And on that bombshell... F1 and motorsport 2017

[Third rate Leszno]

Got back last night from the WRC round in Germany - will post more about the experience later this week, but don't want to drop any spoilers before it's on Channel 5 tomorrow (or before you've visited YouTube, for those of you who might watch it there). In the meantime here's one of my best photos from the weekend...

[evilC]

Okay, not 2017, but...

Whatever happened to William Woollard? He was a decent presenter for this kind of thing, I thought...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZvhEQaVk_4

[Chopper]

Okay, not 2017, but...

Whatever happened to William Woollard? He was a decent presenter for this kind of thing, I thought...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZvhEQaVk_4

Very decent indeed, what - can't go far wrong with an ex-RAF Fighter Pilot chappie...loved his work on Tomorrow's World & Horizon also.

[Third rate Leszno]

Woolly Willard, as he was known.

Spa GP this weekend, fingers crossed for a good one.

[Kevin S]

Well, all fun and games at Force India, wasn't it? Looks like the team are going to impose orders on the drivers now, and it's probably for their own good. Up front, Hamilton closes the gap ahead of Monza.

The WRC Rallye Deutschland was another cracker, too, and hard lines for Neuville after managing to reel Ogier back in last time out. Tanak continues to make strides - a future world champion I should think.

So 7 points between the top two in F1, and 17 between the top two in WRC. A couple of cracking seasons so far, and hopefully hotly-contested finishes to come.

[SouthdownRebel]

A nice relaxing country drive in the offing for Lewis today. Ferrari nowhere.

[Flynnie]

The much more interesting race was in Indycar at the great Watkins Glen circuit. Other than a Bus Stop-style chicane (which is quick enough to be taken in fourth gear - it was designed for the much more unwieldy NASCARs), the Indycars race on the full 3.4 mile circuit so beloved in 1970s Formula 1. And it's fucking quick, with the pole lap by Alexander Rossi being over 147 mph.

It was the first wet race of the season and begun on a rapidly drying track, presenting a big challenge for the teams as Indycar has no intermediate tyre. So the entire field, bar a few guys, went into the pits after lap one to change to slicks.

Alexander Rossi won the race after a duel with the Iceman, Scott Dixon, but the real news was championship leader Josef Newgarden inexplicably* putting it into the wall exiting the pits late in the race. Teammate Will Power and Newgarden raced out of the pits - some saying Power didn't exactly help a teammate leading the championship there - and Newgarden overcooked it in the 90 degree turn that leads back out onto the circuit, smacking into the wall. Sebastian Bourdais was right behind him and also overdid it coming out of the pits*, smacking into the back of Newgarden. Newgarden limped around the track, duct tape was bought out, and he finished 18th. With Dixon 2nd, his championship point lead went from 31 to 3 before the last race at Sonoma. Double points on offer there, so any one of Newgarden/Dixon/Simon Pagenaud/Helio Castroneves (the sentimental favourite, having never won a title at age 41 and seemingly being shunted by Roger Penske to his sports car programme) could take the title. Will Power technically has a chance, but would need the other four contenders to all somehow go out on Lap 1 or something while he wins.

Rossi is turning into a real contender in his first proper season in Indycar (since he was a late addition last year as Manor collapsed), and is one of the main subjects of silly season speculation. Andretti Autosport are a bit behind Penske and Ganassi, the traditional titans of Indycar, and there is speculation about Rossi to Ganassi.

* well, some have wondered if there was oil laid down on the exit by Takuma Sato, as Helio Castroneves came damn close to sliding out over the blend line back onto the track, and Tony Kanaan also whacked the wall about 10 seconds after Newgarden did.

