Messages

[Total:]

First Driver: Sebastian Vettel
Second Driver: Sergio Perez

AUS. Romain Grosjean (32, 0, 0)
CHN. Felipe Massa (35, 6, 0)
BAH. Sebastian Vettel (56, 19, 5)
RUS. Kimi Raikkonen (50, 17, 1)
ESP. Jolyon Palmer (39, 5, 0)
MCO. Carlos Sainz Jr. (40, 14, 0)
CAN. Esteban Ocon (45, 14, 0)
AZE. Daniel Ricciardo (45, 19, 5)
AUT. Kevin Magnussen (33, 2, 0)
GBR. Daniil Kvyat (29, 5, 0)
HUN. Fernando Alonso (45, 14, 0)
BEL. Nico Hulkenberg (35, 14, 0)
ITA. Lewis Hamilton (54, 19, 7)
SGP. Max Verstappen (18, 1, 0)
MYS. Sergio Perez (44, 14, 0)
JPN. Stoffel Vandoorne (20, 6, 0)
USA. Lance Stroll (39, 9, 0)
MEX. Brendon Hartley (31, 2, 0)
BRA. Valtteri Bottas (52, 18, 4)
UAE. Pierre Gasly (34, 4, 0)

Total: 776
Weekly: 202
Bonus: 22

[Total:]

First Driver: Sebastian Vettel
Second Driver: Esteban Ocon

AUS. Marcus Ericsson (35, 2, 0)*
CHN. Nico Hulkenberg (32, 8, 0)*
BAH. Felipe Massa (47, 14, 0)*
RUS. Kevin Magnussen (36, 7, 0)*
ESP. Carlos Sainz Jr. (38, 13, 0)*
MCO. Jenson Button (32, 2, 0)*
CAN. Sebastian Vettel (33, 16, 0)*
AZE. Sergio Perez (25, 5, 0)*
AUT. Romain Grosjean (43, 14, 0)*
GBR. Kimi Raikkonen (40, 17, 0)*
HUN. Fernando Alonso (44, 14, 0)
BEL. Jolyon Palmer (36, 7, 0)
ITA. Lance Stroll (44, 13, 0)
SGP. Daniel Ricciardo (32, 18, 2)
MYS. Esteban Ocon (36, 10, 0)
JPN. Max Verstappen (35, 18, 2)
USA. Valtteri Bottas (47, 15, 0)
MEX. Brendon Hartley (33, 2, 0)
BRA. Stoffel Vandoorne (22, 1, 0)
UAE. Lewis Hamilton (49, 18, 2)

Total: 733
Weekly: 214
Bonus: 7

*Second driver Felipe Massa.

[Total:]

First Driver: Lewis Hamilton
Second Driver: Fernando Alonso

AUS. Lewis Hamilton (46, 18, 4)
CHN. Sebastian Vettel (43, 18, 2)
BAH. Missed, Kevin Magnussen (25, 0, 0)
RUS. Missed, Stoffel Vandoorne (22, 0, 0)
ESP. Kimi Raikkonen (27, 0, 0)
MCO. Carlos Sainz Jr. (29, 14, 0)*
CAN. Felipe Massa (24, 1, 0)
AZE. Lance Stroll (44, 17, 1)
AUT. Valtteri Bottas (43, 19, 7)
GBR. Nico Hulkenberg (35, 14, 0)
HUN. Fernando Alonso (44, 14, 0)
BEL. Jolyon Palmer (28, 7, 0)
ITA. Esteban Ocon (36, 14, 0)
SGP. Daniel Ricciardo (42, 18, 2)
MYS. Sergio Perez (41, 14, 0)
JPN. Pierre Gasly (35, 7, 0)
USA. Marcus Ericsson (27, 5, 0)
MEX. Max Verstappen (45, 19, 5)
BRA. Romain Grosjean (33, 5, 0)
UAE. Pascal Wehrlein (35, 6, 0)

Total: 704
Weekly: 210
Bonus: 21

*Jenson Button replacing second driver Alonso.

First Driver: Lewis Hamilton
Second Driver: Fernando Alonso

AUS. Lewis Hamilton
CHN. Sebastian Vettel
BAH. (Magnussen)
RUS. (Vandoorne)
ESP. Kimi Raikkonen
MCO. Carlos Sainz Jr.
CAN. Felipe Massa
AZE. Lance Stroll
AUT. Valtteri Bottas
GBR. Nico Hulkenberg
HUN. Fernando Alonso
BEL. Jolyon Palmer
ITA. Esteban Ocon
SGP. Daniel Ricciardo
MYS. Sergio Perez
JPN. Pierre Gasly
USA. Marcus Ericsson
MEX. Max Verstappen
BRA. Romain Grosjean
UAE. Pascal Wehrlein

[Total:]

