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 are starting with a Formula One free agent.
Hülkenberg: F1 return hinges on 'exciting' offer
So any offer that isn't Williams, and I am not seeing anything coming.
Nico Hülkenberg's career is going to be perplexing should it remain unchanged. When he dominated A1GP for the German team, everyone pegged him as the next Michael Schumacher. Despite being 18 years old, results suggested someone mature beyond his years and maturity was never a problem for Hülkenberg. It comes down to a few mistimed decisions and missed openings.
Williams was not a hotspot when he landed there in 2010 and while he had a respectable rookie year, he found himself out a job and never in the right spot at the right time. Sidelined for 2011, as Force India's test driver, he earned promotion to race driver for 2012, beating teammate Paul di Resta for the championship. He moved to Sauber but a year after the team picked up four podium finishes and despite finishing a position better in the championship Hülkenberg scored 12 fewer points and 51 of Sauber's 57 points that season.
He went back to Force India for 2014 but found difficulty topping the results of Sergio Pérez. In three seasons as teammates, Pérez found the podium on four occasions but Hülkenberg could never manage that breakthrough. The hopes of being a number one driver at Renault ended when Carlos Sainz, Jr. walked through the door and Daniel Ricciardo made sure it remained closed.
The one thing Hülkenberg can hang his helmet on is his Le Mans victory in 2015. Average Formula One results are hard to escape though. The man started 177 races and could not get on the podium once. It didn't help that half his career took place when three teams blitzed the competition and he was never on one of those three teams, but many drivers weren't on Mercedes, Red Bull or Ferrari and had a bright day or two. A lot of drivers collected some podium silverware but Hülkenberg isn't one of them.
I don't think Hülkenberg is a bad driver. Ten years from now we might look back on him being better than his results show but whatever future success he achieves will likely have to come outside of Formula One.
Hamilton: Crowd-less GPs will feel 'worse than a test day'
No they won't.
You don't get a trophy, a bottle of champagne and 25 championship points at the end of a test day.
Will it be a little hollow, looking from the top step at Austria and only having the men and women who spend countless hours preparing the race car there smiling and celebrating? If you want to look at that as being worse than a test day Lewis than ok.
Liberty Media Reports Financial Hit for F1 in First Quarter
Yeah... no races were held.
If Liberty Media reported a massive financial gain for Formula One with no races held, I think we would have a lot of questions to ask, like, "What did Liberty Media do?" and "It is better not to run Formula One races at all?"
This hit matches with how the Formula One season played out. No cause for concern.
Haas can't afford Vettel - Steiner
Yeah, Guenther, we know. No one ever thought Haas was an option anyway.
Heading over to the United States and IndyCar...
Ferrucci defends "NASCAR-style" last lap crash with Askew
Of course he did. The man has never done anything wrong in his life ever.
It is amazing how when one tarnishes someone else's day he thinks he did nothing wrong. Ferrucci was going to finish second to Askew. Instead of finishing second to Askew, he turned Askew, hoping for a gain but ending up losing a spot and dropping third but Askew didn't beat him and therefore Ferrucci did nothing wrong.
Also... it's a game. It is a game when it happens to someone else. If it were to happen to him... I bet he takes it more seriously.
Through the entire iRacing experiment, there were different levels of competitiveness and seriousness and that was to be expected but there should be a constant level of sportsmanship. Drivers were spending hours practicing and sponsors were invested in the events. With no races taking place, this gave sponsors exposure, justifying the millions spent. There were no points kept, no championship or money on the line but this was not an open free-for-all.
Texas Motor Speedway boss: June race is 'one of the most important races in history of IndyCar'
Let's pump the brakes and this goes across the board for every motorsports series coming back.
These races are not that important. It is great to be back. It is beneficial for the series to be back. Races are resuming and that is it.
Hopefully, a year from now, we look back on 2020 and think about how odd and discombobulated everything was that NASCAR held Cup races on Wednesday nights and IndyCar didn't start its season until June at Texas with the Indianapolis 500 moved to August. Hopefully, the 2020 season remains an anomaly for decades to come but that doesn't mean the first race during this covid-19 era will be one of the most important races in IndyCar's history.
I am not sure how you rate the importance of a race. I cannot tell you what the ten most important races in IndyCar's history are right now, mostly because I think the races are not all that important in the grand scheme of humanity. They are not important. They are leisure, a chance for escapism. None of these races are changing the world and IndyCar isn't looking to change the world.
Returning to the track and just picking up where everything left off isn't that important.
If this race provided any social change, whether that be somehow easing worldwide hunger, or improved the rights for underprivileged people, or changed how people treated one another and we saw a giant uptick in compassion, living conditions, education and understanding then I would say it is a pretty fucking important race in IndyCar history...
But it accomplishes none of that. It is another day with 24 cars on track, trying to get you to buy NAPA Auto Parts, save big money at Menards, become a Verizon customer and let Eddie Gossage make mountains out of mole hills. Nothing important going on at all.
Moving to a NASCAR Cup Series rookie...
JH Nemechek: It's the Big 3 and Me... But What about Me?
You won one race in 51 Grand National Series starts and in your one full season you finished seventh while Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell and Cole Custer traded wins week after week.
I hold Nemechek in high regard and think what he did in the Truck series with his father's team does not get enough credit. Nemechek has been impressive ever since he joined Front Row Motorsports at the end of 2018 and in his ten starts with the team, he has been the top FRM finisher in six races, including a ninth-place finish at Darlington.
But he is still driving for Front Row Motorsports and Reddick, Bell and Custer entered the Cup series with more success and with bigger teams. I hope Nemechek gets a promotion after this season because I do think he is overachieving but until then he is fourth among this rookie class.
And we will finish on a familiar name...
Maldonado's cousin handed Motopark Euroformula drive
Right after the sweet, sweet Venezuelan cheque cleared. Another Maldonado, Manuel, coming to a Formula One grid near you in 2022.
That is it for May and June should see more series return to action or preparing for a return.
