Once more on C4: F1 and motorsport 2018

[Kevin S]

Yeah, crazy stuff, a great race. No-one overtakes like Ricciardo, do they? Hamilton oddly subdued, though facepalm of the day goes to Toro Rosso...

[Kevin S]

World RX Catalunya - final race from yesterday (a lot going on in that very first corner)

[Kevin S]

Sebastien Bourdais has an eye for a decent overtake, too. Though he got a penalty for this one, wandering over the line marking out the pit lane.

The 'fast forward' video of Long Beach race isn't up yet; someone needs to pull their finger out... but if you want 7-odd minutes from the F1 Chinese Grand Prix, that's here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiub1DnUnkg

[SouthdownRebel]

Yeah, crazy stuff, a great race. No-one overtakes like Ricciardo, do they? Hamilton oddly subdued, though facepalm of the day goes to Toro Rosso...

Quite glad they did fall over each other though, the resulting safety car made the race. I'm sure the team saw it that way.

[Third rate Leszno]

I've made a prediction game, in case anyone is interested, here:
https://www.onetouchfootball.com/sho...74#post1415674

Missed this Kev, but count me in for the next one.

[Kevin S]

Yay, cheers TRL.

Also, the Indy fast forward has gone up in the last hour or so. You're welcome.
https://youtu.be/PhyrN4w9HM4

[Kevin S]

Alabama GP is under a second red flag, due to the weather, and may be called off.

[Kevin S]

Fast Forward Alabama: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iX4u76lW9c

[Kevin S]

That's another pretty epic race, by the way. The IndyCar championship looks pretty open so far.

This weekend on four wheels:

F1 - Azerbaijan GP
BTCC - Donington
WRC - Argentina
WRX - Portugal
FE - Paris EP (Saturday)
Nascar - Talladega 500

Next weekend sees the start of the WEC super season, with the 6 hours of Spa. Everyone loves Spa, so 6 hours of it has to be a very good thing. All the WEC races are on Eurosport, I believe.

[Third rate Leszno]

On a more local level, Saturday also sees the opening round of the British Rally Championship, coupled with a round of the British Historic Rally Championship. I shall be yomping about Kielder forest trying to find somewhere safe, spectacular and photogenic to watch it all.

Looking forward to the Baku GP on Sunday too - it was one of the more watchable races last year.

[nmrfox]

Will be at Donington on Sunday hoping that Leicester have given Crystal Palace a good humping the day before just to keep Motorbase's Eagle supporting TP off of my case for the day. I obviously will be the soul of discretion and will be surprised if I even mention it.

[Kevin S]

Turn 8 was the one that caused chaos at Baku's first GP last year. Today, though, Verstappen has come a cropper at turn 5. Lots of comments on social media this year have compared him unfavourably to Maldonado (who will be doing endurance racing in an LMP2 car this year, fwiw) in a fast-but-very-crashy kind of way. I wondered if that was a bit harsh, but he's living up to that billing at the moment.
https://twitter.com/F1/status/989817822602715136

https://twitter.com/F1/status/989817822602715136

[Kevin S]

Bottas fastest in FP1, by the way.

[Flynnie]

Maldonado has two top five finishes in his F1 career, Verstappen has three Grand Prix victories. And he's 20 years old.

I know Verstappen's usually been in a better car but that's also a function of his talent. Maldonado was quick but no quicker than other drivers who didn't put it in the wall as much, Verstappen drives into people more than you'd like but he's also got racecraft, savvy and guts.

[nmrfox]

Agree with all of that Flynnie and would add a couple more things. Verstappen has also been unlucky with car breakdowns and accidents that have not been his fault - Singapore last year very much springs to mind - so his number of dnf's gets slewed as a consequence. Whilst he is a breath of fresh air, he does need to curb his natural impatience and impetuosity sometimes, as this has also cost him; at times he could do with taking a leaf out of his teammates book.

F1 without Verstappen would be very much the poorer.

[Kevin S]

Yeah, that's fair enough. Red Bull have probably the two most engaging drivers to watch.

[Kevin S]

Oh yes.

https://youtu.be/DVf14c0YXMM

[longeared]

Hurray - the Red Bulls take each other out.

[longeared]

That shot of Toto Wolff when Bottas punctured.

[ursus arctos]

What a batshit crazy finish that was

Verstappen needs adult supervision

[Kevin S]

F1 highlights here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iculr0LElws

I watched the GP back last night, having managed to avoid most spoilers except my phone popping up with a google alert that included the words 'Verstappen' and 'Red Bull disappointed'. Given how he and Ricciardo were trading places for most of the race I figured it was going to end badly. The verdict and some of the coverage is quite critical of Max but Coulthard, in the C4 commentary, put it down mostly to Ricciardo. He said DR was clearly trying to sell Max a dummy and in then diving down the inside was gambling that room would be left, but with no plan B if it wasn't. He said he had learned that while you can get through the back- and mid-field with those, you don't try it against one of the top and more aggressive drivers.

I'm not sure I've seen such a comical incident as Grosjean's planting of his Haas into the wall under SC. And then we had the bizarre series of events with Ferrari/Vettel messing up the timing of their stop and coming out behind Bottas. Vettel throwing away what would still have been a strong second place by trying too hard to take back first, and then Bottas' tyre just disappearing when the win was in sight.

I think it's fair to say Hamilton was quite lucky to get his first win of 2018 on the board - and he knows it, too.

Renault were looking very good for a very long time in that one, too. Sainz saw home a good 5th, and Hulkenberg should've been up there, too, if he hadn't screwed it all up.

[Kevin S]

Here's the final race from World RX Portugal. Filthy weather.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biGdyBxjFTI

[Kevin S]

So this is where I was supposed to put these posts then.

A couple of other shortish highlights videos:

Formula E Paris ePrix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IME2f7rvNA0

Nascar Talladega
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_RX-u99pXY&t=4s

Nascar annoyingly tell you who wins in the video descriptions.

Then there was some waffle about FE, which I've now deleted. *Sigh*

[Kevin S]

Ooof, Craig Breen...

[Kevin S]

Here's the cars, drivers and classes for the 6 Hours of Spa this weekend. The gap in car 11 is, according to that video above, where we will find Jenson Button.