First Driver: Sebastian Vettel
Second Driver: Nico Hulkenberg

AUS. Daniel Ricciardo (31, 3, 0)
CHN. Kimi Raikkonen (41, 15, 0)
BAH. Romain Grosjean (42, 12, 0)
RUS. Daniil Kvyat (38, 8, 0)
ESP. Lance Stroll (36, 4, 0)
MCO. Marcus Ericsson (22, 3, 0)
CAN. Carlos Sainz Jr. (28, 0, 0)
AZE. Felipe Massa (23, 4, 0)
AUT. Stoffel Vandoorne (33, 8, 0)
GBR. Esteban Ocon (39, 12, 0)
HUN. Pascal Wehrlein (27, 5, 0)
BEL. Fernando Alonso (34, 2, 0)
ITA. Kevin Magnussen (33, 9, 0)
SGP. Valtteri Bottas (26, 17, 1)
MYS. Max Verstappen (44, 19, 5)
JPN. Sergio Perez (17, 13, 0)
USA. Esteban Ocon (32, 14, 0)
MEX. Lewis Hamilton (28, 11, 0)
BRA. Nico Hulkenberg (39, 10, 0)
UAE. Sebastian Vettel (49, 17, 1)

Total: 662
Weekly: 186
Bonus: 7

Munoz also finished second. He finished second again last season and probably should have won. Now he's stuck with Foyt though, so he has been nowhere this month. I still think he might do well in the race.

What really holds back rookies is that they're rarely with the top teams. No rookies have run for Penske recently. Chilton was with Ganassi last season, but he's generally underwhelming. Munoz was the last rookie with Andretti other than Rossi, who qualified well, just not in the fast nine.

Alonso ultimately qualified fifth, making him only the third highest driver with F1 experience behind his teammates Rossi and Sato. Meanwhile, Dixon won the pole at over 232 mph, the fastest qualifying speed since 1996.

They've made the car "more visible" by making it less bright and the color of asphalt.

Kind of off topic, but we've had an IndyCar topic in the past and it couldn't sustain itself. Plus it's Alonso anyway.

Alonso got his first laps at Indy today, getting over 220mph relatively quickly. I love the helmet. The livery is a throwback, obviously, and is nice. I would've liked a bit more detail, something between the F1 car and this. But whatever.

We've already reached the Renault part of the Alonso cycle again? Kimi can just stay another year and then Alonso can take his place.

I don't participate in rating the drivers after every GP, but I decided to try to rank the drivers from best to worst.

1) Alonso
2) Vettel
3) Hamilton
4) Verstappen
----------
5) Ricciardo
6) Perez
7) Hulkenberg
----------
8) Sainz
9) Bottas
10) Raikkonen
11) Grosjean
----------
12) Vandoorne
13) Ocon
14) Wehrlein
----------
15) Kvyat
16) Massa
17) Ericsson
18) Magnussen
19) Palmer
20) Stroll

These are separated into tiers. The top tier are the absolute best all-around drivers. Alonso, Vettel, and Hamilton have proven it over years. Verstappen has shown too much natural talent to put him anywhere else, but he's not as polished as those three. The next three are guys that I think are really good and could compete for the championship if put in the right position, but realistically would lose to the top-tier drivers most of the time in an even fight. The Sainz tier could compete for wins in the right situation, but I'm not sure about a championship (Kimi being only a part of the driver he once was.) Vandoorne, Ocon, and Wehrlein could end up higher, but it's just not clear at this point, so they get their own tier. The final tier are guys that I don't think could realistically compete for wins. I still think they're all quite good drivers, though, and could have long and successful careers outside of F1 (same comments for Massa as for Kimi.)

I think it's an overstatement to say that anyone can win. Rossi was impressive throughout the month (well, only two weeks these days), had a good car, and ultimately only won through fuel mileage. Almost anyone with a good car and a good strategist can win. That said, Chilton had a good car, for example, and never had a chance of winning because he didn't take to speedway racing. Bourdais is a great driver and has never been able to really compete on speedways. Alonso is undoubtedly a great driver, one of the best in the world, but it all depends on how he adapts to speedway racing. If he can run as well as Rossi did throughout practice and run like he did in the race, that will be good.

There's really no pressure though. Anyone with any sense would see that Vandoorne should have an advantage, so if Button is anywhere close, it's fine.

The reaction I've seen to Alonso is probably 90% positive. But I love the people complaining about this being bad for F1 or proof that Alonso doesn't care about F1 or just generally whining about whatever pops into their head. Can't you just enjoy something that is legitimately shocking and that is going to be fun? Then there's the contingent saying that IndyCar is only for those who aren't good enough for F1, as if there were more than 20 seats in F1 and many didn't rest almost solely on the driver bringing significant funding. The very top of the F1 field is stronger, but I think IndyCar's depth these days compares well with F1, actually.

It's a saying in English. But we usually say clock instead of watch.

FS2 just isn't included in most cable packages. I have every channel, basically, offered by my cable provider. It just isn't in there.

But this week's race was on FS1 and it was quite a good race. The Mexico City track isn't very good though and it was impossible to pass. D'Ambrosio prevented a race for the lead by being a roadblock, all to just run out of energy in the end and DNF. The Mahindras were running well until Prost took out Heidfeld, who collected Rosenqvist. I thought Prost should have been penalized, but nothing happened.