Yesterday, the final major motorsports event took place, as Super Formula finished its season at Fuji. Sho Tsuboi took the race victory, his second of the season, while Naoki Yamamoto took the championship, his third Super Formula title and his second in three seasons.
With all the seasons completed and all the trophies awarded, we can properly review this chaotic year and properly recognize the best of the year. Despite almost every championship being delayed or reduced, we got a full slate worth of events. Many records were broken and milestones reached. There is plenty to celebrate though it was a much more difficult year than any of us expected.
Racer of the Year
Description: Given to the best racer over the course of 2020.
And the Nominees are:
António Félix da Costa
Filipe Albuquerque/Phil Hanson
Lewis Hamilton
René Rast
Scott Dixon
And the winner is... Lewis Hamilton
In a historic year off the track, Hamilton made it a historic year on the track.
Eleven victories in 16 starts gave Hamilton the all-time lead in grand prix victories, breaking the record Michael Schumacher had set 14 years ago. He clinched his seventh World Drivers' Championship in Portugal, tying Schumacher's record. With Hamilton already holding the record for most pole positions and podium finishes, the record for grand prix victories and a share of the record for championships round out what has been a historic career. One more season will likely see Hamilton increase the records he already holds and get him a few more outright. He only needs to lead 13 more laps to break another one of Schumacher's once thought to be untouchable records and an eighth championship feels inevitable.
With the strength of the Mercedes over the entire turbo hybrid-era, it is easy to take Hamilton's success for granted. It is the only manufacture to take the championship in the last seven seasons. The only driver other than Hamilton to win a championship was Nico Rosberg with Mercedes. Many will write off the success because of the car and dismiss the driver's input entirely, but that foolishness misses Hamilton's ability and what he gets out of that car that many cannot match.
He won from eight of his ten pole positions, one off tying the record for victories from pole position in a season. In five of the last six seasons, Hamilton has won at least seven races from pole position. When given the advantage of clean air, he makes the most of it and it allows him to come out clean even in the hairiest of situations.
Take the British Grand Prix as an example.
Hamilton led every lap of that race and teammate Valtteri Bottas was running second, but with three laps to go, Bottas' left front tire delaminated, forcing him to the pit lane. Max Verstappen took second and was able to make a pit stop, worried his tires would face the same issue. As a handful of cars experienced tire failures, Hamilton kept going, attempting to preserve his tires, only for his left front to also fail on the final lap. Hamilton had already completed a third of the course and had to limp for the final two-thirds while Verstappen had fresh rubber and could smell blood in the water.
The gap proved to be large enough as a three-wheel Mercedes took the checkered flag 5.856 seconds ahead of Verstappen.
The record-breaking 92nd victory was not a flawless race from the start. Hamilton struggled on the medium tires at the start and lost the lead. Bottas lead majority of the opening stint, but once the softer compound began to wear and the medium tires found a sweet spot, Hamilton capitalized. He re-took the lead and led 45 of the final 46 laps to win by over 25.5 seconds to his teammate Bottas, who led 15 of the first 19 circuits.
Imola was another ho-hum start that actually saw Hamilton drop to third behind Bottas and Verstappen. The pace was not there early in the race, but sometimes it is better to be lucky than good and after the top two stopped for tires, Hamilton took the lead and a virtual safety car came out. Hamilton was able to stop and retain the lead. After flipping track position, Hamilton won the race virtually uncontested over the final 45 laps.
The most impressive victory of them all was the one Hamilton was the worst at. Many were caught out at the Turkish Grand Prix with a freshly paved racetrack and wet conditions, it was havoc for all the drivers. Lance Stroll won pole position ahead of Verstappen, Sergio Pérez was third. Hamilton qualified sixth, behind Daniel Ricciardo and Bottas was eighth.
With a wet track, Stroll pulled out to a massive lead and Verstappen appeared to be his one main challenger. An aggressive Verstappen spun attempting to pass Pérez after putting on intermediate tires, damaging the new rubber and taking the Dutchman out of contention for a possible victory.
Past the halfway point, Hamilton was over 31 seconds behind Stroll, but the leaders started to pit for a second set of intermediate tires. Stroll relinquished the lead and Pérez took the top spot, but the balding intermediate tires on the drying track effectively became slicks and it allowed Hamilton to chase down Pérez. On lap 37, Hamilton took the top spot and with each lap increased his lead.
A possible rain shower late could have ended this incredible drive, as Hamilton's tires had no tread remaining, but the weather held off, Hamilton won his fourth consecutive race, this one by 31.633 seconds over Pérez despite being that far off the lead with 26 laps to go, and this victory clinched Hamilton his seventh World Drivers' Championship.
These are just four examples of Hamilton's brilliance. First, he managed the tires just enough at Silverstone that even when having a failure, he could pull out a victory. Second, he was patient with his tires and let the race come to him. Third, he caught a break, but he and his team went a few laps longer on their first set of tires to position himself advantageously when a virtual safety car came out. Fourth, Turkey was all skill. He went from 31-seconds back to winning the race by 31 seconds without a safety car, without any help, without the top two or three cars sliding off course. In unfathomable conditions, Hamilton mastered the track while others overplayed their hands.
For 14 years, Hamilton has ruled the pinnacle of motorsports. He lost the world championship as a rookie by a point. He won it as a sophomore. From that glorious introduction, Hamilton has raised the bar each year. Entering off the heels of Schumacher's departure from Ferrari, Hamilton filled the shoes perfectly and blew out the seams. He is now the driver every boy and girl aspires to be from around the world, and Hamilton's legacy will go beyond the racetrack as he attempts to break down barriers, diversify motorsports to include more minorities in every area of a race team, from mechanics to public relations, engineers to drivers.
Hamilton deserves this honor and all the respect in the world for all he has done, as a driver and a humanitarian. In what has been a difficult year on many different fronts, Hamilton showed the strength and grace of an idol needed during this time. He is someone we should want to emulate in more ways than one.
