I have to admit this is a sparse edition of This Month in Motorsports Headlines and all I can put my finger on for being the reason is the number of summer breaks. Formula One had a summer break. MotoGP had a summer break. IndyCar had a summer break. NASCAR took its final week off in August. With time off there are fewer headlines to write. People aren't gathering in paddocks and chatting about, which means less chance for something to get out. That will surely change in September.
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.
Though Formula One was off, most of the headlines are from Formula One and that is where we will start...
Verstappen "the best driver out there" - Rosberg
Don't get me wrong, Max Verstappen has been having an impressive season and he has put up some impressive drives in his career but Nico Rosberg knows what he is doing.
Verstappen is going to have to beat Lewis Hamilton for the World Drivers' Championship though before he can claim that crown. I know the car plays a role and Hamilton may have the better race car but it isn't a case of Verstappen being hampered with a sled when he has won two races this season and is the only non-Mercedes driver to win in 2019.
Rosberg did run against Verstappen for two years. He knows what it is like to race again Verstappen, as well as Hamilton, but Verstappen was not a regular challenger for Rosberg. In fact, looking back to the 2016, Rosberg's final year and when Verstappen joined Red Bull, Verstappen had seven podium finishes and he finished ahead of Rosberg in five of those seven races. One of those races was the Spanish Grand Prix, Verstappen's first career victory after Rosberg and Hamilton collided on lap one and the other is Austria, where Rosberg collided with Hamilton again and dropped from leading to fourth on the final lap due to damage but the other three are races where Verstappen finished ahead of Rosberg straight up.
It should also be noted in three of those podium finishes where Verstappen was ahead of Rosberg Hamilton won.
Rosberg is sticking it to his former teammate once again and in a way Rosberg is delegitimizing his own success. If Rosberg believes Hamilton has the benefit of the superior car on the grid than Rosberg as well had his results inflated simply because of the car he was driving and even after all that Rosberg still regularly finished behind Hamilton.
Just when Rosberg thought he was throwing shade he ended up burning himself. What a schmuck.
Wolff: Too early for Russell to move to Mercedes
And apparently it was too early for Esteban Ocon to move to Mercedes as well.
I don't think anyone was thinking Russell was in play to take the second Mercedes seat in 2020 but after this belief that there was an order of succession, starting with Ocon replacing Bottas, it does appear things will not be as straight forward and Russell likely may never end up at Mercedes.
Hamilton is closing in on the all-time record for grand prix victories and his sixth title is destined to come this season. He is 34 years old and will turn 35 years old next January. Hamilton is not going to do this forever. I think he will retire early than hold on too long. Perhaps 2020 will be his final season, where he will likely surpass Michael Schumacher's 91 grand prix victories and could equal Schumacher's seven World Drivers' Championships but I don't think Hamilton is walking away anytime soon. Hamilton loves racing too much to think he would walk away at the end of 2020.
With Valtteri Bottas confirmed for 2020, I think Mercedes' driver lineup is not only set through 2020 but into the 2021 season. It makes more sense for Mercedes to retain the same driver lineup heading into the introduction of new technical regulations than to head into 2021 with one new driver or two new drivers.
By the time 2022 rolls around Formula One may have moved on from George Russell and if that is the next time a driver change will happen at Mercedes a name we aren't even talking about could be waiting in the wings to slide into the Silver Arrows.
McLaren F1 driver Carlos Sainz says 'the big teams just spend too much money'
And these teams can always save money in the form of cutting the drivers' salaries.
Be careful what you wish for Carlos!
We have been over this for decades. Formula One has no interest in controlling spending or capping spending and the teams don't want it either, even if it would save them from themselves. If Sainz wants to go to a series where teams cannot spend too much, go to touring cars, go to IndyCar, go to NASCAR. There are plenty of other options out there.
Rich Energy to decide of Haas deal before Singapore
How is this still going on? And I don't think it is Rich Energy's to decide.
Haas would be stupid not to get out of this relationship. I thought this relationship was already dead!
Haas cannot have Rich Energy hanging around into 2020. The team has to move on.
Granted, Rich Energy is likely to collapse as a company at any moment but the quicker Haas can distance itself from Rich Energy the better.
We have one sports car headline this month...
Why Toyota won't win every WEC race this season
Equivalence of Technology and success ballast.
I am sure the World Endurance Championship doesn't want Toyota sweeping a season and basically sweeping two consecutive seasons. Yes, Rebellion Racing won Silverstone last year after the disqualification of both Toyotas but we all saw what happened on the road and arguably Toyota beat itself that day.
The FIA and ACO want to head into the hypercar-era with the illusion other manufactures can win. Saddling the Toyota with the weight of a manatee for one race to allow Rebellion Racing or a Team LNT Ginetta take victory is fine with the WEC.
Toyota is still going to win five or six races. It just needs that one race to hold up to future participants that anything can happen.
We will close with NASCAR and we will start with a driver that once drove for Toyota...
Stewart: 'I really want to run this race as a driver one day myself'
That race is the Eldora Truck race and why don't you Tony Stewart? Nothing is stopping you.
I can understand the first two or three races standing on the sidelines and making sure everything goes well as a track promoter but we have run the Eldora Truck race seven times now. I think the track has this under control, I think the track doesn't have to worry about NASCAR bolting and I think Stewart should be able to have enough people to manage an event that he doesn't have to oversee the entire production. After all, Stewart still races on a regular basis. He can't be at every event held at Eldora. There must be a group of people he has confidence in to run an event that he doesn't have to always be at the track.
It is time for Stewart zip it and just race. He has this tendency with races. How many times have we heard him say how much he wants to run the Indianapolis 500 again only for him to back out over his fear of not being competitive? It seems like it happens every other year. It happened around this time last year.
The Eldora Truck race is no different. Stop talking about how much you want to do an event and do it and if you don't do it than stop talking about wanting to do it.
I think 2020 is the time for Stewart. What else is he waiting for? Life is too short.
NASCAR will not punish retaliatory acts from Watkins Glen
Remember when Johnny Sauter ran down Austin Hill and spun him under caution in the Iowa Truck race? That led to a suspension for Sauter.
William Byron runs down and hits Kyle Busch from behind under caution at Watkins Glen and Darrell Wallace, Jr. spins Kyle Busch out under caution at Watkins Glen. Neither Byron nor Wallace, Jr. received a penalty.
I don't think the players involved had anything to do it with it. However, I think it being the Cup Series is the reason.
I think we just want NASCAR to call it both ways. Don't dish out penalties in one series and not in the other for similar behavior. Did what Byron and Wallace, Jr. do deserve suspensions? Probably not. An argument could be made for Byron and Wallace, Jr.'s action was not as malicious as Sauter's but for there to be no penalty whatsoever for either driver is where NASCAR gets it wrong.
There should have been something, whether it be a two-lap penalty in the race, being parked from the race, a hefty points penalty or fine, there had to be something and NASCAR chose to do nothing at its highest level.
It doesn't surprise me but it still disappoints me.
Chase Elliott's dominant victory 'couldn't come at a better time'
Yes it could have. It could have come at Homestead when Elliott was one of the final four drivers eligible for the championship. That would be a much better time.
That is it for August and the next time we reconvene to go over the news it will be autumn, the IndyCar season will be over and many other championships will be entering their final legs but not the World Endurance Championship; that will still have only completed one race. This is a sad time but the one thing picking me up is soon it will turn around and I will start to get excited for what will come in the New Year.
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