Mega Weekend of Racing! Whew, here we go!!
*Formula 1 visits Bahrain and Ferrari comes out on top
*Indy Car goes roundy-round in Texas and Penske takes a 1-2
*The Sebring 12 hour brings sports car racing, American-style to the world and does not disappoint!
Bahrain Grand Prix
There is intense joy in Maranello, Italy with the Ferrari 1-2 victory at Formula 1's first race of the season. With a new set of regulations and a brand new car, Ferrari seems to have made the most of all the teams' efforts to utilize to the maximum the latest regulations issued by the governing body of F1, the FIA. Although a solid 3rd place last year behind Red Bull and Mercedes, this season they have leapfrogged both teams to take a massive points lead in the constructors championship
Charles Leclerc held off several furious charges by the wildman Max Verstappen, who attempted to pass the Ferrari driver after both had pitted, and Leclerc had rejoined the track just ahead of the Red Bull car. Once past after a late-brake, Verstappen could not hold the position and Leclerc re passed to take P1 back. On the next lap, with DRS help, Verstappen once again "sent it" in deep under braking but a lock-up forced him past the apex and the Ferrari once again pounced and retook the lead. A third try led to a failure and Max spun out, relieving the intense pressure he was exerting on Leclerc, and also giving the Maranello based team another 1-2 finish
Max and Lewis seemed cordial to each other, but they and their teams are slated to collide again in the 2022 season although figuratively only we hope! Some things are inevitable, but from this early spot in the season, RBR seem to have a distinct pace advantage over Merc, though not in reliability.
Last years points champion Max Verstappen just missed out on pole and again showed strong pace in the race but finished down the order due to a failure that led to a spin during the final laps of the grand prix and a dnf awarding zero points. His team mate, Sergio Perez dnf'd also with mechanical problems late in the race. All in all a terrible outing, though Red Bull Racing will once again be a force upon solving their reliability issues
Likely the biggest mover from last years standings were the two cars from the American team Haas F1, with newly returned driver Kevin Magnussen having a great weekend qualifying 7th and finishing 5th. Mick Schumacher, the young star in his 2nd season of F1 and returning for Haas had his best result also just missing out on the points by finishing 11th
Lewis Hamilton was all smiles as he took his place on the unlikely podium. Lewis and Mercedes' team management had been downplaying their pace coming into this 1st race of the year, and it seemed accurate. Mercedes' pace was a distant 3rd coming into the weekend. Hamilton and Mercedes teammate George Russel started 5th and 9th, respectively
Indy Car Expel 375 at Texas Motor Speedway
The Expel 375 was held at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday. The Indy Car series' 2nd race of the season was a burner. The presence of PJ1 traction compound on the track was a familiar problem however. The dark-colored compound is applied to the track to help the taxicabs of the Nascar series but it is "like driving on snow" according to commentator James Hinchcliffe, and he would know. Penske driver and former champ Will Power organized a "rubbering" session prior to Saturday practice, and was joined by only 6 other cars to try to "rubber-in" a 2nd groove on the speedway's banked turns. It appeared to have worked, as some drivers utilized at least a part of the 2nd groove from time to time during the race.
Pole Sitter Felix Rosenquist had bad luck during the race in his Arrow McLaren SP #7 Dallara but started in P1 with his pole-winning qualifying speed of 221.110 mph
Josef Newgarden gets the W in the Penske #2 car, his 21st career victory after making a late- last lap- last turn pass on teammate Scott McLaughlin
Ed Carpenter was on hand as the driver of the #33 car and loves racing at Texas. Also in the field were two other cars owned by ECR, #8 driven by Reenus Veekay and the #16 driven by Conor Daly who finished 10th and 18th respectively. Notably, Veekay was a consistent challenger for the lead through much of the race
Scotty McLaughlin in the #3 Penske finished 2nd just missing back to back wins to start the 2022 season. And he didn't miss by much: 0.669 seconds
The 12 Hours of Sebring
The third race of the weekend was the longest, the oldest and quite possibly the most exiting. The 12 Hours of Sebring was held at this venerable WWII airfield that saw it's first race in 1950. All 3 prototype classes were won by Cadillac powered entries.
The #01 Cadillac Racing Dpi pole sitter driven by Sebastian Bourdais did not finish
#62 Risi Competizion Ferarri 488 GT3 EVO driven in GTD Pro class by Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon and Eddie Cheever III. By the way, this Ferrari factory-supported racing team is based in Houston, Tx.
posted by Katykarter @ 11:23 AM
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