Reverse on the Left: 2019-08-25

Friday, August 30, 2019

Dope Vid. #253

Thursday, August 29, 2019

What to watch this Labor Day Weekend (Aug 30th - Sept 4th)

Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Belgium; from circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium. Practice 1. Friday @ 4:55am - 6:30am (ESPN2(HD)) live
Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Belgium; from circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium. Practice 2. Friday @ 8:55am - 10:30am (ESPNU(HD)) live
Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Belgium; from circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium. Practice 3. Saturday @ 5:55am - 7am (ESPN2(HD)) live
Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Belgium; from circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium. Qualifying. Sunday @ 7am - 8:30am (ESPN2(HD)) delayed airing
Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Belgium; from circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium. Race. Sunday @ 9:05am - 11am (ESPN2(HD)) live
Chasing Classic Cars. Tuesday @ 6pm - 7:30pm (MotorTrend) replay
Motorweek. Tuesday @ 7:30pm - 8pm (MotorTrend) replay
Top Gear (Classic). Tuesday @ 8pm - 9pm (MotorTrend) great replays
Wheeler Dealers. Tuesday @ 9pm - 10pm (MotorTrend) new
Garage Squad. Wednesday @ 10pm - 11pm (VelocityHD) new

The final pre-summer break race in Hungary was another incredible race to round out two answers to F1 fans concerns on lack of racing excitement. While the Hungaroring podium result actually didn't look too unusual on paper, the actual way things shook out in the race was quite spectacular. Verstappen's RBR Honda took another step forward with pole position, Max's first pole position. Hamilton was a little bit off the pace in Q3, even being out qualy-ed by Bottas which helped with his bid for a contract extension, but Hams was pretty confident on their race pace. The reality of this parity between Merc and RBR made itself apparent during the race, where Max got a great start, Bottas had a not so great start and Hamilton had a great start which put him right on Max's bumper. The race win ended up turning into the story of two strategies and the drivers who had to execute them. I'll let todays' video cover those details, but Hamilton ended up executing his chief strategists plan to perfection, despite his early doubts, which lead to him catching and passing Verstappen on cooked tires with about 5 laps to go. With the checkered flag dropped the Driver's Championship standings are as follows: Hamilton, Bottas (-68), Verstappen (-75), Vettel (-94), Leclerc (-118), Gasly (-187). More importantly, since this race some driver changes have taken place, specifically with Albon being swapped for Gasley to back up Verstappen. Albon has a great opportunity, but an equally great challenge to go along with it; it'll be interesting to see how this shakes out, along with driver lineups at Renault, Merc and Ferrari. Plenty of interesting story lines that have yet to be completely written. Meanwhile, this weekend will be another chance for Ferrari to ensure RBR doesn't jump them for second place in the Constructors' Championship in 2019; if Albon delivers what is expected of him, Red Bull has a real chance of adding kerosene to Ferrari's F1 season. The next two weekends are back to back F1 weekends, so look for another update before Singapore. Also, there is no live qualy this weekend, at least on East Coast with Comcast, so you'll have to catch the replay Sunday morning before the race.

Enjoy your Labor Day weekends.