On the other nominees:
After the lengthy delay to finish the Formula E season, there was no clear favorite of who would come out on top as champion ahead of the six-race Berlin conclusion to the season. Through the first five races there had been five driver winners and António Félix da Costa had just taken the championship lead after his victory in Marrakesh. In no time, da Costa wrestled the championship into his control when he swept the first doubleheader. He would wrap up the title with a fourth and second in the midweek doubleheader. Da Costa combined his three-victory, six-podium-finish Formula E championship with a third-place championship finish in the FIA World Endurance Championship Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers' championship with a victory in Shanghai and a runner-up finish at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Filipe Albuquerque and Phil Hanson were the best sports car combination in 2020. The two combined for four victories in the LMP2 class in the FIA WEC, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, on the way to taking that championship. In the European Le Mans Series, the two drivers won three of five races and finished third in the other two races to complete the LMP2 double. The duo's worst finish of the calendar year was fourth at Bahrain. In nine starts this calendar year, they won pole position seven times. It was undoubtedly one of the most dominant LMP2 campaigns we have ever seen.
René Rast won his third Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters championship in the last four season this year and Rast did it with seven victories from 18 races. He was on the podium 13 times, including in the final ten races. Only twice did he finish outside the top five, but he was in the points for every race and he won seven pole positions. Rast also had fastest lap in seven races, including the last four fastest laps of the season, and in six of the final seven races. He scored 353 points; 31 points more than he scored last season in another championship year with 18 races. On top of that, Rast ran the final six Formula E races in Berlin, scoring 29 points and picking up his first podium finish in his fifth career start.
What else can you say about Scott Dixon? Dixon won the first three races of the IndyCar season, he picked up his 50th career victory, becoming only the third IndyCar driver to reach that milestone. He had seven podium finishes, nine top five finishes and 13 top ten finishes from 14 races. His worst finish was 12th and he completed every lap, leading the championship wire-to-wire, picking up his sixth championship, one off of A.J. Foyt's record of seven. He also moved up to third most laps led in Indianapolis 500 history and this year was a record fifth time Dixon led the most laps in an Indianapolis 500. And that was just his day job. Dixon opened the year winning the 24 Hours of Daytona for the third time overall with Ryan Briscoe, Kamui Kobayashi and Renger van der Zande at Wayne Taylor Racing. Dixon, Briscoe and van der Zande then won Petit Le Mans and Dixon became just the second driver to have victories in the Indianapolis 500 and Petit Le Mans. If Dixon had won the Indianapolis 500 this year, he would have been Driver of the Year.
Past Winners2012: Kyle Larson2013: Marc Márquez
2014: Marc Márquez
2015: Nick Tandy
2016: Shane van Gisbergen
2017: Brendon Hartley
2018: Scott Dixon
2019: Marc Márquez
Race of the Year
Description: Best Race of 2020.
And the Nominees are:
Bommarito Automotive Group 500 Race One
MotoGP's Styrian Grand Prix
Thursday Night Blunder at Talladega
Turkish Grand Prix
12 Hours of Sebring
And the winner is... Turkish Grand Prix
It was touched upon before, but no one expected the Turkish Grand Prix to be the chaotic, unpredictable, looney race we ended up getting.
Turkey was basically the final race added to the 2021 calendar. We knew Bahrain would happen and Abu Dhabi would happen. Turkey filled a gap in early November. It wasn't really on the radar in the same way the Mugello, the Nürburgring, Portimão and Imola were. It might have been the least exciting of the last-minute options, but boy did it turn out to be best of them all.
It started on Friday when no one could find grip on the new surface, laid down in a rush ahead of this unexpected race. Water was added on Saturday and it fully flipped the grid. Stroll took pole position, both Racing Point cars were ahead of both Mercedes, both Racing Points, both Renaults and Kimi Räikkönen in an Alfa Romeo qualified ahead of Bottas. Both Alfa Romeos made the final round of qualifying. Neither McLaren nor Ferrari made it to Q3. We hadn't even got to the race yet and the weather was not going to be any better on Sunday.
Twenty laps in, it appeared Stroll was going to get his maiden victory in comfortable fashion. He was ten seconds clear of second place and not making a mistake. His one challenger, Verstappen, threw away his opportunity before the race even got going. Racing Point was 1-2. We were preparing for a historic result, one where none of the familiar faces played a role in the final result.
However, the surface puzzled teams. With worn intermediate tires and a drying surface, it would make sense to switch to slicks, but with the lack of grip, slicks were not a suitable option. Many took a second set of intermediate tires, including Stroll from the lead, and this proved to be a costly decision. The first set of intermediate tires could hold up as they became a slick tire, playing into the hands of Hamilton and Pérez.
We already covered Hamilton's victory and he incredible drive, but the race for the final two podium spots was a four-driver tussle between Pérez, Sebastian Vettel having the highest point of his season, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, Jr. On shoddy intermediates, Pérez outmaneuvered the Ferraris on fresher rubber. Leclerc went off course, Pérez took second only three tenths ahead of Vettel, Vettel's only podium finish of the season. Leclerc held on for fourth with Sainz, Jr. in fifth.
Verstappen crossed the line in sixth ahead of teammate Alexander Albon. Lando Norris was eighth ahead of Stroll, who finished one minutes and 12.353 seconds behind Hamilton after one point behind ahead of Hamilton by 31 seconds. Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the points in tenth, the final car on the lead lap.
Five different drivers led a lap for six lead changes. This was one of three races won from outside the first two rows on the grid.
On the other nominees:
Normally the race after the Indianapolis 500 does not upstage the Indianapolis 500, but the first race of the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 from Gateway was fantastic. After a mess of a start, Will Power led the first 61 laps before Patricio O'Ward emerged on top during the pit cycle. O'Ward had Scott Dixon in his mirrors for majority of the race, but O'Ward held strong. The race was going to come down to the final round of pit stops. O'Ward and Dixon both came on the same lap, both had flawless pit stops, but Dixon came out in front and would cycle to the lead.
However, Takuma Sato was trying a different strategy and was going long before his final pit stop, setting Sato up with a quick sprint to the checkered flag. Sato led 14 laps before stopping and handing Dixon the lead with 25 laps to go. Sato emerged in third, behind O'Ward but a breathtaking pass on the outside of turn one moved Sato into second and he was chasing down Dixon. After having a late caution snuff out any closing lap battle between Sato and Dixon six days earlier in the Indianapolis 500, we got to see Dixon and Sato battle to the line, but this time Dixon held the lead while Sato was charging and had the advantage of fresher tires. Sato was there, but Dixon held on to take the victory by 0.140 seconds, the 50th victory of Dixon's IndyCar career.