[SouthdownRebel]

Yes, SdR Jr is becoming far more interested in Indycar than F1 of late - which isn't helped when the F1 races are effectively decided in the first 15 seconds. The only downside is he can't watch the races live as I refuse pointblank to:

a) Fork out for a Sky satellite sub* so that I can additionally fork out for BT Sport
b) Return to the pitchfork-up-the-arse experience that is BT Broadband

So unfortunately he has to make do with the official radio feed on the day and highlights when they're available online a few days later. He took the news well enough - a 5 minute rant about the injustice of having to pay for things with money** and a promise to give BT Sport / Indycar / anyone-who'll-listen a bashing on Twitter***

* I have Now TV, it's cheaper
** In some ways I agree with him, but mostly when it comes to food and shelter than paying for the right to watch people go round in circles really fast
*** He doesn't have a Twitter account, so this is quite the commitment. More power to his elbow

[Flynnie]

Is BT Sport not on now TV? It's pretty cheap compared to Sky Sports, and Indycar is good value both in entertainment and timing for British viewers. Basically all the races except the shorter ovals (which are usually run at night) are on Sunday evenings for British viewers. So every race that involves turning right and the two 500 milers on big ovals (IMHO, the time when oval racing is most interesting) viewable for British fans.

[longeared]

The Singapore national anthem sounds like an attempt at an uplifting ballad that someone like Switzerland enters in Eurovision.

Oh and it's raining. This is an unknown.

[longeared]

Daft to have a full start in those conditions, and we dutifully have a huge crash on the first corner when Kimi takes Verstappen and Alonso out, then Vettel loses his nose and is out too.

[Kevin S]

Crazy. Hamilton said he needed a miracle today, too.

[longeared]

Ha ha, Kvyat tells his engineer to stop giving him radio messages then goes and plonks it straight in the wall.

[Chopper]

Daft to have a full start in those conditions, and we dutifully have a huge crash on the first corner when Kimi takes Verstappen and Alonso out, then Vettel loses his nose and is out too.

Time to review the tape methinks...Raikkonen did nothing wrong, except get a blinding start, Verstappen had nowhere to go sandwiched between the Ferraris, which leaves the third driver involved as the obvious guilty party - nothing wrong with starting the race in those conditions, you just have to hope the drivers take extra care. I hate seeing the Pole driver move so far so early, but they all do it - I was only thinking a few races ago that Hamilton should have been cautioned for veering almost straight away. Nice try from Ferrari to immediately try and pin it on Verstappen, not - do they think everyone else is blind?

Apart from that, what a fabulous event they run in Singapore - the most exciting venue on the calendar say I, falling in line with the C4F1 team, who are so much more me than the awful Sky team (except Brundle, obvs).

[Flynnie]

If anybody is going to successfully ape the Jacques Villeneuve route to F1 succcess, it'll be Josef Newgarden.

26 years old, American, and just won the IndyCar title for Roger Penske with some thrilling drives in the second half of the season.

[Kevin S]

Cheers Flynnie. Here's a summary video of the final IndyCar 2017 race - it says Newgarden is the first American to become Champion since 2012.

[Kevin S]

Time to review the tape methinks...Raikkonen did nothing wrong, except get a blinding start, Verstappen had nowhere to go sandwiched between the Ferraris, which leaves the third driver involved as the obvious guilty party - nothing wrong with starting the race in those conditions, you just have to hope the drivers take extra care. I hate seeing the Pole driver move so far so early, but they all do it - I was only thinking a few races ago that Hamilton should have been cautioned for veering almost straight away. Nice try from Ferrari to immediately try and pin it on Verstappen, not - do they think everyone else is blind?

Some of the wise old heads are very much of that view, with Jos Verstappen (yeah, ok, he might be a little biased, but he's right) and Jacques Villeneuve both pinning it on Vettel. They also both say they wouldn't have veered across themselves, as Hamilton was down in fifth and a risky early move wasn't necessary in terms of the Championship. Serves him right, then.

[jason voorhees]

Some of the wise old heads are very much of that view, with Jos Verstappen (yeah, ok, he might be a little biased, but he's right) and Jacques Villeneuve both pinning it on Vettel. They also both say they wouldn't have veered across themselves, as Hamilton was down in fifth and a risky early move wasn't necessary in terms of the Championship. Serves him right, then.

Indeed.

As far as competitive wheel-to-wheel racing, Vettel = Niko.

