We are entering the final quarter of 2019 and a lot is happening. It is the beginning of the end. There is more darkness than light in the North and more light than dark in the South. This time of year always comes around and yet you never feel ready for it.
Many seasons are coming to a close. For most the writing is on the wall. Most know whether 2019 has been a success or a failure at this point. All they can do now is get the most of it.
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.
We start with Formula One because Formula One just ends up making the most news...
Maldonado "expected" to join Ferrari after 2013 talk
I have heard some crazy things in my life but Pastor Maldonado finds a way to say something to top the list.
Expected.
Not thought.
Not hoped.
Not aspired.
Expected... to drive for Ferrari of all teams!
Maldonado has to rank 108th out of the 108 drivers that won a grand prix.
One victory from his only pole position that came after Lewis Hamilton was disqualified because he ran out of fuel on his cool down lap. One other finish of fifth, three finishes of seventh, four finishes of eighth, two finishes of ninth and three finishes of tenth.
About a third of the points scored in Maldonado's career came in that one victory at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix.
What a character.
Verstappen: Contrarian Rosberg "the new Jacques Villeneuve"
Boom! Nailed it!
We are going to have to listen to Nico Rosberg blow gas out his mouth for the next 35 years the only difference between Rosberg and Villeneuve is Rosberg won the world championship and bolted from all forms of motorsports, not even lowering himself to run as a guest driver in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, while Villeneuve somehow did not win another race in his career for 11 years!
We grew tired of Villeneuve because it was all a flash in the pan and a mesmerizing four years were forgotten because of a decade of failure. We are sick of Rosberg because he is going to thumb his one world championship at us because it is the last thing he ever did.
What a punk.
Steiner admits Haas struggles are 'killing' him
Then he is not going to last long because things are not getting better any time soon and the team kept Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen for 2020.
Every month we have something on Haas and the team is ninth in the World Constructors' Championship. Gene Haas doesn't want the team anymore.
Can we stop the bullshit that there has to be an American team or American manufacture on the grid?
Can we also realize that Gene Haas is just a rich guy burning money and has no clue how to run a race team?
Remember where his NASCAR team was prior to 2009? All that team's success came after Tony Stewart bought in and Haas was in jail for tax evasion.
There isn't a Tony Stewart out there for Gene Haas. Mark Webber isn't walking through that door. Hopefully Nico Rosberg doesn't walk through that door.
This great American experiment is to going to end well.
The seven race-streak that proves Leclerc's usurped Vettel
I thought winning the Belgian Grand Prix and Italian Grand Prix in consecutive weeks were enough. I didn't need seven races to prove Charles Leclerc usurped Vettel.
The only question is how long will Vettel last? He could not stand being a number two at Red Bull for one season. Ferrari is different. The only way up from Ferrari is Mercedes and Mercedes is not hiring when it is already winning races and championships in comfortable fashion.
The real question is what happens 2020 because I cannot see the Leclerc-Vettel pairing lasting to 2021.
From Ferrari to a former Ferrari driver...
Barrichello has Bathurst 1000 on his bucket list
I am tired of bucket lists. Either do it or don't. I am tired of drivers saying he or she would love to do "race X" and then come up with 10,000 reasons why it will not happen.
Shut up and do it.
Now, Rubens Barrichello didn't do that and I should be fair to him.
The problem is it is a different era and it is not only different in that driver movement is more limited but it is different in that a driver cannot just show up and land in a ride.
The Bathurst 1000 is not some open event with 72 entries from around the world. It is a closed event where maybe 28 cars start the race. You have to be in the know. You cannot buy a car and show up. It is one of three options between Ford, Holden and Nissan and these are not something you can buy off the showroom floor and ship to Australia.
Every race is like that now. You cannot show up to Indianapolis with a car you built in your garage all winter. You cannot show up to Le Mans with some spectacular marvel. You cannot run a Buick, Honda, Subaru, Renault or Volvo at Daytona.
These are different times and there is not an easy way to make it easier. The Supercars teams are not going to allow outsiders to come in with some kind of advantage.
Each series is tribal now. Outsiders cannot come in with their own contraptions. If you want to compete you have to run what is allowed. That is how it is now, whether we like it or not.
Staying in Australia...
S5000 wants to lure star drivers for Australian GP
I like the idea. I liked the Formula Thunder 5000 proposal, the origins of this series, when it first came out what seems like five years ago.