The Red Bull Ring is quickly becoming one of the best tracks for MotoGP and this year we got to see two events from the Austrian Alps. Jack Miller jumped to the lead ahead of pole-sitter Pol Espargaró while Takaaki Nakagami would take second from Espargaró before the end of lap one. Joan Mir wound up in the lead on lap five. While the battle continued at the front, Maverick Viñales suffered a brakes failure entering turn one and he had to bail from the bike, which flew into the air wall, puncturing it and bringing out a red flag.
The race would be restarted and be contested over 12 laps. Mir started on pole position and the battle between him, Miller and Espargaró ensued. Espargaró was showing more speed on his KTM and would make an attempt for the lead before running wide. Andrea Dovizioso and Miguel Oliveira climbed into the battle and those two combined with Mir, Miller and Espargaró. Espargaró was leading at the start of the final lap, but Miller pressured the KTM rider through the final turns. Miller dove up the inside of Espargaró into the final corner, but both riders ran wide. Oliveria swept through and took his first career MotoGP victory. Miller was second with Espargaró in third. Mir, Dovizioso and Álex Rins rounded out the top six with 0.641 seconds covering the top five and less than 1.5 seconds covering the top six.
We are dropping a video game into the best race nominees because Thursday Night Blunder was the right way to spend the lockdown. While we could not compete on track, we could have events that put IndyCars vs. Porsche 919 Hybrids vs. NASCAR Cup cars vs. Legends cars at Talladega. This event saw Justin Allgaier competing in an IndyCar against Stefan Wilson while Landon Cassill and Matt DiBenedetto competed in the Cup car class. As well as featuring the guest drivers, the Thursday Night Blunder regulars Victor Vallee, Andrew Pinkerton, Tyler Newitt and Noah Wheeler were all fighting for the victory.
Vallee led in the closing stages in an IndyCar while Pinkerton, DiBenedetto and Newitt led in the Cup class. Wilson was seventh with five laps to go, nearly three seconds back, as the Cup car's tires wore down, Wilson climbed into the battle after Pinkerton and DiBenedetto made contact, knocking each other out of contention. Wilson caught Vallee coming to the white flag and while negotiating traffic, Wilson passed Vallee in the tri-oval to win Thursday Night Blunder from Talledega.
The 12 Hours of Sebring closed out the 2020 IMSA season and with championship undecided in the DPi and GT Daytona classes, there was plenty to play for in this endurance class. The DPi championship saw the first shake up when the championship leading #7 Team Penske Acura suffered an intercooler problem. It appeared the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac would coast to a championship but contact with the #77 Mazda punctured a tire on the #10 Cadillac and led to radiator damage, dropping WTR out of the championship fight.
Pipo Derani had to win the race in the #31 Action Express Racing Cadillac to take the championship and he was battling for the top spot while entering the final hours, but Derani would make contact with the #6 Team Penske Acura, damaging his steering and ending his title hopes. With all the title rivals suffering misfortune of their own, the #7 Acura of Ricky Taylor and Hélio Castroneves took the championship. Meanwhile, the #77 Mazda was in control in the final hour before losing a left rear tire and handing victory to the #55 Mazda of Jonathan Bomarito, Harry Tincknhell and Ryan Hunter-Reay.
In GT Daytona, championship outsider Wright Motorsports entered the finale without a victory for the #16 Porsche while Meyer Shank Racing looked to close out its second consecutive championship for the #86 Acura. Late race contact between the #74 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG and GTLM leading #25 BMW took out the GTD leading #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari and opened the door for Patrick Long to take the lead in the #16 Porsche and kept Long and Ryan Hardwick's championship hopes alive. Meanwhile, the contact dropped the BMW out of the GTLM lead and gave the factory Porsches 1-2 in class.
Long would bring the #16 Porsche across the line first in GTLM, but Mario Farnbacher and Matt McMurry were third in class and that clinched the title for the #86 Acura.
Past Winners
2012: Indianapolis 500
2013: British motorcycle Grand Prix
2014: Bathurst 1000
2015: Australian motorcycle Grand Prix
2016: Spanish Grand Prix
2017: All the races at the World Superbike/World Supersport weekend at Phillip Island
2018: Petit Le Mans
2019: Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
Achievement of the Year
Description: Best success by a driver, team, manufacture, etc.
And the Nominees are:
Bill Auberlen becoming the all-time leader in IMSA victories
Dinner with Racers adding ramps to iRacing
Donald Davidson for 55 years of service to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500
Lewis Hamilton becoming the all-time leader in Grand Prix victories
NASCAR getting in full seasons for all three series on time
And the winner is... Donald Davidson for 55 years of service to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500
This is a lifetime achievement award of sorts because for everything that happened in 2020, I don't think anyone expected Donald Davidson to retire from his post at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Davidson has been a staple at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500 for over a half-century. His brilliant mind has been marveling us with driver profiles and race summaries for years. He has been filling in the cracks of the present with historical sealant bonding the two and giving the people greater context and appreciation for the 104-year-old event.
We always knew Davidson was one of a kind. There was no equal waiting in the wings. The day he decided to walkaway would be a day of reckoning. We are at that point.
It doesn't sound like Davidson is completely done with the Indianapolis 500. Though his official role for 2021 and beyond remains a mystery, it sounds like he will still be around for The Talk of Gasoline Alley each weeknight during the month of May, and maybe he will still be on the race broadcast, but his daily work as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway historian will come to an end. We will have to wait and see.
For a man who has been such a public institution, Davidson does not like the attention, even when it is praise he rightly deserves. For 55 years of work, he should get his moment in the spotlight and no one would have a problem with it.
On the other nominees:
We lose sight of GT drivers in multi-class sports car racing, especially those competing in pro-am classes, but Auberlen's career spans over 30 years and it has taken him around the globe. He has won with the likes of Boris Said, Tom Hessert, Derek Hill, Cort Wagner, Hans-Joachim Stuck, Justin Marks, Tommy Milner, Matthew Alhadeff, Paul Dalla Lana, Maxime Martin, Dirk Werner, Alexander Sims and Robby Foley III to name a few drivers. He has won at Daytona, Sebring, Road Atlanta, Lime Rock Park, Mont-Tremblant, Austin, Pikes Peak, Phoenix, Texas World, and the streets of New Orleans. It is an incredible career that encompasses the highs and the lows of North American sports car racing. At 50 years old, he has 62 victories and Auberlen is not done yet.
