Happy Memorial Day! Happy Race weekend, Formula 1 at Monaco and the Indy 500
Few weekends throughout the year are as star studded as this for racing action, tradition and the ultimate highest-level of professional racing.
In the US, we remember the fallen of our armed services, those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for their country; my country the United States. We are still a work in progress, and we strive to be better but we will always revere those who came before and gave their lives in the pursuit of freedom, which we know is not free. But to them, we owe a massive debt of gratitude.
Formula 1 visits the prestige of Monaco this weekend every year. The race is considered one of the crown jewels of open wheel racing in the world. Those who've won it are secured in history as the winner of one of if not the most sought after trophies out there.
This year, Charles LeClerc a Ferrari driver of French heritage who is a resident of Monaco starts from pole. Ferrari has been a threat for the lead at every race this season, proving the engineers in Marenello have put together their car better than the rest of the paddock with regards to the regulations newly enacted this year. Regulations which meant every team built a new car and all would start from the same ground level. Well, Ferrari got it right. Red Bull is also fast, but Mercedes has faded into the mid pack battle and it is a pitched one!
Monaco is notoriously hard to pass as a race track, and it is being bandied about as vulnerable to being left off the F1 schedule for the first time ever. It's one of the oldest races in the F1 season year in and year out. This year rain at the start had the teams scrambling to adjust to the changing conditions. Cars were sent to the grid with Intermediate tires when it became clear rain would hit before the race was due to start and would continue for at least 30 minutes. This meant teams scrambled to get full wet tires to the grid, some distance from the pit and garage areas at Monaco. If you can imagine men from each team running behind a set of tires on a dolly from the pit lane onto the grid to get their cars shod properly. Only to find out the rain was severe and F1 would then require the extreme wet tires to start. More chaos, more running.
With the cars idling on the grid in the rain, F1 decided to circulated the course behind the safety car, to inspect the conditions and possibly begin to clear the track of water. Nothing doing, the rain intensified and F1 put out the Red Flag and the Safety Car returned to the pit lane with the field behind.
Conditions would eventually improve and the Safety Car would retake the track, the field would take the green on the second lap with Charles LeClerc leading Carlos Sainz, Checo Perez and Max Verstappen all on full wets. As the cars circulated the racing line dried and the rain seemed to stop. Pierre Gasly in the Alpha Tauri decided to gamble and pit on the opening lap for Intermediate tires, and was the first to show speed as the line dried. He quickly caught the back of the field and begin passing cars. Competition noticed and several more cars pitted early for Intermediates while the leaders stayed on wets.
Changing conditions are what makes Formula 1 great. Without them, the fastest cars get out front and stay out front. There is no mystery or unknown aspects to this as time and time again, the fast teams (Ferrari, Red Bull, etc) don't make mistakes and for the most part the Grand Prix winner is decided during qualifying, the teams start in order of fastest car up front, then the race is run and the fastest car wins, with predictable results according to well known order of power or speed.
But throw rain into the mix and watch what happens. And that's what happened Sunday in Monte Carlo during the Monaco Grand Prix. Although LeClerc, in the fastest car started up front, rain made the team commit several mistakes that cost him the lead and the race win. LeClerc was called into the pits for his first pit stop well after he should have been called in, probably 3 laps after he should have come in to cover the pit stop of rival Sergio Perez driving the lead Red Bull car. But no, with the conditions in flux, the Ferrari braintrust delayed their order to pit the leader letting Checo get two or three laps on his new tires while Charles circulated on his old tires, several seconds slower. When LeClerc did pit, he came out behind Perez. Red Bull copy cat strategy had Verstappen pit with LeClerc, and both cars switched to Intermediate wet tires on the drying track. In the Ferrari #55 car, however, Carlos Sainz was sizing up the conditions for himself. When told the other leaders were pitting for Inters, Carlos said he wanted to go straight to slicks. Ferrari left him out to allow the track to dry more, then pitted the Spaniard for dry tires. Regrettably, as Sainz was pitting, Ferrari decided to pit LeClerc for slicks as well, and he came in at the same moment and had to wait for his service behind the sister car. He was not happy. Having led the early part of the race, he came out of the pits behind his teammate, then one lap later Red Bull pitted both their cars, stacked them and put slicks on, and got them out with Perez in the lead and Verstappen ahead of LeClerc.
Mick Schumacher was having a mixed day when it all went south. Coming into the Swimming Pool chicane, Mick spun and contacted the barriers heavily. So heavily in fact that the car split in two! This was a scary moment until he came across the radio and was ok.
Lewis Hamilton had to be said to have had a very shitty day as the Mercedes pace problem is not better, and the mid pack cars he's battling with are prone to dirty moves. IMO Ocon drove into Hamilton an several occasions and caused Hamilton to go nowhere. Ocon received a 5 second penalty post race but that doesn't repair Lewis' race or really dissuade them from continuing to drive in this fashion. Ocon's teammate Fernando Alonso never misses an opportunity to block and disrupt Hamilton as he tries to get in front of them every race weekend. Sportsmanship is unknown to the French team.
After the Red flag shown for the Schumacher crash was lifted, the cars eventually finished a slightly shortened timed-race in the exact same order. Perez his first F1 victory, Sainz 2nd and Verstappen 3rd.
A new winner at Indianapolis
The Indianapolis 500 is perhaps the most famous race of the season each year due to the history, the glitter and the build up. No other event can match the size and scale of this race and the build up begins early in the month of May and culminates with the race on the Sunday before Memorial Day. 325,000 people convened on the Greatest Spectacle of Motorsports on race day to witness the Ganassi team in it's most dominating performance in years. It has been clear for the several weeks that teams began testing and practicing for the 500 that the 4 car team was the pace setters this year.
Led by 6-time series Champ and prior Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon in the #6 car, the Ganassi team was top of the charts frequently during the month of May and qualified 4 cars in the top 6. Also in the Ganassi stable was the defending Indy Car Series Champion Alex Palou in the #10 car, as well as Marcus Ericcsson who came over from Formula 1 several years earlier in the #8 car. Joining the team this year was the grizzled veteran Brazilian legend Tony Kanaan in the #1 car and last but not least, Jimmie Johnson, the 7-time Nascar Cup champ turned Indy car driver in his first Indy 500.
Much respect to Pato O'Ward and Felix Rosenquist in the two McLarens who made up the other two cars in the Fast 6. Notably absent from the front were any Penske cars. Will Power and Joseph Newgarden were seemingly flummoxed during qualifying and Andretti drivers Alexander Rossi and Colton Herta had nothing for the top 10.
Marcus Ericsson
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the super pace and reliability of the entire Ed Carpenter team. Conor Daly and Ed himself had great qualifying efforts and last years' Indy winner Reenus Veekay was a threat and a fast car the whole day.
Tony Kanaan in the #1 American Legion Honda for CGR
Jimmy Johnson in the #48
But in the end it was Marcus Ericsson who won for Ganassi in the #8 car. Scott Dixon seemed to have the race well in hand when he was sanctioned for speeding on pit lane during a late-race pit stop. This left the door open for Ericsson and after holding off the competition on a late restart, he took his second race win of the year.
-katykarter
posted by Katykarter @ 10:55 PM
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