And on that bombshell... F1 and motorsport 2017

[ursus arctos]

Looks like Kimi is back

[SouthdownRebel]

Toto Wolf fist-desk moment!

Stroll to win?

[SouthdownRebel]

Actually, a Bottas win is not at all out of the question.

[ursus arctos]

Hamilton is such a twat

[Levin]

*like*

[SouthdownRebel]

Oh, that's cruel on Stroll. What a terrific race though.

[longeared]

Pleasantly bonkers race, another outing for the bleep machine, and now we'll presumably get to watch Bottas and Stroll doing shoeys on the podium.

[Levin]

Vettel has to get more than a 10second stop go for driving into someone, however slowly.

[ursus arctos]

I wonder if they decided to implicitly penalise Hamilton for braking in the first instance.

He was bitching about Vettel's penalty to Whiting during the race.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Rossi wins his first MOTOGP race for over a year in Assen. All three classes were really entertaining today, the 125 had 11 riders going into the last lap with a genuine chance of getting a win.

[ursus arctos]

His tenth win at Assen

The first was more than 20 (TWENTY) tears ago.

The man is an absolute phenomenon

[Third rate Leszno]

Vettel has to get more than a 10second stop go for driving into someone, however slowly.

Yeah, that was a move straight from the short ovals, really petulant stuff. Didn't cover himself in glory in his first post-race interview either when he refused to acknowledge he'd done it.

Still - really enjoyable race, and great to see the established order shaken up.

[ursus arctos]

No additional points penalty for Vettel

He's got to do some public "road safety" penance and is on notice for any future incidents this season, but that's it after he took full responsibility for his actions.

[Gangster Octopus]

F1 continues to die...

[Kevin S]

Mercedes is quitting German Touring Cars, but entering into Formula E, for 2019.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/130904

[Third rate Leszno]

WRC Finland, a.k.a. the Rally of 1000 Lakes begins tomorrow. Ever since the new breed of World Rally cars was introduced, this is the one that everyone has been waiting for. The speeds are anticipated to be so high that artificial chicanes have been deployed to 'wake the drivers up' in the organisers words - last year's winning average speed was about 78mph, without the chicanes it could've been 87mph this time, so much faster are the 2017 spec cars. Ogier has already had a monster crash in testing, it's fair to say that anyone going off this weekend is unlikely to get the car repaired to come back under Rally 2 rules the next day. In a week when rallying in the UK is under intense scrutiny (Fatal Accident Inquiry in Scotland, relating to events in 2014) I just hope everyone (competitors, marshals, spectators) goes home safely.

[Kevin S]

Who do you think will win the Championship? I'm plumping for Neuville.

[Third rate Leszno]

Neuville has the most backing, and seemingly the more reliable car, but when everything comes together I think the Ford and Ogier are quicker. Head says Neuville, heart says Ogier (or more specifically M-Sport!).

Tanak and Paddon both have the speed to win rallies, especially this weekend - but with only 5 events left you would expect team orders to come into play, if they have a team mate immediately behind them. J-ML should be a spoiler in Finland and Wales, and if Citroen can get their car to operate in it's narrow window of performance then Meeke is capable of anything.

Whoever is leading the series going into the final round in Australia will be at a disadvantage when opening the roads on day 1, so if there's only a few points between them going into that one then that could be really interesting.

[jason voorhees]

Awesome race.

Awesome season.

Love that Alonso not only scored 6th, but that double lawnchair pic at the end was brilliant.

Vets up 14 at the break.

[Third rate Leszno]

WRC Finland on Channel 5 tonight for UK viewers - should also be available online via other providers.

[Kevin S]

Excellent. I've managed to avoid spoilers so far, too.

[Kevin S]

Well, that was well worth avoiding the result for. Unlike any other WRC race so far in 2017.

If you don't have access to My5, the extended highlights are here:
https://www.redbull.tv/live/AP-1Q84G...y-championship

Or for the shorter versions:

[Kevin S]

[Kevin S]

The full race of NASCAR's Brickyard 400 is available here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFRY8NiQKa0&t=2h22m40s

I haven't seen it but I notice a video at the side mentions some 'controversy'...?

[Third rate Leszno]

Well, that was well worth avoiding the result for. Unlike any other WRC race so far in 2017.

Good, wasn't it? Worth hunting out some of the amateur footage on YouTube too, some of it is really spectacular and virtually every compilation features Suninen tearing past at a lurid angle - I hope his sponsors have deep pockets, cos he's going to get through some cars.

Germany next, considerably less spectacular - but I'm going! Cannot wait...