I originally was going to give this award to Dinner with Racers because it did the unthinkable and figured out a way to put ramps into iRacing for the off-road trucks. They took the Nissan GTP cars, turned them around on the racetrack, lined four or five across the road and the wedge-shaped prototypes launched the trucks into the air. It was spectacular during the dullness of lockdown and a real spark during a dark time. No one else was using that level of ingenuity to come up with a solution. Bravo to Sean Heckman and Ryan Eversley.
We have touched upon Hamilton twice already, but Schumacher's 91 victories were almost to a level of Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game. Nobody thought it was touchable. In 2006, we were trying to wrap our heads around someone coming close to it, but we had never seen anything like Schumacher before. Alain Prost was on 51 victories and Ayrton Senna was on 41 victories. The half-century mark was more practical. No one thought we would see someone match Schumacher's dominance and literally the next guy through the door, a man who debuted the race after Schumacher's retirement, broke all his major records. Hamilton grew up with history happening around him and when he reached the grandest stage, he raised the bar even higher, and like Auberlen, Hamilton isn't done yet.
Most series had to find a way to complete a 2021 season. Formula One had a slightly shortened schedule, as did IndyCar. MotoGP has almost a third of its season dropped. IMSA was constantly moving races around. NASCAR lost races, but it ran its previously scheduled number of races in all three national touring series. There were 36 Cup races, 33 Grand National Series races and 23 Truck races. Darlington and the Charlotte oval each got additional events, Michigan and Dover became doubleheaders, the Daytona road course was used. Races were run on Wednesday night and even Thursday night. Race weekends were reduced to one day with no practice and no qualifying. NASCAR came back in the middle of May and its season ended on its scheduled end date. All kudos to NASCAR for cramming the longest scheduled into an even smaller amount of time.
Past Winners
2012: DeltaWing
2013: Sebastian Vettel for winning nine consecutive races on his way to a fourth consecutive title
2014: Marc Márquez: Setting the record for most wins in a premier class season.
2015: Justin Wilson Memorial Family Auction
2016: Jimmie Johnson for his seventh NASCAR Cup championship
2017: Jonathan Rea: For becoming the first rider to win three consecutive World Superbike championships.
2018: Robert Wickens for winning IndyCar Rookie of the Year despite missing the final three races.
2019: Joe Gibbs Racing setting single-season record for most Cup victories by a in NASCAR's modern-era.
Moment of the Year
Description: The Most Memorable Moment in the World of Racing during the 2020 season.
And the Nominees are:
March 12-13
And the winner is... March 12-13
For 2020, there is only one correct answer and there is nothing close to what we all experienced between March 12 and 13.
The world shut down, something we hardly considered possible the week prior was now reality. Events were cancelled around the globe. The first big shoe to drop was the night before in the National Basketball Association when moments before the Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder tipped off, doctors stepped in when Utah center Rudy Gobert tested positive for covid-19, cancelling that game on the spot and during the middle of that night the league decided the rest of the season would go on hiatus until further notice.
In the next 36 hours, the entire world followed suit. College basketball conference tournaments were called off while players were warming up for noon games. Hockey season was stopped immediately. Spring training camps for baseball came to a halt. Soccer leagues hit the pause button with only two months remaining and championships still needing to be claimed. Motorsports were no different, but slower to accept reality.
MotoGP had already cancelled its opening round as teams were not allowed into Qatar while Moto2 and Moto3 were already in the country and able to contest their opening rounds. The sports car world was also proactive with the FIA World Endurance Championship calling off its 1,000-mile race from Sebring. IMSA quickly followed with the 12 Hours of Sebring.
NASCAR, Formula One and IndyCar were each ready to run that weekend. Each planned on competing behind closed doors, but the uncertainty around the spread of the virus ultimately led each series to call off their races and go into hibernation.
All we could do was wait and adapt to this different time where literally nothing was going on. Our schedules where we carved in time for sporting events and looked forward to these competitions were now blown open, but we had nothing to fill the void and nothing was going to be happening for an indefinite period of time.
We had to wait and tried to process this delay. Races vanished that were once yearly spectacles. Long Beach, Monaco, the Dutch TT. The Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans were delayed. We didn't know what other events would be lost. For the first time since World War II we thought neither the Indianapolis 500 nor the 24 Hours of Le Mans would take place. We weren't sure what a season would look like, if there was a season at all.
Each series had to carefully negotiate these times and the risks in competing. Any competition required making sure crew members, drivers and officials to remain safe and no series could afford becoming a hot spot where one person with the virus got in and spread it to six- or seven-dozen more people. No series could afford any person getting seriously ill or perishing from contracting the virus at an event.
Protocols were created to ensure the safety of all necessary personnel for a race weekend. Schedules were pieced together to provide a respectable championship. Sacrifices were made with many events held behind closed doors.
For all that was lost in the first half of 2020, we had full year worth of action in the final six months. We were able to have the cornerstone events at Indianapolis and Le Mans. Formula One visited usual stomping grounds of Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps and Monza and we even got surprises in Mugello, Imola, Nürburgring, Portimão and Istanbul. MotoGP had a chaotic championship. IMSA round a way to get a dozen races in and Sebring closed the season. NASCAR got in 36 Cup races.
This wasn't the year we had in mind, but it was a year we appreciated more than any other. We lost a lot, but what we did get a filling motorsports season, even if it was from afar or in different circumstances than we are used to, we could only be thankful for it. There was no time for pickiness and demand more of racetracks, sanctioning bodies and so on. We could only be grateful for the races we got.
None of motorsports matters. In the grand scheme of life, this strand could easily be cut, and the world wouldn't lose that much. There are far more important things and all those who make a living in it, the drivers, the team owners, crew members, broadcasters, could all find another way to earn money doing something different and more valuable to the existence of humanity. That doesn't mean we can't love it or enjoy it. There is nothing wrong with a hobby, but this year should ground us a bit and not take motorsports too seriously. It is wonderful to have, but it is not life and death.
