Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...
Dale Coyne dropped the ball. The bottom two series of the Road to Indy concluded their seasons. It was a long Saturday in Kansas, but a normal Sunday. Colton Herta had a good Thursday, but there were two more days to the weekend. George Russell won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix by 0.196 seconds over Max Verstappen, and it received attention, though most were not giving it attention for the right reason or with the right tone.
And at the Wire
I had nothing this week. Nothing stood out. I was going to cobble something up, and then know-it-alls opened their mouths, or maybe they live with their heads in the sand. When silence would have been the best choice, the void was filled with foolishness.
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix wasn't the greatest for the first two-thirds of the race. We were watching a Mercedes runaway with George Russell out in front. It was a single-handed Russell romp, and then a few safety cars bunched the field, bringing Max Verstappen within reach. After overtaking Oscar Piastri for second, Verstappen kept the pressure on Russell. What appeared to be Russell's race was thrown into flux.
Even with a late local yellow for Valtteri Bottas parked in the barrier, Verstappen was able to make a late run at Russell to the finish line. Russell was able to win the race in what was the closest finish since the 2002 United States Grand Prix. Of course, such a note could not go without comment.
While Formula One acknowledged the finish and how rare such a close finish is for the series, plenty couldn't let it be.
Whether it was NASCAR, IndyCar or even MotoGP, many circles compared the Azerbaijan finish to some of the closest finishes in those respective series. For Formula One, it was close. For others, they have had plenty of other closer finishes in the last 24 years. What's the point of measuring contest?
It is hard to believe Formula One needs defending, but what is the point of this? Formula One had a close finish, a more thrilling finish than anyone was expecting for most of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Russell had to defend from a charging Verstappen, one of the best to ever race in the series, and a driver you would not doubt pulling off an unlikely move on the final lap.
With the lengthy main straightaway at Baku, few tracks set up for a photo finish and someone slingshotting to the lead to win by inches. It wasn't that close and the naked eye could tell the winner, but it was a tense finish.
No one is gaining from dunking on Formula One.
So what if this wouldn't be one of the 100 closest NASCAR Cup Series finishes or if it wouldn't be one of the 100 closest IndyCar finishes? Who care where it ranks against MotoGP? Throwing out all those close results will not change anyone's mind or cause them to watch less Formula One and start watching another series.
Motorsports can be a pretty dumb place especially when attempting to attract viewers. Time and time again, series think people want close finishes or top speed and that is it. They only want 250 mph or photo finishes and margin of victories that require four decimal places. Those are nice but it must be more than that. It must be more than raw numbers. There must be a connection or interest in those competing.
The top speeds can be thrilling and the close finishes can be astonishing, but if that is all it took, NASCAR wouldn't have a fraction of its audience from 20 years ago and IndyCar would not have backslid for most of the 2000s. Pushing the victories that have come down to thousandths of a second are nice, but they aren't changing any minds.
At times, the motorsports world feels like middle school. One kid had a good test score or showcased a specific talent, maybe it was playing the guitar or poetry excellence, and another kid had to jump in and show his ability at something else entirely unrelated that was loud and obnoxious, like jumping his bicycle over trash cans or doing a flip off a swing set. Nice, but it isn't about you.
Take shots at Formula One and see where it gets you. How many series have seen growth because it dunked on Formula One? That doesn't happen. There are not millions of people looking for a motorsports series to watch but can only decide based on which one pushes Formula One in the mud.
IndyCar's rating is not increasing because it showed a still photo from a Chicagoland race over 20 years ago nor even a still photo from this year's Indianapolis 500. Nor will more people tune into a NASCAR race because it showed a chart of all the finishes it has had that were closer than Saturday's race in Baku.
Formula One can be its own thing, and for all its flaws in terms of accessibility and racing regulations, it isn't going to be like IndyCar or NASCAR or MotoGP. For all the data being thrown out there, how many of those IndyCar and NASCAR races were on road or street courses? If Formula One had 75 years of oval races, maybe it would have a few extra dozen races decided by less than a tenth of a second or even less than a hundredth of a second. How many IndyCar and NASCAR road course races have been decided by less than two-tenths of a second? As Racer's Chris Medland pointed out as he expressed his same frustration in the aftermath of Baku, no NASCAR Cup road course race has been as close as the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
It is ok to compare apples and oranges, we should compare apples and oranges, but let's recognize when we are comparing apples and oranges and we are looking for ingredients to bake an apple pie.
Formula One had a close finish and others could not go a weekend without letting it be on its own. It had to be turned into something else. Did anyone outside of Formula One gain anything from this? IndyCar still has about five months left in its offseason and there is a good chance the NASCAR rating will be a few points lower than the year before when it is released in the next 36 hours.
All that noise for nothing. It is ok to say nothing after an event. Not everything requires a comment. We could have just gone about our Saturdays and saved our energy for something more productive than trying to embarrass another motorsports series for being different.
Champions From the Weekend
Jack Jeffers clinched the USF Pro 2000 Championship after sweeping the Road America triple-header.
Sebastián Garzón clinched the U.S. F2000 Championship with finishes of 17th, third and fourth at Road America.
Memo Gidley clinched the GT America championship despite not starting the first race from Barber Motorsports Park due to a driveshaft issue, and Gidley won the second race of the weekend.
Nicolò Bulega clinched the World Superbike championship with three runner-up finishes at Cremona.
Jorge Prado clinched the SuperMotocross championship after finishing second in the Thunder Ridge round.
Levi Kitcten clinched the SuperMotocross 250cc championship after finishing second in the Thunder Ridge round.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about George Russell and a few champions, but did you know...
Dino Beganovic (sprint), Alex Dunne (feature #1) and Rafael Cámara (feature #2) split the Formula Two races from Baku.
Eddie Beswick (race one and three) and Ryan Giannetta (race two) split the U.S. F2000 races from Road America.
Kyle Larson won the NASCAR Cup race from Kansas, his second victory of the season. Kaden Honeycutt won the Truck race, his third victory of the season.
The #8 Toyota of Sébastien Buemi, Brandon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa won the 6 Hours of Fuji. The #32 Team WRT BMW of Augusto Farfus, Sean Gelael and Darren Leung won in LMGT3.
The #12 AF Corse Ferrari of Matías Pérez Companc and Frederik Schandorff won the GT World Challenge America race from Barber Motorsports Park. The #68 RAFA Racing Team Toyota of Westin Workman and Tyler Gonzalez and the #7 ACI Motorsports Porsche of Trenton Estep and Yves Baltas split the GT4 America. Joel Cortes won the first GT America.
Iker Lecuona swept the World Superbike races from Cremona. Jeremy Alcoba swept the World Supersport races.
Haiden Deegan won the SuperMotocross round from Thunder Ridge after going 1-2. Jorge Prado won the second Moto. Cole Davies won the 250cc round after sweeping the Motos.
Coming Up This Weekend
Petit Le Mans closes out the IMSA season.
The World Rally Championship concludes at Rally Italia Sardegna.
GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup wraps up in Barcelona.
Malaysia's Sepang International Circuit will host the Bahrain Grand Prix.
MotoGP starts its Asia-Pacific swing in Japan.
NASCAR will be in Las Vegas.
