I watched all three major races this weekend: WEC 8 hour race from Sebring on Friday (entirety); IMSA 12 hour race from Sebring on Saturday (bits and pieces during the day, then the final few hours); F1 from Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
F1 Observations:
Red Bull - Imperious on pace, but Verstappen’s driveshaft failure on Saturday, which relegated him to 15th on the grid may portend future reliability gremlins. Perez intimated that both Red Bulls had potential reliability issues in the closing stages of the Bahrain season opener (hence the directive from the pitwall to reduce pace), and also obviously there were issues for both drivers in the final laps of the Saudi race. Liberty Media - to say nothing of the other front-running teams - will want to slow Red Bull down, lest the new fans find something else to watch other than intramural Red Bull conflict. On that note, imagine if Verstappen were to lose the title to Perez due to reliability?
Aston Martin - Lovely to see Alonso at the sharp end again! After a decade in the wilderness, it’s evident that his pace and capability never waned. The trickster has deep experience and the best race craft on the grid - would love to see him win a race this year.
Mercedes - Another race in which (1) Mercedes were comprehensively outpaced by Aston Martin, which is their customer team (AM buys their Power Unit, rear suspension, gearbox, etc. from Mercedes) and (2) Russell outperformed SIR Lewis Hamilton. Russell has beaten LewSIR in both qualifying sessions thus far this year, and the chosen one is out of contract at year end. Will Jim Ratcliffe and Ola Kallenius want to pay Hamilton top dollar when other credible drivers would be willing to take that seat for FAR less? Their votes would overrule Toto’s. Also, IF Hamilton were to leave Merc, where would he go? Not Red Bull; Max will surely have a clause about vetoing a teammate.
Ferrari - The car is slow, and it’s become apparent to me that Binotto’s ouster came courtesy of new Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna. New Team Principal Fed Vasseur has performed a pale imitation of his countryman Jean Todt’s efforts to shield the team from the braying of the Italian media. The Scuderia is already on the back foot politically.
Alpine - Decent race, solidified as the #5 team, so they should scrape the bottom end of the points when both cars from the above 4 teams perform as expected. Eagerly awaiting the cries of Sacre Bleu when the Frenchmen collide on track, which will happen.
Alfa Romeo - Who had Bottas getting outperformed by Zhou Guanyu on their bingo card? Terrible race for the Finn. Who will Audi want to drive their car from 2026? Would it be wise to take a punt on joining them in hopes that they nail the ‘26 regs a la Mercedes in 2014?
AlphaTauri - Tsunoda is outperforming his older, much more mature teammate Nyck DeVries. Unexpected. Also, what about team boss Tost absolutely throwing the engineering team under the bus? Morale must be LOW in Faenza.
Haas - The “Suck My Balls, Mate” duo haven’t collided yet; both have a propensity for self-destructive behavior (collisions, etc.), especially when in a position to score points. Hulkenberg has done very well against Magnussen after 3 years on the bench (occasional super sub appearances aside).
Williams - Logan Sargeant should be a superstar in America? Why isn’t he?
McLaren - Two races, zero points. Zak Brown should be looking for a new job, and Lando Norris will certainly be looking to go elsewhere; his problem is that new boy Oscar Piastri made HIM look weak in the race! Vettel was made to look overrated by Ricciardo in 2014; Ricciardo suffered the same fate against Norris in 2021 and 2022; will the same thing happen to Norris this year? If so, Oscar may get the call up to a top team! Somewhere, Danny Ric is laughing.
FIA / Race Control - Did not cover themselves in glory; fans should finish any sporting broadcast knowing the outcome definitively.
WEC and IMSA Observations:
The WEC race was a real race; the IMSA event was a shambles. The final few hours were punctuated by yellows and safety cars, and the final outcome in any of the IMSA enduros is a lottery driven by safety car restarts. This devalues the race long “narrative” that develops during a quality endurance race. Credit to Toyota for winning against legitimate OEM competition on Friday - they earned it.