An Honorable Mention:
The only thing that comes close to matching the pandemic and the shutdown it caused is Romain Grosjean's accident in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The explosion and escape from the wreckage grabbed the world's attention and provided a strong reminder of the danger that persists in motorsports, but also the incredible safety advancements that have been made that allowed Grosjean to walk away from that accident with only burned hands.
With his car split in half and entangled in the Armco barrier, Grosjean never lost consciousness despite experiencing 53gs. Grosjean suffered no broken bones. He emerged from an accident that only three years ago would have resulted in a fatality. The Halo device saved the world from watching a decapitation and a corpse burned to a point it wouldn't be worth extracting from the cockpit.
While the safety components on car saved Grosjean's life, we also got to see the response of the medical team and marshals in such a horrifying accident and how they contributed to Grosjean emerging from that accident as quickly as he did. Dr. Ian Roberts and medical driver Alan van de Merwe both got the recognition they likely prefer to never get but they deserve.
Grosjean's accident was an eye-opener. For a sport that has greatly evolved and seen a near extinction of fatal accidents, it was a reminder the danger will never truly disappear. Most of the time, we will watch a race and we might see an accident or two, but none that startling, and at the end of the day after the checkered flag has waved we can walk away from it and it will have no effect on our psyche. But every so often, there will be an accident that hits us a little differently.
It could be the level of Grosjean's where a man fights to get out alive. It could be worse. These accidents are rare in 2020, but not completely gone and they never will be. We should be thankful for how far motorsports have come but remember danger and risk will always be there and some days we will see our worst nightmares play out on our television screens.
Past Winners
2012: Alex Zanardi
2013: 24 Hours of Le Mans
2014: Post-race at the Charlotte and Texas Chase races.
2015: Matt Kenseth vs. Joey Logano
2016: Toyota Slows at Le Mans
2017: Fernando Alonso announcing his Indianapolis 500 ride
2018: Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson battle at Chicagoland
2019: Kyle Kaiser and Juncos Racing knocking out Fernando Alonso and McLaren and Penske Purchasing Hulman & Co.
Pass of the Year
Description: Best pass of 2020.
And the Nominees are:
And the winner is... Pipo Derani on Ricky Taylor into turn one at Road Atlanta
With just north of a half-hour remaining in Petit Le Mans, Taylor was ahead of Derani in the de facto battle for the race lead during a pit cycle. The #7 Acura had taken the top spot when Alexander Rossi pulled off a strong pass on Felipe Nasr in the #31 Cadillac entering turn ten.
After each team changed drivers, Taylor kept the #7 Acura ahead, but Derani was showing greater pace on new tires and with both cars negotiating traffic, the time was optimal for Derani to overtake Taylor.
With Taylor coming upon the #14 Lexus of Jack Hawksworth exiting the final corner, the Acura balked a little and opened the door for Derani to take a look entering the turn one. The inside was open, but in a corner that is almost flat a lot could go awry that could see both cars taken out of the race. But Derani went for it and made it stick. Taylor was hung out on the outside and had to let Derani go.
Derani had taken control of the race and kept his championship hopes alive, but it set up for the controversial finish and Taylor's attempt to re-take the lead 20 minutes later. Taylor's didn't stick. Derani was knocked from the top spot while Taylor was able to continue and reclaimed second. Despite what happened afterward, Derani had nerves of steel in Georgian darkness. With his season depending on it, Derani sought to take control of his own destiny and made a pass many think of but few attempt. Not only did Derani attempt it but he pulled it off.
On the other nominees:
Some battles deserve a full nomination and you cannot take the final pass alone in the Viscaal/Zendeli finish at Silverstone. Zendeli was leading down the National straightaway, but Viscaal took the lead into Copse. Zendeli remained close and he would get the DRS advantage down the Hanger straight. The two cars were side-by-side through Stowe. Zendeli had the inside for Vale, but the two drivers would crossover, giving Zendeli the inside for the final two corners, but he struggled for grip and it allowed Viscaal to get the power down on the outside of Club to get to the line in first place.
Just like Viscaal/Zendeli, you need to take the entire picture of the Herta/VeeKay battle early in the first Harvest Grand Prix race. VeeKay was ahead after a pit cycle, but Herta had better pace on a fresh set of tires. Herta made his move to the inside of turn one and appeared to get the position, but the two drivers crossed over and went side-by-side for the next three corners. Herta had to let up, but he remained on the Dutchman's gear box through turns five and six. Down the Hulman straight, Herta remained in VeeKay's wake before drifting to the outside, pulling VeeKay off the white line and opening the inside of turn seven. With VeeKay's eyes wandering to the right, Herta pulled his car to the left and got the inside of the corner. Herta took the position and pulled away in the next two corners.
With the high downforce package NASCAR has adopted for the Cup Series, drafting becomes critical on restarts at Indianapolis Motor Speedway down the long straightaways. Harvick had restarted first on the outside of Chase Elliott, but the two cars remained side-by-side through the first two corners. Denny Hamlin ended up getting a push from Christopher Bell and he had a full head of steam heading into turn three. Hamlin's only option was the inside, and he took it early. Elliott stayed in the middle and in second and Harvick dropped to third for a moment on the outside. However, once they got to the corner, Harvick had the speed on the outside to clear Elliott and then pull ahead of Hamlin. Harvick would be clear Hamlin into turn four and take the lead.
Virginia International Raceway is a tight and fast course at times and with that combination it can be difficult to make passes in some areas, but in the closing minutes of the IMSA race, Farnbacher had the stronger car in fourth and could see third and second just in front of him. After exiting turn six, Farnbacher had the advantage over Aschenbach heading into turn seven, a fast kink to the right at the start of the esses. Farnbacher took the outside, a precarious spot to be in as that corner is not set up for two cars side-by-side. Farnbacher stayed in it and in what became a game of chicken, the German pulled off the pass to get up to third and he would ultimately pull out a second-place finish.