I like the idea of an open-wheel car with a massive power-to-weight ratio. I kind of lost interest because it was such a long time to develop and then Supercars had its own Formula 5000 series is decided to develop simultaneously and it got messy. Now that it is on track I am intrigued but this series has to develop an identity.
For the inaugural event at Sandown the series brought out Rubens Barrichello but the grid was mostly domestic Australian racers and there is nothing wrong with that. That should be expected actually but can this championship have an international appeal if it is ten to 12 Australians with two to six international wild cards in each race? Can the series develop a following if the names bringing eyeballs are only around for one event and if it is a different set of attention seeking names each time?
I like the idea of this being an all-star series of sorts, or at least that being the case for this Australian Grand Prix round. I would love Will Power, Scott Dixon, Brendon Hartley, Fernando Alonso, Alexander Rossi, Sébastien Buemi, Naoki Yamamoto and Jean-Éric Vergne all being able to compete against one another and S5000 being the series where that is possible but can these one-off all-star gatherings be enough for the series at large?
Around the globe we are seeing series struggle to attract sizable grid and S5000 cannot become just another 12-15 car single-seater series. If anything, my hope is S5000 can be come the affordable series that creates teams, keeps career going and can become known for 28-34 car grids. That is asking a lot but I think that is what we need heading into 2020.
From one single-seater series to another...
NTT IndyCar Series' 2019 rookie class was one for the ages
I had to look this up because we had Felix Rosenqvist and Colton Herta finish sixth and seventh in the championship, both as rookies. There was also Santino Ferrucci in 13th in the championship and Marcus Ericsson had a runner-up finish as a rookie.
We live in a time of hyper-recency bias where everything that happened five minutes ago is the greatest thing ever all the time but that cannot be the case. We have to look back and have a rational view of where the class of 2019 stands amongst other rookie classes.
So let's look back at other times rookies finished in the top ten of the championship in the last 40 years:
2014 - Carlos Muñoz (8th)
2012 - Simon Pagenaud (5th... although he had a full season in Champ Car in 2007)
2008 - Hideki Mutoh (10th)
2007 Champ Car - Robert Doornbos (3rd), Graham Rahal (5th), Pagenaud (8th), Neel Jani (9th)
2006 Champ Car - Will Power (6th)
2006 IRL - Marco Andretti (7th)
2005 Champ Car - Timo Glock (8th), Andrew Ranger (10th)
2004 Champ Car - A.J. Allmendinger (6th)
2003 CART - Sébastien Bourdais (4th), Darren Manning (9th)
2001 CART - Scott Dixon (8th)
2001 IRL - Felipe Giaffone (6th)
2000 CART - Kenny Bräck (4th... although he had run in the IRL from 1997-99)
1999 CART - Juan Pablo Montoya (1st)
1998 CART - Tony Kanaan (9th)
1996 CART - Alex Zanardi (3rd), Greg Moore (9th)
1994 - Jacques Villeneuve (6th)
1993 - Nigel Mansell (1st)
1990 - Eddie Cheever (9th)
1983 - Teo Fabi (2nd), Al Unser, Jr. (7th), John Paul, Jr. (8th)
1982 - Bobby Rahal (2nd)
1981 - Bob Lazier (9th)
If we narrow it down to the years when multiple rookies finished in the top ten in the championship that leaves 1983, 1996 CART, 2003 CART, 2005 Champ Car and 2007 Champ Car.
I am going to throw out 2003, 2005 and 2007. One, those were during the split and those were not the greatest grids. Champ Car couldn't even get to 20 entries. No offense to the 2007 season because Doornbos won twice as a rookie, Rahal had four podium finishes, Jani had three podium finishes and Tristan Gommendy won a pole position as a rookie. That rookie class did well but seven drivers were rookies in a field that had 17 cars at each race.
In 2005, neither Glock nor Ranger won but both had a runner-up finish.
In 2003, Bourdais won three races and had seven podium finishes. Manning had one podium finish, which was a runner-up finish to another rookie, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Hunter-Reay had one other podium finish that season. The problem with the 2003 CART season is 27 drivers participated in a race that year and of those 27 drivers, 14 were rookies.
The other three to quickly look at are 1982, 1993 and 1999. Rahal was vice-champion in 1982 and he won twice and had six podium finish but the best rookie was Héctor Rebaque in 15th, who won a race at Road America, his final IndyCar start actually. Granted, Danny Sullivan made two starts that year and finished third on debut.
