Reverse on the Left: 2020-10-04

Friday, October 9, 2020

Dope Vid. #311

Video courtesy of Porsche.

Thursday, October 8, 2020

What to watch this F1 Weekend (Oct 9th - Oct 14th)

Formula 1 - Eifel (German) Grand Prix; from the Nuerburgring in Nuerburg, Germany. Practice 1. Friday @ 4:55am - 6:30am (ESPN2)) live
Formula 1 - Eifel (German) Grand Prix; from the Nuerburgring in Nuerburg, Germany. Practice 2. Friday @ 8:55am -10:30am (ESPN2) live
Formula 1 - Eifel (German) Grand Prix; from the Nuerburgring in Nuerburg, Germany. Practice 3. Saturday @ 5:55am - 7am (ESPN2) live
Formula 1 - Eifel (German) Grand Prix; from the Nuerburgring in Nuerburg, Germany. Qualifying. Saturday @ 8:55am - 10am (ESPN2) live
IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. Racing action from Charlotte Motor Speedway. Saturday @ 8pm - 10pm (NBCSN) live
Formula 1 - Eifel (German) Grand Prix; from the Nuerburgring in Nuerburg, Germany. Race. Sunday @ 8am - 10:30am (ESPN2) live, replay @ 4pm - 6:30pm (ESPNNEWS) same-day delay
DTM. 2020 Action from Zolder. Sunday @ 9pm - 11pm (CBSSN) same-day delay
Bitchin Rides. Mon/Tues/Wed @ 4pm - 5pm (MotorTrend) replay
Garage Squad. Mon/Tues/Wed @ 6pm - 7pm (MotorTrend) replay
Auto Mundial. Tuesday @ 7pm - 7:30pm (MotorTrend)
Motorweek. Tuesday @ 7:30pm - 8pm (MotorTrend)
Garage Squad. Tuesday @ 9pm - 10pm (MotorTrend) new
Wheeler Dealers. Wednesday @ 9pm - 10pm (MotorTrend) new

Russia was another interesting race with some unexpected results for unexpected reasons. Hamilton took pole again and was poised to taking his 91st GP win, starting from the front and getting clear of Bottas who qualified third behind a very quick Verstappen. However, things didn't quite shake out that way once FIA handed him not one but two 5sec penalties (and two points on his super license which were later withdrawn) were applied to Hams after he did some practice starts too far out of the pitlane after his pit told him he was good to do so. This effectively put him in mid-field after the penalty was served, which was even rougher since he had to qualify on softs in Q2 after losing his lap time on his first run for going beyond the line on the final corner then Seb putting his car into a wall bringing a red flag with two minutes to go and Hamilton on a flyer. He barely made the cutoff to start a qualy lap and already had too much distance on his mediums since they would be race tires. In other Merc news, Bottas was an opportunist and used this chance to get as many points as he could over Lewis, which ended up being a delta of 11 points; he managed fastest lap and Hams finished 3rd behind Verstappen. Outside of this top three there were some important result and critical news. Renault looked extremely strong, with Ricciardo taking 5th after getting a 5sec penalty himself and Ocon taking 7th. Sergio took 4th in this installment of the 'give me a seat for 2021' tour. Leclerc took 6th, performing much better than anyone from Maranello expected, but notably, positions 8 through 10 were two AlfaTauri's and Albon brining up the rear, in tenth. The reason this is important is because these three cars, along with P2 Verstappen, are all Honda powered -- Honda just announced they were pulling out of F1 after the 2021 season. This is going to have big implications as Red Bull and Alfa Tauri will need to either get Renault power-plants again or go Ferrari on either one or both teams. Red Bull and Renault are like Alonso and McLaren in some ways. With the smoke cleared, the Driver's Championship standings are as follows: Hamilton, Bottas (-44), Verstappen (-77), Norris (-140), Albon (-141), Ricciardo (-142). Bottas' and Verstappen's point delta to the driver they're behind is quite the coincidence and there's a virtual free for all from 4th back.

This weekend we're heading back to the Nurburgring for the first time since the early 2010's and you know Merc is looking to show out at home. Bottas is feeling good about himself and Hamilton is trying to correct the blemish that was Sochi, so I'm sure he'll be on it to finally match Schumi and get this milestone behind him. Ricciardo is still trying to get a tattoo on Cyril and McLaren is looking to bounce back after an awful weekend in Sochi.

Enjoy your motorsport weekends.