Gateway has a knack for producing thrilling IndyCar races despite being notoriously difficult for passing. In the closing laps of the first race of the weekend, Sato had fresher tires over the final stint, and he was making ground on the leaders as the race entered the final 20 laps. Heading into turn one, Sato had the outside with O'Ward taking the inside in second position. It appeared O'Ward would hold onto the bottom and Sato was back out of it. Instead, Sato carried more speed on the outside and squeeze O'Ward through turn one. Sato took the position while O'Ward could do nothing to prevent it, nor was positioned to counter. Sato was two seconds behind leader Scott Dixon after that pass and he clawed that gap down to nothing. Sato kept Dixon honest, but Dixon came out on top with Sato taking second.
Past Winners
2012: Simon Pagenaud at Baltimore
2013: Robert Wickens at Nürburgring and Peter Dempsey in the Freedom 100
2014: Ryan Blaney on Germán Quiroga
2015: Laurens Vanthoor from 4th to 2nd on the outside in the Bathurst 12 Hour
2016: Scott McLaughlin on Mark Winterbottom at Surfers Paradise
2017: Renger van der Zande: From second to first on Dane Cameron at Laguna Seca
2018: Alexander Rossi for all his passes in the Indianapolis 500
2019: Álex Rins on Marc Márquez in the final corner at Silverstone in the British motorcycle Grand Prix
The Eric Idle Award
Description: "When You're Chewing on Life's Gristle, Don't Grumble, Give a Whistle, And This'll Help Things Turn Out For The Best, and... Always Look On The Bright Side of Life."
And the Nominees are:
Kevin Harvick
Marc Márquez
Porsche North America
Sebastian Vettel
Sergio Pérez
And the winner is... Marc Márquez
Biting off more than he could chew in the opening race of the 2020 season, Márquez fractured his arm at Jerez while trying to chase down Fabio Quartararo. After years of bouncing back from injuries and winning races, this injury was one he could not overcome.
After the initial surgery, he attempted to return for the second Jerez only to find he was not fit enough to compete. He would have to spend some time off the bike to recover and potentially still comeback with enough time to challenge for the championship. His title hopes were shatter when the plate in his arm shattered while closing a window of all things, sending him into another surgery and delaying any possible return until October at the earliest, when the championship would be an unachievable goal.
Márquez is getting this award because of the MotoGP season that followed his exit, one in which nobody wanted to win the world championship until the middle of October. Second would have been good enough to open the season at Jerez, even if Quartararo looked like he had reached another level. Yamaha did not produce a full rounded bike. Ducati was lacking in a few areas. KTM was a surprise, winning races early in the season, but it would be off every third race. Suzuki was the one consistent bike, but it wasn't winning races.
This year was Márquez's championship for the taking. There were six different winners in the first seven races. Quartararo was the only exception having won the first two Jerez race. He wasn't on the podium in any other race. If Márquez was healthy, even if he had finished second in the first two races to Jerez behind Quartararo, he would have won at Brno, one of the races in Austria, one of the races in Misano, Barcelona, Le Mans, one of the Aragón races and one of the Valencia races. Quartararo and his Petronas Yamaha SRT teammate Franco Morbidelli each won three races, tied for most of the season. Quartararo won the first two races and didn't finish on the podium in any other races. Morbidelli had three retirements in the first nine races.
Márquez would have won five or six races, he would have been on the podium at least nine times. Five victories would have at least given him ninth in the championship, two points off Quartararo. Six victories would have given him at least third in the champions, eight off of Morbidelli in second and 21 points off championship Joan Mir. Márquez would have picked up 22 points in the other eight races or 46 points in the other nine races if he only had five victories.
With Márquez out, nobody stepped up to take the title. Andrea Dovizioso was the first to have it slide away from him. Maverick Viñales had zero podium finishes and one top five finish in the final half of the season. Quartararo did all he could not win the championship. Even Mir tried his best not to win the championship, but after a pair of third and a victory in the first Valencia race, it was Mir's for the taking and he clinched the championship a race early!
A healthy Márquez wasn't going to be playing those games. Once he hit his groove, he wasn't going to be beat. He would have taken this title in Aragón if fully fit. Mir more than deserved the championship this year, but it has to be eating at Márquez that a second in Jerez would have been enough and going for more cost him.
On the other nominees:
Kevin Harvick won nine of the first 35 NASCAR Cup Series races. He was never worse than third in the championship through the first 35 Cup races. And yet, Harvick ended up finishing fifth in the final championship standings because he did not make the final four. Brushing the wall at Texas in damp conditions and being caught a lap down for over 100 laps at Martinsville put him in position to miss out on points. The best driver all season was out of the championship fight before the finale.
Porsche North America had a lot of podium finishes to start the 2020 IMSA season, but it was the one manufacture without a victory through the first half of the season. Porsche decided to withdraw its factory support from IMSA competition after the 2020 season, and to make matters worse, the team had to withdraw from Mid-Ohio due to a COVID-19 outbreak among the Porsche camp at Le Mans. With all of its drivers but Earl Bamber quarantined, the team could not compete, and this effectively ended its championship hopes. The good news is Porsche ended the season with three consecutive victories with a 1-2 finish at Sebring the icing on the cake.
Sebastian Vettel had his worst full season in Formula One. Vettel scored only 33 points from 17 races, 15 of those points came in his third-place finish at Turkey. He had no top five finishes other than that podium result. His 13th-place championship finish was only one spot better than his 2007 championship finish, where he made one start in place of an injured Robert Kubica and scored points on his debut, and then replaced Scott Speed at Toro Rosso for the final seven races. Even worse, Charles Leclerc thrashed Vettel in the Ferrari battle with Leclerc picking up 98 points and ended up eighth in the championship. Even before the season, we knew this was the last dance for Vettel and the Scuderia. The German has to revive his career in an Aston Martin.
Sergio Pérez was going to lose his place on the Formula One grid despite finishing fourth in the championship driving for Racing Point. Perez had scored points in his first 12 starts of the season and he had finished second at Turkey. At Bahrain, his engine failed while running third with four laps to go. The Mexican driver was taking more sucker punches than he deserved and then something glorious happened. A fortunate occurrence of events saw Pérez take a stunning victory in the Sakhir Grand Prix, his first career victory and Racing Point's only victory. He wrapped up fourth in the championship and it might have twisted Red Bull's arm to sign Pérez. At the start of December, Pérez likely didn't have a ride. Two weeks later, he is signed to Red Bull for 2021. I guess it kind of worked out for him.
