What to watch this Weekend (April 7th - April 12th)

• Formula 1 - Chinese Grand Prix; from Shanghai, China/Shanghai International Circuit. Practice. Friday @ 2am - 3:30am (NBCSN(HD)) live
• The Grand Tour. Season 1 available on demand. Friday (Amazon Prime) replays
• Formula 1 - Chinese Grand Prix; from Shanghai, China/Shanghai International Circuit. Qualifying. Saturday @ 3am - 4:30am (NBCSN(HD)) live
• WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. Bubba Burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach. Saturday @ 4pm - 6:30pm (FOX(HD)) live
• Formula 1 - Chinese Grand Prix; from Shanghai, China/Shanghai International Circuit. Race. Sunday @ 1am - 4:30am (NBCSN(HD)) live 
• IndyCar Series - Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Street track in Long Beach, California. Sunday @ 4pm - 7pm (NBCSN(HD)) live 
• Pirelli World Challenge. Long Beach. Sunday @ 2:30pm - 4pm (CBSSN(HD)) same-day delayed airing  
• Top Gear. Season 24 Episode 5. Sunday @ 8pm - 10pm (BBCAmerica(HD)) new
• Chasing Classic Cars. Tuesday @ 7pm - 7:30pm (VelocityHD) replay
• Motorweek. Tuesday @ 7:30pm - 8pm (VelocityHD) 
• Wheeler Dealers. Wednesday @ 8pm - 9pm (VelocityHD) replay
• Chasing Classic Cars. Season 9 Ep 5. Wednesday @ 9pm - 9:30pm (VelocityHD) new

Loaded weekend ahead, with World Challenge, WSCC, F1 and Indy Car this weekend. We're back at it with F1 with an anticipated follow up to the melee that was the 2017 Australian Grand Prix. There were plenty of retirements, including Alonso after almost holding on to tenth position with a handful of laps left, and unfortunately the hometown hero Ricciardo who had one gearbox problem after another, following a wall impact during FP3. McLaren is still lost, HAAS had a double DNF, but the most significant headline was who won the race. Hams took another pole, followed by Vettel and Bottas, but Vettel took the checkered flag after a keen strategic move by Scuderia Ferrari after Hams pitted on lap 18 for new tires (one stop). Hamilton left the pit with softs into traffic, immediately being help up by Verstappen looking to make his tire strategy work. The difficulty to pass given the 2017 regulation changes seems to be a common thread between all of the drivers post-race. The turbulence from the larger tires and revised under-tray/diffuser seems to work against the benefits of added mechanical grip, aero, power and tire durability. The tires still need to be finessed into the proper operating window and depending on how your out-lap goes you could miss the boat completely, like what appeared to happen to Hamilton. In the end we have the media-banned Ferrari team taking the lead in the drivers championship for the first time in years. Torro Rosso and the pepto-bismol-esque liveried Force Indias all finished in the points, including young Esteban Orcon getting his first career point in his new drive with Force India. Appears we'll have a more interesting Championship fight this year, but I still think Mercedes AMG will take the Constructors for a fourth time unless unreliability comes into play. With the smoke cleared the Driver's Championship standings are as follows: Vettel, Hamilton (-7), Bottas (-10), Raikkonen (-13), Verstappen (-15), Massa (-17). The F1 traveling circus is in Shanghai this weekend to make use of all the data gathered from last week. It should be another great race.

Enjoy your weekends.

Video courtesy of HarrysGarage.