurst, who would they be? I was thinking Mark Webber and Bernd Schneider.
What about a 1000km oval race? It would be only 621 miles. Come to think of it, all you would need is the Coca-Cola 600 to have a few green-white-checkered finishes and you would be there. Could you imagine a 1000km IndyCar race at say Michigan or Fontana?
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Chaz Mostert and Paul Morris, Lewis Hamilton, Jorge Lorenzo, Jolyon Palmer and Krzystof Kasprzak but did you know...
The #8 Toyota of Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi won their third race of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship season and extended their championship lead over the #2 Audi of André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler to 29 points. The #26 G-Drive Ligier-Nissian of Olivier Pla, Julien Canal and Romain Rusinov won in LMP2 and closed the gap to Sergey Zlobin down to 16 points.
In GT, AF Corse Ferrari drivers Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander won their third race of 2014 and lead Frédéric Makowiecki by 49.5 points. David Heinemeier Hansson, Kristian Poulsen and Nicki Thiim won their third race of 2014 as well in GTE-Am. Heinemeier Hansson and Poulsen lead the GTE-Am championship by 39 points over their Aston Martin teammates Christoffer Nygaard, Paul Dalla Lana and Pedro Lamy.
Kevin Harvick won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race from Charlotte and is locked into the next round of the Chase.
Thomas Lüthi won in Moto2 at Motegi. Álex Márquez won in Moto3 and extended his championship lead as he hopes to follow in his brother Marc's footsteps.
Marco Sørensen won the GP2 sprint race from Sochi. Dean Stoneman and Patric Niederhauser split the GP3 weekend.
José María López and Mehdi Bennani split the WTCC weekend from Shanghai.
David Cheng and Ho-Pin Tung won the ALMS race from Shanghai in the #1 OAK Racing Morgan-Judd. The #33 Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Matt Griffin, Keita Sawa and Mok Weng Sun won in GT. Kevin Tse, Samson Chan and Naoki Yokomizo won in CN driving the #77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Ligier JS53-Honda.
Brad Keselowski won the Nationwide race at Charlotte.
Coming Up This Weekend
NASCAR returns to Talladega.
MotoGP heads to Phillip Island.
DTM season finale from Hockenheim.
ELMS ends their season at Estoril.
Blancpain Sprint Series heads to Zolder for their penultimate round.
Covering All Motorsports. From Indianapolis to Le Mans, Daytona to Monaco.