Past Winners
2012: Ben Spies
2013: Sam Hornish, Jr.
2014: Alexander Rossi
2015: McLaren
2016: Toyota
2017: Nick Heidfeld
2018: Brett Moffitt
2019: Dennis Lind
Comeback of the Year
Description: The Best Comeback in the 2020 season.
And the Nominees are:
The #7 Acura: Coming from last in the championship to winning the IMSA DPi championship
Chase Briscoe: Starting six laps down at Homestead and finishing seventh on the lead lap
Nico Hülkenberg: Making three Formula One appearances despite starting the year without a ride and scoring ten points
Patrick Kelly: Returning to full-time racing nine years after a near-fatal automobile accident and winning IMSA's LMP2 championship
Zach Osborne: Missing two rounds in the Supercross season but returning with seven consecutive top five finishes, including his first career victory and winning the Motocross championship
And the winner is... the #7 Acura
IMSA does not have the most rewarding points system.
After 35 points for first, it is a three-point drop to second, another two points from second to third and then a point between each position from there. Because of the little difference between positions, a lower finish can ruin a championship early no matter how many victories you score. We saw this back in 2007 with Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing with Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty, who won half of the 14 races and was on the podium for over 70% of them, but a 22nd at Daytona and an 11th at Homestead dragged their season down and Gurney and Fogarty only won the title by two points over Scott Pruett, who won only twice.
That same system made it to 2020 and when the #7 Acura of Ricky Taylor and Hélio Castroneves started the year with a pair of last place finish, it felt like its title hopes were over from the start. Last place was a lot better in 2020 compared to 2007, in that the #7 Acura was eighth in those two races, but with how much smaller the DPi field was there were not going to be many chances to make up big chunks of points to the other leaders.
The #7 Acura also finished seventh out of eight cars in the third race of the season at Sebring. The team was on 70 points from three races, 22 points behind the championship leaders, the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac and the #77 Mazda. The #5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac was third on 90 points and had finished third in each of the first three races.
The #7 Acura won at Road America, a wet race that the #77 Mazda had control of before a caution and a red flag caught out the team before it could switch to wet weather tires. When the race was set to resume, the #77 Mazda had to switch tires while the rest of the field did it prior to the stoppage. It was a gift in Team Penske's favor, but one that didn't really change much. It was an early consolation prize.
Then the #7 Acura won the Six Hours of Atlanta despite Castroneves losing a lap because of two penalties. The team might have caught a break when the sister car, the #6 Acura slowed drastically entering the pit lane and forced the #10 Cadillac to run into the rear of the Acura, damaging both cars, but taking away a podium finish from Wayne Taylor Racing.
Castroneves and Taylor made it three consecutive victories at Mid-Ohio, and the #7 Acura had climbed from last among the full-time entrant to third, five points off of Wayne Taylor Racing with three races to go, two of which were Petit Le Mans and the 12 Hours of Sebring.
The team escaped with a runner-up finish at Petit Le Mans but contact with Taylor and Pipo Derani while battling for the late could have resulted in a more serious penalty. While Derani lost a significant chunk of points, Wayne Taylor Racing was the benefactor to that tussle, as the #10 Cadillac took the victory and extended the championship lead.
Team Penske employed team orders at Laguna Seca. With the #6 Acura leading and the #7 Acura in second, the team flipped the cars prior to the start of the final lap, giving Castroneves and Taylor an extra three points and giving the duo a two-point lead over Wayne Taylor Racing with Derani nine points back.
Sebring was a mess. The #7 Acura had to go behind the wall early for repairs and lost many laps. It appeared the championship was decided long before darkness would descend over the old air base but contact between the #10 Cadillac and the #77 Mazda forced Wayne Taylor Racing to come in for repairs and dropped the team to seventh, only one position and one point ahead of the #7 Acura.
Derani had to win the race to win the championship, but in a moment of red mist, he made contact with the #6 Acura and drew a penalty. This knocked Derani to sixth. The #7 Acura ended the season the way it began the season with an eighth-place finish, but miraculously won the championship.
On the other nominees:
Chase Briscoe began the first race from Homestead on pit lane, as the team scrambled to fix loose ballast. Briscoe lost six laps by the time he rejoined the race. With such a large deficit, all he could was fight to get back as many laps as possible, not knowing how the race would play with number of cautions and incidents. Despite it being a fairly uneventful race, Briscoe made up laps through wave arounds, free passes and alternate strategy. Running long before his final pit stop, combined with a caution for a Ryan Sieg spin with seven laps to go, put Briscoe back on the lead lap. He went from 11th at the time of that caution to seventh at the checkered flag.
You might not make much of Nico Hülkenberg's 2020 season but considering many thought his Formula One career had ended when Renault decided to replace him with Esteban Ocon. Hülkenberg was kind of forgotten once the pandemic started and the season was delayed. With all the restrictions in place, we didn't really see how a driver unaffiliated like him would get onto the grid this season. Then Sergio Pérez tested positive for COVID-19 and would be forced to miss both Silverstone races. In came Hülkenberg. Unfortunately, a power unit issue kept him from starting the British Grand Prix. However, Hülkenberg qualified third for the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix and finished seventh, one position behind Stroll. When Stroll became ill ahead of the Eifel Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, Hülkenberg started 20th and finished eighth. In those three race weekends, Hülkenberg pull his career from the fire and now he is the free agent everyone believes deserves another shot.
Over a decade ago, Patrick Kelly was a hopeful amateur driver, who was making his way in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge and he even ran in the 2010 12 Hours of Sebring in the GTC class. However, a road accident where a school bus struck Kelly's car left him with multiple fractures to his knee, elbow and a brain injury. After nine years of recovery, his neurologist cleared him to race last year. Kelly ran at Road America in 2019 with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports and won in the LMP2 class, but this year saw Kelly's return to full-time racing. He won three of six starts in the LMP2 class and took the championship with help from co-drivers Simon Trummer, Spencer Pigot and Scott Huffaker. Now, Kelly will have an invitation to the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Zach Osborne's Supercross season was off to a fair start through eight races. He had yet to stand on the podium, but he had three top five finishes and was ninth in the championship. Ahead of the Atlanta round, Osborne suffered broken ribs, bruised both lungs and a sprain wrist in a practice crash in Florida. A return for the end of the 2020 Supercross season seemed unlikely. He missed Atlanta and Daytona and then the pandemic shut down the Supercross season. With the final seven rounds postponed, Osborne was able to recover and when Supercross was ready to restart with a seven-race, three-week bubble in Salt Lake City, Osborne was able to return. He was in the top five of all seven races, and he was knocking on the door of his first career victory. At least two got away from him but he won the final race of the Supercross season. From there, Osborne would take the AMA Motocross championship with six victories, ten podium finishes and 15 top five finishes from 18 races over the late summer and early autumn.
