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And on that bombshell... F1 and motorsport 2017

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    Kvy-out. 21 year old Pierre Gasly will make his F1 debut in Malaysia.

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      Lewis Hamilton has announced he is going vegan, out of combination of factors that definitely includes concerns over the future of the planet. Commendable of course, but lets no-one mention the hulking great elephant sitting in the corner of his garage, shall we?

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        Not eating meat is probably better for the planet than quitting F1, given the use of hybrids and the profound impact cattle has on our planet. Driving and flying is probably worse, but not by much, and we don't need meat. I say this as a meat eater.

        But he's such a berk, isn't he?

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          Dullest F1 GP ever?

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            Lacked a bit of tension in the closing stages once it became apparent Vettel wasn't going to get past Ricciardo but otherwise thought it was a pretty decent race. Shame we're losing Sepang from the calendar given some of the dross that remains.

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              Japan practice highlights here:
              FP1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzPnUPEqrVM
              FP2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgBrZeDS_4E
              Last edited by Kevin S; 06-10-2017, 13:17.

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                Originally posted by longeared View Post
                Lacked a bit of tension in the closing stages once it became apparent Vettel wasn't going to get past Ricciardo but otherwise thought it was a pretty decent race. Shame we're losing Sepang from the calendar given some of the dross that remains.
                I was reflecting during the race on how rare it is now to watch a race from an F1 circuit where there's more fast corners than slow ones. Spa, Silverstone, Spielberg, Suzuka, Sepang (seeing a trend here) and????

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                  Lando Norris clinched the European F3 title at the weekend in Hockenheim.

                  Meanwhile, Hamilton is apparently considering taking a knee at the US GP.

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                    Britain's round of the WRC is coming up this weekend, usual mix of highlights and live coverage on BT Sports, online coverage through RedBull TV whilst terrestrial viewers have a choice of Channel 5 [nightly highlights packages (after midnight) plus the Power Stage live at noon on Sunday] or Ralio on S4C [nightly highlights, inc. Thursday].

                    I'm going out for a watch at Shakedown tomorrow, and possibly the new Spectator super special at the Tir Prince trotting track outside Towyn - though I fear that will be utter chaos on the parking front. I'm then out watching in the mid-Wales forests on Friday, very much hoping for both a home win (I'll take Meeke or Evans, though obviously the latter will get most of the local support) and some silverware for M-Sport, ideally both the manufacturers title (nailed on) and the drivers championship (Ogier may need to wait til Australia to wrap it up).

                    Mildly concerned that the first appearance of the new WRC cars on these shores will bring such an upsurge of interest that the roads are simply unable to cope and the whole thing will grind to a halt, or stages will be cancelled due to weight of numbers in unsuitable locations - both have happened before, and the potential is there again, probably more so on the weekend than Friday due to the way the route has been set out.

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                      If it wasn't for Verstappen, I think F1 would be unwatchable.

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                        So, yeah, Hamilton wins his fourth world drivers championship. Fantastic stuff. Something of an odd way to get there but perhaps that's just another question mark against Vettel's aggressiveness. Two more races to go, so it's not inconceivable that Bottas will come through into second either.

                        In young driver news, Callum Ilott has signed with the Ferrari driver academy so we might see him in testing next year.

                        Wonder whether McLaren will put Norris in for a race in 2018 - maybe Alonso will fancy another crack at the Indy 500 and free up a ride in Monaco? The Euro F3 champion from last year - Lance Stroll - certainly seems to have made the step up and has had a strong rookie year.

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                          Alonso more or less said in Austin that he wouldn't be doing Indy next year. He is though doing the Daytona 24 hour at the end of January (as is Norris) presumably as a stepping stone to having a crack at Le Mans in June.

                          Norris may well get an F1 drive in what is likely to be a big general reshuffle at the end of next season - Ferrari will surely get rid of Raikkonen (if they don't find a way to do so this winter given that his performance in Mexico was bordering on embarrassing), Ocon could well get a Mercedes seat, Ricciardo may end up leaving Red Bull and there will be assorted knock-ons further down the grid from all that.
                          Last edited by longeared; 31-10-2017, 19:41.

