We got a few days left in April but with it being a weekend and a handful of series in competition let's look at the headlines that stood out from this month in motorsports.
Once again, this is just for fun. In case you are new, this is my gut reaction to headlines without reading the article. Of course, the gripes I have may be answered in the article.
This month we have nine headlines from five different series and we will start with Formula One.
Mercedes says $150m F1 budget cap "not achievable"
"Not achievable" or "not desirable" because those are two separate things.
With how much money that has been spent in Formula One I find it hard to believe in a snap a team could work under a $150 million. Maybe it wouldn't be that hard for Sauber, Toro Rosso, Haas, Force India and Williams to get under that cap but less so for Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull and maybe even Renault.
I think a budget cap is possible in Formula One but a cap of $150 million can't come after a year of unfiltered spending and has to be something that is slowly work toward. The year 2021 keeps coming up but I doubt anything could be put in place by 2019. I think 2021 could be the first season of a budget cap but it starts out high at say $450 million then for the 2022 season it drops to $400 million and by 2023 the cap is down to $300 million before lowering to $200 million for the 2024 season before finally reaching $150 million for the 2025 season.
That is quite a long window and knowing Formula One if this were to be implemented it would last the 2021 season and the 2022 season before the bigger teams cry foul and get the decision reversed and we would be back to a free for all by 2023.
If the likes of Sauber, Haas, Force India and Williams are tired of spending outrageous amounts of money then leave. That is the only way Formula One will get the message. Go to the FIA World Endurance Championship, go to the European Le Mans Series, go to IndyCar. Send a message. Maybe Formula One would change if it was down to 12 cars on the grid.
Stroll: I don't listen to Villeneuve anymore
Welcome to the club! What took you so long?
Jacques Villeneuve has become that crazy uncle you try to avoid every Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and Fourth of July. He might make a good point every now and then but when you consider his batting average you know most of the time it is garage.
Quick sidebar away from this because to be honest, I have no interest in reading this article and what he had to say about Lance Stroll, where does Jacques Villeneuve stand in motorsports history?
Not many drivers have won the Indianapolis 500 and the World Drivers' Championship.
Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi and Jacques Villeneuve. That's the list. You want to be on that list.
But Villeneuve won the 1997 Luxembourg Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in Germany and he did not win another race in any form of motorsports for over ten years and guess what? We are approaching the ten-year anniversary since he got that elusive victory at the 2008 1000km of Spa driving for Peugeot. His Luxembourg victory was is 31st grand prix start and his 11th victory. He would end his Formula One career going 0-for-132. He made some boneheaded decisions in his career but also I feel his personality had something to do with that.
He tried everything. He tried NASCAR, he tried the Speedcar Series (remember that?), he tried V8 Supercars, World Rallycross and even Formula E. He even returned to the Indianapolis 500! He drove everything and won the biggest prizes and yet his career feels like a disappointment.
Enraged Rossi claims Márquez has "destroyed our sport"
Easy Valentino. Marc Márquez is aggressive and sometimes overtly aggressive and it has cost Rossi some results but to say it has "destroyed our sport" is over the top.
Regulation that would drive out four manufactures would destroy MotoGP. Shedding traditional venues such as Assen, Mugello, Jerez and Phillip Island to name a few would destroy MotoGP. Banning all Spaniards and Italians would destroy MotoGP.
Yes, this comment came in the heat of the moment after Argentina but even in fits of anger let's have some rational behind our words. Just call him dirty or a punk.
Rossi says Austin track condition a "disaster"
The Doctor makes his second appearance!
I like the idea of Circuit of the Americas but the realization of Circuit of the Americas has not lived up to the hype. Yes, the Formula One race is still alive and this is the only stop on the MotoGP calendar and the track has hosted the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA but I think it is clear management is not the best. It is run by business people with no passion for motorsports. The track is still young and that jovial mood we have when a race is taking place at Road America or Laguna Seca or even a Barber takes time to develop but I am not sure it even will develop at Austin under the current regime.
It seems like the little things are what Austin gets wrong. Make sure the track condition is suitable, make sure the curbs are up to standards, maybe make sure there is a deterrent so drivers aren't driving five-car widths on exit of each corner.
The problem is I don't see anyone who would bring that missing spark buying the track anytime soon. It will cost a lot of money and I am not sure anyone is dumb enough to want to deal with Formula One even if Liberty Media owns it.