Past Winners
2013: Michael Shank Racing at the 24 Hours of Daytona
2014: Juan Pablo Montoya to IndyCar
2015: Kyle Busch
2016: Max Verstappen from 15th to 3rd in the final 18 laps in the wet in the Brazilian Grand Prix
2017: Kelvin van der Linde: From third to first after a botched pit stop in the final 20 minutes in the 24 Hours Nürburgring
2018: Billy Monger: Returning to racing after losing his legs and finishing sixth in the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship with four podium finishes and a pole position at Donington Park.
2019: MotoE: For getting to the grid after fire destroyed every motorcycle prior to the first round of the season
Most Improved
Description: Racer, Team or Manufacture Who Improved The Most from 2019 to 2020.
And the Nominees are:
Corvette: From no victories and third in IMSA's GTLM manufactures' championship to six victories and winning the manufactures' championship
Joan Mir: From 12th on 91 points to MotoGP champion on 171 points
Marcus Ericsson: From 17th on 290 points (18.125 points per race) with one top five finish and three top ten finishes to 12th on 291 points (20.785 points per race) with three top five finishes and nine top ten finishes
Miguel Oliveira: From 17th on 33 points to ninth on 125 points with two victories in MotoGP
Stoffel Vandoorne: From 16th on 35 points (2.6923 PPR) with one podium finish to second on 87 points (7.909 PPR) with a victory, three podium finishes and points from 63.63% of the Formula E races.
And the winner is... Joan Mir
Anytime you can jump up over ten spots and become a world champion, you are most likely the most improved racer of the season.
Mir did not dominate the 2020 MotoGP season. In fact, he set a record for fewest victory for a premier class champion with one. What Mir did right was remain on the bike and bring it home. More often than not that resulted in a podium finish. Different riders were on the top step each week when Mir ended up on the podium. First it was Dovizioso, then it was Morbidelli and Viñales, Quartararo and Álex Rins. Morbidelli won a second time when Mir picked up his sixth podium result, but Morbidelli and Yamaha were far more inconsistent compared to Mir and Suzuki.
Mir's consistency gave him the advantage and his one victory came at the timeliest point, the European Grand Prix from Valencia. Quartararo was 14th that day. Morbidelli was 11th and Dovizioso was eighth. Mir was 37 points clear of Quartararo and Rins with two races to go and a podium finish in the penultimate race would lock up the title early. He didn't need a podium finish at Valencia to clinch the title. Quartararo fell off the bike, Rins could only manage fourth and Mir sealed the deal with a seventh-place finish.
On the other nominees:
Corvette Racing found itself in a rut after the 2019 season, and after a sour end to the C7.R-era, expectations were high for the first mid-engine Corvette, the C8.R. Though it was a new car and a new layout, Corvette had to get back to victory lane. It had not won a race since Long Beach 2018. The good news is it did not take long for the Corvette C8.R to get its first victory as it won the second race at Daytona.
Then Corvette won the next race at Sebring... and the race after that at Road America and the race after that at Virginia International Raceway. With two more victories at Mid-Ohio and Charlotte, Corvette cemented itself as the top GT Le Mans team in IMSA. Antonio García and Jordan Taylor took the title with five victories and eight podium finishes. Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner were third in the championship and we had three Corvette 1-2 finishes in 2020, something Corvette had not accomplished since Lime Rock Park in 2016.
Marcus Ericsson might not have lit IndyCar on fire in his sophomore season, but he made a big stride from his rookie season. Ericsson ended up five positions better in the championship with Chip Ganassi Racing instead of Arrow McLaren SP. He ended up with three top five finishes compared to one the year before. With nine top ten finishes, the only drivers with more than Ericsson in 2020 were his teammate and champion Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Colton Herta and Patricio O'Ward and those four just happened to be the top four in the championship. Though he did not pick up a victory, Ericsson made a significant improvement from year one to year two.
Miguel Oliveira gives Joan Mir a run for his money in the most improved category. While Mir went from 12th with his best finish being sixth to champion with a victory and seven podium finishes from 14 races, Oliveira went from 17th to ninth, a 12-spot improvement with two victories, four top five finishes and nine top ten finishes after he had one top ten finish all of 2019. He even won a pole position in 2020. Mir gets the spoils of a championship, but Oliveira will have rising confidence in himself and KTM after this season.
Stoffel Vandoorne's first act after his Formula One exit was not inspiring in Formula E. However, year two with Mercedes backing lifted him from another driver in the middle of the pack to a top driver in the all-electric championship. António Félix da Costa ran away with the championship, but Vandoorne became a regular contender. He started the year with a pair of third place finishes and he led the championship after the third round. Results fluctuated, but in the German bubble to end the season, Vandoorne had some strong results and he ended his season with a pole position and his first Formula E victory. This strong form lifted Mercedes to third in the teams' championship behind Formula E stalwarts DS Techeetah and Nissan e.dams.
Past Winners
2012: Esteban Guerrieri
2013: Marco Andretti
2014: Chaz Mostert
2015: Graham Rahal
2016: Simon Pagenaud
2017: DJR Team Penske
2018: Gary Paffett
2019: Cooper Webb
And that will do it. This delayed and lengthy motorsports season is now over. Before we know it, we will be back to competition. No one envisioned this would be how 2020 would play out. All we can be is grateful for what we got this year. We likely didn't get to go to the events we make yearly trips. We likely didn't spend as much time with friends and family. We likely took a loss this year. Our hope is for tomorrow, a better year and a return to something familiar, something comforting, something enjoyable.
Over the next few days we will go over our annual predictions and Christmas list. Stay tuned.