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                            Lando Norris promoted to official test and reserve driver for McLaren for 2018, so his chances of getting a race have just increased.

                            Conscious that I've not commented on Wales Rally GB yet - didn't want to drop any spoilers before the tiny number of people who are interested in the muddy side of top level motorsport had been able to catch the highlights, but happy to post something (and some photos) if anyone is interested...

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                              My5 wasn't playing ball with me last week - go ahead and spoil away. (I'm assuming that Ogier wrapped up the title, and I was hoping for an Evans win, natch.)

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                                F1 really needs to stop being a dick with scheduling Monaco against the Indy 500. I suspect that's a holdover from Bernie's "make F1 the only motorsport" strategy.

                                Alonso had about as good a debut as can reasonably be expected last year, and was very popular with the fans, who would not have appreciated him going all Jean Girard on Indycar racing (he was the complete opposite).

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                                  It also makes it easier for US-based sponsors' junkets, given the holiday weekend.

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                                    Hang on. While I like to blame Bernie for stuff isn't the Monaco GP weekend always the one closest to ascension day?

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                                      For those of you who consider the Prost-Senna (Piquet-Mansell) era the Golden Age, a nice little snippet from the BBC World Service, only 9 minutes.

                                      Features an interview with Alessandro Nannini and reminded me he actually won the controversial 1989 Japanese, his only win. Then lost his hand in a helicopter accident. Then had it sewn back on. Now runs a bakery business in Siena.

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                                        Originally posted by Levin View Post
                                        Hang on. While I like to blame Bernie for stuff isn't the Monaco GP weekend always the one closest to ascension day?
                                        Until recently it was in early May.

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                                          Originally posted by Flynnie View Post
                                          F1 really needs to stop being a dick with scheduling Monaco against the Indy 500. I suspect that's a holdover from Bernie's "make F1 the only motorsport" strategy.

                                          Alonso had about as good a debut as can reasonably be expected last year, and was very popular with the fans, who would not have appreciated him going all Jean Girard on Indycar racing (he was the complete opposite).
                                          It's going to be on at the same time?

                                          If so, that's utter bullshit.

                                          I love the Monaco-Indy-Charlotte 9:30am-11:30pm All Day/All Night thing.

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                                            Not the same time, the same day.

                                            Twas not always thus. It only started being consistently scheduled on the same day as Indianapolis in 2006, although it was sporadically run on the same day before then. But it was usually in the first two weeks of May.

                                            It makes it impossible for drivers to do both, which was common in the 1960s and super cool and should be done again.

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                                              Originally posted by Kevin S View Post
                                              My5 wasn't playing ball with me last week - go ahead and spoil away. (I'm assuming that Ogier wrapped up the title, and I was hoping for an Evans win, natch.)

                                              So, er, yeah, mentioning this a month after the event but it turned out that both of these things happened. Ogier did enough to win yet another World Rally Championship but, excitingly, Evans got his first WRC win and on home soil. A Welsh winner of the Wales Rally GB. And the first British winner since the third of Richard Burns' hat-trick in 2000.

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                                                Ahead of the new year, motorsport.com are running a countdown of their top stories of 2017 each day.

                                                Here's 20 to 11:

                                                #20: The dawn of IMSA's DPi era
                                                #19: Whincup crowned in mad Supercars finale
                                                #18: Castroneves bids farewell to IndyCar
                                                #17: Ogier leads M-Sport to WRC glory
                                                #16: Kvyat the loser in Toro Rosso reshuffle
                                                #15: Truex's remarkable NASCAR title run
                                                #14: An LMP2 nearly wins Le Mans
                                                #13: Manor disappears from the F1 grid
                                                #12: NASCAR introduces stage racing
                                                #11: Dovizioso falls short in MotoGP showdown

                                                And here are their photos of the year. Number one is Scott Dixon's crash in the Indy 500.

                                                Last edited by Kevin S; 22-12-2017, 09:45.

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