Reverse on the Left: 2021-07-11

Friday, July 16, 2021

Dope Vid. #351

Video courtesy of Driftworks.

Thursday, July 15, 2021

What to watch this F1 Weekend (July 16th - July 21st)

Formula 1 - British Grand Prix; from Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England. Practice 1. Friday @ 9:25am - 10:30am (ESPNU) live
Formula 1 - British Grand Prix; from Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England. Qualifying. Friday @ 12:55pm - 2pm (ESPN2) live
Formula 1 - British Grand Prix; from Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England. Practice 2. Saturday @ 6:55am - 8am (ESPN2) live
Formula 1 - British Grand Prix; from Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England. Sprint Qualifying. Saturday @ 11:25am - 12pm (ESPN2) live
IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship - From Lime Rock Park. Saturday @ 5:30pm - 8:30pm (NBCSN) same-day delayed airing
Formula 1 - British Grand Prix; from Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England. Race. Sunday @ 9:55am - 12pm (ESPN) live
Bitchin Rides. Mon/Tue/Wed @ 4pm - 5pm (MotorTrend) replays
Auto Mundial. Tuesday @ 7pm - 7:30pm (MotorTrend) replays
Motorweek. Tuesday @ 7:30pm - 8pm (MotorTrend) replays
Chasing Classic Cars. Wednesday @ 10pm - 11pm (MotorTrend) new

An exciting race in Austria last time around and it almost wrapped up the way I thought it would, with a few interesting wrinkles thrown in. The fans have been back in the last few races and it's been noticeably better for it. This season has been outstanding; I think it's what many have been looking forward to for years -- someone other than Merc taking the podium, some mid-field teams competing for podiums more regularly and for Max to have a car good enough to compete. Well it's all happening right now and it's been pretty intriguing. Max took another win on RBR's home track, Lando is showing how strong he truly is in the McLaren and Bottas did good to help fight for his seat in 2022 after news of Hamilton signing a two year deal. Hamilton helped his hopes by limiting damage, finishing in fourth. Perez did another solid job for the constructors and his own place in the championship by taking 6th. The controversy of this race really came down to the penalties for overtaking on turn 10. That'll be addressed in the second vid below, but it raises questions about the stewards letting the drivers race -- or not. Merc still has issues to sort out, but the good news is they maximized points and didn't worry about which driver took second in order to do so. Ricciardo did a good job making up for a terrible Saturday to snag some good points on Sunday, taking 7th. And next to Lando, going for the win and coming up a bit short Sunday, the next driver which was a pleasure to root for was George Russell, who got into Q3 with his Williams, again, but missed out on taking 10th on Sunday due to a pressing Alonso on newer tires, late in the race. Hopefully he'll be rewarded sooner than later, but in the meantime the buzz is on whether he'll have a seat next to Hamilton in 2022 or if he'll be back at Williams for the first year of the new regulations. Ferrari also did a good job snagging points against their rival McLaren, taking 4th and 8th, Sainz taking the prior. Silverstone is going to be an interesting race. Red Bull has turned into the Merc of old, where you think they have the edge in every race. Meanwhile Merc has been tweaking the package to close the gap some; Silverstone is a race where Merc has been dominant, especially Hamilton, loving to show up in front of his home fans. The RBR package is just better at this point so it'll be interesting to see who has the edge over a single lap and race pace come Saturday afternoon. It'll also be nice to see if Hamilton, but more importantly Norris and Russell, can deliver some magic in front of their home fans. Also, there will be a different race weekend format with sprint qualifying; Silverstone is one of three races this year with this format. This will mean teams will only have an hour to get ready for qualy, so it should be interesting.

Enjoy your motorsport weekends.