Yeah they were all bad, Unfortunately I can remember a number of awful accidents from standing starts - including Brundle at Melbourne 96, Lehto at Imola 94, Gugelmin at Paul Ricard 89 and most importantly Ricardo Paletti at Montreal 82 and Ronnie Peterson at Monza 78.

 

I'd never want to lose a standing start from the sport but the idea of doing one after the cars have done over 170 miles, with every driver going hell for leather and marbles covering everywhere off the racing line feels a little like tempting fate for the sake of a show and I don't trust Michael Masi to think of safety first.

I have a feeling you might agree with some of the issues and conclusions in this:

 

 

Quite eye-opening. I missed some of these controversies at the time through the language barrier but its certainly an eye opening and concerning pattern. While i do still believe a standing start and sprint finish was a good thing and produced 2 laps of excellent racing, there are other decisions that certainly do call Masi's abilities and judgement into question. Most specifically the speeding under yellows. The FIA should be investigating that and handing out penalty points to those not deemed to have slowed enough and a race ban to the one who didn't slow at all. He could have killed a Marshall

That pretty much sums up my concerns over Masi.

 

Regarding the other side of the debate around late red flags and restarts - i.e. falsely affecting a result - a perfect example of a potential concern played out in Indycar yesterday.

 

Will Power led most of the race comfortably when, with a handful of laps to go, Grosjean crashed and his car could easily have been dealt with under a yellow, although the race would likely have finished behind the safety car/ Instead they threw out a red flag and forced every car to stop in the pit lane. Because of the heat and a lack of cool air getting in to his engine Power's ECU overheated and he couldn't restart the race. The unnecessary red flag cost him an almost certain and thoroughly deserved win, artificially affecting the championship and left a slightly bitter taste in the end.

 

It's something that should be kept in mind and that the sport needs to be careful about.

I heard about that, but haven’t seen it myself. How did the ECU overheat tho, surely under a red flag it’s Engines off, cooling packs on? That was what I understood the F1 grid did anyway but my understanding there might be wrong.

They're not allowed to touch the car until all the cars are stopped in the pit. That's a rule they need to review as it meant Power's car was stationary with no cooling for around a minute, which was long enough in such a high heat environment to end his race.

 

F1 rules are slightly better in that respect but it's still a potential issue to be wary of.

I suppose they could, in theory, argue that the ECU could have overheated on the circuit in the closing laps (it wouldn’t be the first time a winner lost out on mechanical issues in the dying stages) and so he might have lost the win anyway

 

Either way it’s a tough pill for Power to swallow

I have a feeling you might agree with some of the issues and conclusions in this:

 

 

Quite eye-opening. I missed some of these controversies at the time through the language barrier but its certainly an eye opening and concerning pattern. While i do still believe a standing start and sprint finish was a good thing and produced 2 laps of excellent racing, there are other decisions that certainly do call Masi's abilities and judgement into question. Most specifically the speeding under yellows. The FIA should be investigating that and handing out penalty points to those not deemed to have slowed enough and a race ban to the one who didn't slow at all. He could have killed a Marshall

 

This was a good watch and can't believe just how blasé they were about those incidents at Imola & Turkey last year. The Turkey one was absolutely insane and I really fear someone's gonna get seriously hurt or killed again with decisions like that. Can't believe how little was said or done about it.

 

Another one that completely went udnder the radar was allowing Leclerc to race 2 laps around Catalunya last year without wearing a seatbelt.

Since we all know this weekends race will be tedious, this might help pass the time

 

 

Haha excellent. Just missing "Valterri, it's James" :D

Figured this might interest you guys:

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/motorsport...ocid=entnewsntp

Yep that rumour has been raging for ever and ever but it all depends if Merc lose the constructors title to RB due to Bottas' performances. He could finish a minute behind Lewis at every race but if they win the constructors they won't care and won't want to disrupt the harmony so will just keep him.

 

I just really can't see Lewis & George both at Merc next year but who knows?

Alpine have announced Esteban Ocon has signed a new three-year deal with the team, confirming he’ll stay until the end of 2024 at the least.

Figured this might interest you guys:

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/motorsport...ocid=entnewsntp

It is surely the logical move but that the article can’t even name Ocons actual teammate doesn’t fill me with confidence the article is worth anything

Alpine have announced Esteban Ocon has signed a new three-year deal with the team, confirming he’ll stay until the end of 2024 at the least.

Not sure how I feel about this yet. He has showed himself to be solid so far this year and his 2nd on the outer Bahrain track was a great drive.

Figured this might interest you guys:

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/motorsport...ocid=entnewsntp

How can in the article get Alonso confused for Vettel?

And called him Oxon!

Rain forecast for the race. We'll see.

Stroll 0 - 1 Track Limits

I lasted ten laps. Which is ten more laps of a French Grand Prix than I’ve watched at any point since it returned.

 

I know that France is the historical home of Motor Racing but dear god how are they so incapable of building a racing circuit. Throw this on the pile of circuits that should be destroyed by a hellfire missile ASAP.

what a race! one of the best in recent years I can think of. the 2 stop strategy for red bull really working for them against Mercedes. full on goosebumps when max overtook lewis on the last lap. bet lewis is fuming, even bottas said it shoulda been a 2 stopper for them.