Once more on C4: F1 and motorsport 2018

[Wouter D]

Classy way to bow out.

[blameless]

That's a shame, feels like the last proper F1 driver is going. Bravo, Fernando.

[Flynnie]

Simon Pagenaud is feeling very nervous right now.

[Kevin S]

Is Penske thought to be where Alonso is likely to go? If so, yeah, Pagenaud has seemed to drop a fair way behind Power and Newgarden.

[Kevin S]

Or he might even drive for McLaren themselves...?

[Kevin S]

I believe the polite way to describe the IndyCar Series putting up this video and @ tweeting Alonso is 'reaching out'.

https://twitter.com/IndyCar/status/1029726436616298497
https://twitter.com/IndyCar/status/1029726436616298497

[Flynnie]

McLaren claim they're setting up an Indycar team, but I'm not sure they've got Alonso locked down. This has led to speculation that Penske, Ganassi and Andretti* are competing for his services.

I don't know if Alonso is interested in doing Le Mans again, but one of the features of the Indycar schedule is a break for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A fair number of the field drives in it.


*although Andretti are probably going to work with McLaren anyway

[Kevin S]

Cheers Flynnie. Been a good season in IndyCar this year, have enjoyed the competitiveness of it. I think Alonso will continue to do endurance races, he's at Silverstone this weekend in that Toyota #8 again looking for its third WEC win in a row after Spa and Le Mans. (I mean, it's bound to be either this car or Toyota #7, but still, a win's a win...)



Porsche's GT-Pros #91 and #92 have reverted to white, black and red for Silverstone by the looks of it (having been in 'Rothmans' and 'Pink pig' livery for Le Mans).

[SouthdownRebel]

Meanwhile McLaren announce that Sainz will replace him next season.

[Kevin S]

Well, this is a bit shit - WEC's 2019-20 calendar has Silverstone and Shanghai cut to 4h races. Does that even qualify as endurance?

https://twitter.com/FIAWEC/status/1030385401012346880

https://twitter.com/FIAWEC/status/1030385401012346880

[Kevin S]

#8 leading #7 at the moment, Buemi bring chased by Kobayashi.

[Kevin S]

That was the Buemi Show at Silverstone, as the Swiss did 3 of the 6 hours with a great drive. And that gives car #8 a 3 from 3 record: not bad from WEC rookie Alonso.

[longeared]

Up until the point they went back to a 2 from 3 record as both Toyotas were disqualified for a technical infringement, though the team intends to appeal.

Robert Wickens had a huge crash in the Indy race at Pocono, he launched over the top of Ryan Hunter-Reay's car and bounced off the safety fence several times while airborne before spinning to a halt in the middle of the track. Broke both his legs and his right arm along with some spinal injuries.

[Kevin S]

Shit, poor Wickens! He'd been having such a great season too. Hope he can make a good recovery.

And thanks for the post-race results - I'd just watched the last hour or so and foolishly didn't check it stood. I see one of the Porsche GTs had second place taken off it too, which serves then right for reverting to the mundane paint jobs. Moves the Ganassi UK Ford up to second in class as a result.

[Third rate Leszno]

Switched over to the Indy car just after the accident and spent a horrified few minutes watching all the re-runs. Wickens was so lucky that the car spun round like a helicopter blade as it flew along the debris fencing, if it had tipped over then I doubt he’d have survived.

[Kevin S]

IndyCar had just uploaded a Wickens video before the race, too.

Just seen it now, jesus christ. You could say that Hunter-Reay is also lucky that Wickens' car didn't take his head off as it flew over him.

[Kevin S]

And for something slightly different, 10 minute highlights of the Super Formula:

[Kevin S]

https://twitter.com/IndyCar/status/1...634036736?s=19

https://twitter.com/IndyCar/status/1031661587634036736?s=19

[Wouter D]

Gasly replaces Ricciardo at Red Bull.

[Kevin S]

Lando Norris will get to do FP1 instead of Alonso at Spa. He's going to want to give Vandoorne a run for his money - those two (Vandoorne's seat is under pressure) and possibly Ocon are thought to be the three main contenders to get the second McLaren car next year with Sainz.

[Kevin S]

Wickens' first lot of surgery was a success.
https://twitter.com/IndyCar/status/1031895078460116992?

https://twitter.com/IndyCar/status/1031895078460116992?

[Kevin S]

ESPN's latest thoughts on the driver merry-go-round.
http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/...s-summer-break

If nothing else, we know that Alonso's move away means at least one new name has to come in somewhere, and if nobody else wants to take on Vandoorne then that's another. ESPN wonder if McLaren will try to tempt Kimi away from Ferrari to partner Sainz but that could be a long shot; there is a suspicion that Norris needs another year or so before getting a full-time seat in F1.

Vergne's name gets mentioned but under Toro Rosso (and it's unlikely he'd go back there given that he left them when they chose Kyvat over him for a Red Bull seat). But he's just won the Formula E world championship, so you wonder if an upper-midfield team like McLaren might be tempted by Vergne if they want an experienced driver?

[Kevin S]

And in fact it turns out (according to Vergne at least) that he has been approached by at least one team for 2019:
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13...-team-approach

[Kevin S]

Force India are dead, long live Force India.

Meanwhile on the track Ferrari are giving it the beans in practice for a change.

[SouthdownRebel]

Thank goodness for the halo, that was a nasty accident