In 1993, Mansell was champion and the next rookie was Andrea Montermini in 18th. In 1999, Montoya was champion but the next best rookie was Cristiano do Matta in 18th, who had two top five finishes.
I think since the introduction of CART, the two rookie classes that rival 2019 are 1983 and 1996.
The class of 1983 makes a very good case for itself. Fab won the most races that season and his five victories put him second in the championship. Fabi also had six pole positions. Unser, Jr. had a pair of runner-up finishes. Paul, Jr. won at Michigan and had three more podium finishes and Paul, Jr. won pole position at Caesars Palace.
Zanardi and Moore lead the class of 1996 and Zanardi had three victories and six podium finishes. Moore had three podium finishes. The problem is the next best rookie was Mark Blundell in 16th and he did well, two top five finishes and he missed three races after an injury in Rio de Janeiro. The next best rookie after Blundell is Eddie Lawson, who had finishes of sixth at Michigan and Belle Isle before his season ended early after only 11 races, leaving him 20th in the championship.
In the last 40 years, I think the top two are 1983 and 2019. What 1983 and all previous seasons have is the benefit of knowing what the careers of these drivers became. The class of 1983 looks good because we know what Al Unser, Jr. did. The same is true of the class of 1996.
We don't know what is next for Rosenqvist, Herta, Ferrucci and Ericsson and let's not forget Patricio O'Ward.
But just going off what happened in 2019 and seeing Herta succeeding in a one-car team that struggled for funding and Rosenqvist run on the heels of his teammate Scott Dixon and prove all the expectations after his Formula Three and Formula E success was not misplaced and the bright spots Ferrucci and Ericsson showed this class was exceptional.
Josef Newgarden to turn laps at Charlotte Roval in his Penske IndyCar
Oof... this doesn't feel ideal.
This doesn't mean IndyCar will be racing on Charlotte's road course. Remember, IndyCar once tested at Daytona, but this is a different time. We have been talking about a NASCAR-IndyCar doubleheader for close to a year now. For 69 years this was never a serious possibility. In 2019, heading into 2020, it feels inevitable.
The problem is the Charlotte road course the prime location for it?
I feel we are living in a bit of recency bias and the newest addition to the NASCAR schedule is the answer.
The Charlotte roval is the shiny new toy and it might not be the best solution.
I think for IndyCar the Charlotte roval would be rough mostly because the infield section is tight and low speed. It would be a processional road course section. It is barely good enough for NASCAR.
I think if IndyCar and NASCAR want to run together and run on a road course then go to an actual road course. Do what I have been suggesting: Just add IndyCar to the NASCAR Watkins Glen weekend.
We want IndyCar at Watkins Glen. We want IndyCar at the fastest road courses, the tracks where drivers are always on the limit and where the margin of error is miniscule. That is Watkins Glen, not the Charlotte roval.
Daniel Hemric wants his next NASCAR move to be big
Daniel Hemric did not win a race in two full seasons in the Truck series. He did not win a race in two full seasons in the Grand National Series. Despite all this he made it to the Cup Series and he is probably not going to win a race in his rookie season at the Cup level.
Hemric may be a talented driver but what move can he realistically expect? Not to forget mentioning that all the big seats are taken. Rick Hendrick is not going to be knocking on his door. Neither are Joe Gibbs or Tony Stewart. Hemric was already toward the bottom with Richard Childress Racing but with his record he is not going up.
I think there is a flaw in the system that Hemric made it to the Cup Series that is not entirely his fault but it has also created an environment where the likes of Hemric somehow think they deserve more.
Which leads us to...
'If I'm in winning stuff, I'm going to win races' - Hemric
You have raced for Brad Keselowski Racing and Richard Childress Racing. Your teammate Tyler Reddick won when you were driving for Keselowski and Reddick has stepped into the seat Hemric vacated in the second division and has won five times.
You were in winning equipment, Daniel.
Moving on...
Wolff "didn't believe Formula E could make it"
You were not the only one Toto and now you are in Formula E with Mercedes. You are in it for the long haul now.
Summer has ended. IndyCar has ended. The FIA World Endurance Championship began so that is something to pick up our spirits but that is the exception and not the rule. Soon, more series with end. Silverware is starting to be claimed and the cupboard will start to look bare come the end of October.
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