The good news is I thought the crowd for the MotoGP race this year looked very good.
NASCAR: All-Star Race "perfect opportunity to try something different"
I guess so but sometimes too much experimentation can be a bad thing.
I know the All-Star Race is an exhibition race and who cares what the rules are but if we have learned anything is constant fluidity has not helped this race. On top of it the level of over saturation makes it seem like another event. Changing the aero package isn't going to make people tune in and every year it seems another change is made in the promise of increasing passing and we end up disappointed. Remember when they inverted the field and tried an alternate tire compound? How that go?
The All-Star Race could be fun but there is too much noise for it to succeed. The drivers have too much say, the track has too much say, the series has too much say and fans have been turned off. In all honesty, do we really want to see the drivers in another NASCAR race? We aren't learning anything new by having 20-22 Cup drivers competing against one another in a 70-lap or 80-lap race. I don't know what you could do to make it exciting. If anything, maybe an IROC-esque race would be more interesting but NASCAR botched the spec-air guns so why should we expect them to get a spec-car for one exhibition race right. I watched the Global MX-5 Cup race at Barber on Sunday and I would rather see 20 Cup guys compete in those cars than run against each other in a Cup race but that is never going to happen because it is Mazda, the manufactures wouldn't like it and it would have to be a road course.
This race can only return to being interesting when the series isn't afraid to try something crazier than playing with the aero package and putting restrictor plates on the cars for a 1.5-mile oval.
Bayne still fighting to match expectations
Unfortunately Trevor Bayne lost his full-time ride before this was posted because I had some good news for Trevor Bayne.
We had no expectations for you. We all gave up on you in about 2013. You had a lucky day a day after you turned 20 years old and that is the highlight of your adult life. It only confirms restrictor plate races are a game of roulette.
This is the beginning of the end of Trevor Bayne's career. Soon the #6 Ford will be Matt Kenseth's car full-time and Bayne will vanish and I don't think he is going to try and live off of rides with Go Fas Racing, Front Row Motorsports and what ever the team of Derrike Cope's team is.
ECR "the best we've been as a two-car team," says Carpenter
No, this team isn't. Need I remind Carpenter that in 2015 Josef Newgarden was a championship contender in the final race of the season driving for this team. The year after Newgarden made a championship push and won a few races.
This team is a long way from those days. Spencer Pigot might be promising and he could be a race winner someday but right now he is still finding his footing and cannot get out of the middle of the field. Jordan King has look good but he has also had his fair amount of shunts in practice sessions. King could be a driver who isn't reckless but getting acclimated and is going through growing pains or he is one of those talents that is fast but tears up equipment and for every good race there are a half-dozen disappointing results.
The team might be in a better place in terms of financial standing and this might be the best it has been on the engineering side but all that matters are the results and if this team is going to be having two cars finish outside the top ten every race then all the other improvements are nice footnotes.
Detroit Grand Prix: Protesters bring 'Penske Park' sign to Belle Isle
Um... ok? I am not sure what they are trying to do here.
I thought these people were mad that a race takes over a weekend of Belle Isle Park and actually more time than that when track construction is taken into consideration. I am not sure how bringing a sign calling "Penske Park" gets a message of displeasure across. Is that the best they can do? Find something shady about the deal. Is there a city tax that goes to paying for the race that could be going to fixing infrastructure or schools? Being pissed off because you lose a few weekend for weddings isn't going to cut it. Also, come on white people.
Alejandro Agag: New FE race format will blow minds
I doubt that. Agag has the most underrated ego in motorsports. He comes off as pretentious and actually makes Formula E look bad. You are running an electric racing series, not curing children with cancer. Stop acting like you are some tech big wig. You know what we have learned about all tech big wigs? They are assholes. There is no race format you could come up with that is truly astonishing to race fans and no one is looking for the wheel to be reinvented. Just line the cars up, put out the lights and go and the first one across the finish line wins. It is that simple.
The sad thing is Formula E has a bit of Stockholm syndrome and everybody within believes it is great. How much criticism do you hear from the teams or drivers? Not much. I think some ridiculous could end that. Formula E isn't going anywhere, manufactures keep flocking to it and I enjoy the series. However, if there is one change I would like to see is it stop acting like it has everything figured out and is something that is hip. It is more the rich kid thumbing its nose at everyone with fancy gadgets.
April is done and we know what comes in May. There will certainly be interesting headlines.
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