Niko is a 5 time world champion without being in Red Bull.

Lewis = The Best.

[Kevin S]

WRC has confirmed its 2018 schedule. The big change is that Poland has been dropped and Turkey added in. Poland was a cracking race so that's a shame, but let's hope that Turkey lives up to it. It will be a September rally.

Then there's some jiggling. The big break will be from 10 June to 26 July, Britain and Spain swap, and it looks like this:

1.	Monte-Carlo	25 - 28 January
2.	Sweden	15 - 18 February
3.	Mexico	8 - 11 March
4.	France	5 - 8 April
5.	Argentina	26 - 29 April
6.	Portugal	17 - 20 May
7.	Italy	7 - 10 June
8.	Finland	26 - 29 July
9.	Germany	16 -19 August
10.	Turkey	13 - 16 September
11.	Great Britain	4 - 7 October
12.	Spain	25 - 28 October
13.	Australia	15 - 18 November

The 11th of this year's 13 races (Catalunya - Spain) is still a couple of weeks away but exciting news is that former pro cyclist and three-time UCI Road Race World Champion Oscar Freire is going to take part in a group N3 (help me out chaps - does that basically mean an off-the-peg car?) Kia Pro-cee'd GT.

[Kevin S]

Couple of circuits to visit, with three races at each, for the European Formula 3 championship this year. The 17 year old from Bristol, Lando Norris, we mentioned on page 1 is leading the standings. Here are his results:

1

9

3

1

2

2

2

2

Ret

8

14

3

11

1

3

1

Ret

1

1

3

1

1

2

1

Not a bad rookie season.

He's on McLaren's books and something I didn't notice at the time was that they let him loose with the F1 car in Hungary's testing session in August. His time was in a Ferrari sandwich.


Edit: for reference, Vettel's pole lap was 1:16.276 and the fastest race lap was 1:20.182.

[Kevin S]

Ah, and there's George Russell too (19, from King's Lynn).

[Antepli Ejderha]

Less than three weeks after a double fracture of his leg Valentino Rossi: Italian will 'try to race' at Aragon GP http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/motorsport/41338438

[Third rate Leszno]

WRC has confirmed its 2018 schedule. The big change is that Poland has been dropped and Turkey added in. Poland was a cracking race so that's a shame, but let's hope that Turkey lives up to it. It will be a September rally.

Then there's some jiggling. The big break will be from 10 June to 26 July, Britain and Spain swap, and it looks like this:

The 11th of this year's 13 races (Catalunya - Spain) is still a couple of weeks away but exciting news is that former pro cyclist and three-time UCI Road Race World Champion Oscar Freire is going to take part in a group N3 (help me out chaps - does that basically mean an off-the-peg car?) Kia Pro-cee'd GT.

Group N was phased out in 2013 in favour of the R1, R2, R3, R4 classification, but in old money an N3 car is essentially Production class for up to 2000cc and 2wd I think - so limited mods apart from the safety and strengthening, upgraded suspension and gearbox innards.

Bringing Rally GB even further forward next year will bugger my plans royally as it now falls a week before my annual trip to the Mull Rally - which will hopefully be reinstated to the calendar next year after being cancelled this year due to insurance concerns over a loophole in the road-closure legislation. I doubt I can afford to do both and Mull will always win out for me.

Poland is a victim of the drive to improve safety - some of the onboard footage was horrific this year, fans standing in seriously daft places. Having said that, there have been similar scenes on other events and the large and vociferous Eastern European spectator contingent have a reasonable argument that Poland has been made a convenient scapegoat as the FIA would never dare to throw out a blue riband event like Finland...

[jason voorhees]

They don't have this much gas in Formula E.

I learned the Finnish term is "flying a kite," and in Australia it's a "trouser cough."

[Kevin S]

tee hee

There's a survey being run by the World Endurance Championship. Chance to win Le Mans tickets.

The championship is going to change to a winter series, following a transitional 'super season' in 2018/19. I presume the intention is to have Le Mans as the final race.
http://www.dailysportscar.com/2017/0...or-201819.html