F1: is interesting now that there are four teams with a legitimate chance to win races. When's the last time that happened? (Expected response: only Red Bull can and will win, IDIOT)
IMSA: is great if you're there, especially the Rolex 24, but less so on TV, and I'm not interested enough to follow them through a season. (Expected response: you're too dumb to follow four classes at once, IDIOT)
NASCAR: I want to love it for political reasons. Their fan base isn't trying to take my cars, my guns, or my savings. But: too many commercials, stage racing will always suck, and the current cars seem more fragile than IndyCars. (Expected response: Orange man bad, climate change scary, put your mask back on, follow the science, IDIOT)
IndyCar: has a great product, thrilling and unpredictable. I watch every televised race I can and try to attend at least two events live every season. I do miss Michigan and Fontana and the month-long wait from St. Pete to Texas is killing me. (Expected response: it's a spec series that hasn't been good since 1995, and your mother is a prostitute, IDIOT)
MX-5 Cup: thank heaven for YouTube. Great fun to watch in an SCCA Runoffs way. (Expected response: none)
Mar 22, 2023·edited Mar 22, 2023Liked by Jack Baruth
I'm probably alone in this, but I think racing is boring as fuck to watch. Worse than golf.
All I have to contribute is that I enjoy it whenever Lewis Hamilton doesn't win. He is to racing what Patrick Mahommes is to the NFL. It's unbearable the degree to which they're fawned over in the press. I'm sure I'm just a bad person for thinking that, though.
I was so unimpressed with the overall appearance of the Porsche GTP car from the jump that it barely registers with me that it hasn't been competitive. The whole operation seems phoned in rather than a truly top level endurance racing effort from one of the sport's all time greats. Can't help but think the underwhelming nature of this program was a direct result of cost cutting measures implemented to help facilitate Porsche's now DOA Formula 1 aspirations.
Speaking of Formula 1, few things have given me more pleasure as of late than seeing a happy and fast Alonso sharing the same track with an underperforming and despondent Sir Lewis.
I've been following Formula 1 since before Jim Clark died, through its ups and downs. Often it's a parade, but I just love the floats (to steal a line). I remember when Alonso was The Man at McLaren and this brash rookie came and refused to bow to him. Alonso then left McLaren in a huff and took many team secrets with him to his next team (Renault?). There was a huge scandal and I thought that such a lack of character would bar him from F1 entirely. However, F1 is the most Darwinian of racing; all is forgiven, if you're quick. I like Lewis (the aforementioned rookie); he's become the elder statesman, now that Seb has left, and he often seems to be thinking of the bigger picture than just his ride. He follows a pretty predictable script by thanking the fans first, no matter what question he's asked by the media. Having said that, his time has passed. It happens to every athlete and even he is no exception. Russell was quicker than him last year and is much quicker this year. Lewis' only choice now is how gracefully he behaves. Nico Rosberg is the smartest man in F1. He ascended the heights, beat the best to become World Champion, retired at the top of his game (if a bit abruptly), and now lives a perfect life with his perfect nuclear family in Monaco. But he's not a very good announcer; apparently he has an online presence but I've never watched. Final observation: I like Lance Stroll (mostly because of his nationality), and he finally has a chance to prove he's a real racer and that daddy just didn't buy him a ride. He has a(nother) mentor and Alonso has proven he has the car. This will be worth watching for me this year.
MB's (The F1 team) Twitter account has a nice little video clip. GR takes the 3rd place trophy, puts it in the passenger seat of his MB street rig with the seatbelt on the trophy.
Drives over to the AM HQ and puts the trophy on the AM trophy stand.
Actually raised my respect for the guy a little bit. He comes across as too used car salesman wearing a white belt and a plaid sports coat.
Mar 23, 2023·edited Mar 23, 2023Liked by Jack Baruth
Supercross from Detroit Saturday night was great. Drama in the 250 class during a heat race between teammates, a veteran and very popular rookie. Heartbreak in the 450 class when Aaron Plessinger, a fan favorite threw it away right before winning his first 450 main.
Completely unrelated, I was reading an article from an older road and track comparing an M2 competition to 1LE. Was really enjoying the article thinking how well written it was and non-idiotic. Not really a shocker when I realized Jack wrote it.
Someone more knowledgeable than me. Why does f1 vary so much? Mercedes dominated for years now red bull is. Aero, engine, all of the above? Rule changes?
Sorry jack for discussing this here, but as you will understand, I'm 17 and there's no way dad's paying for my substack subsccription until I get into college(its an Indian thing). But related to your reddit post. I left reddit a while ago, but a friend sent your thread to me. Related to that: https://twitter.com/DougDeMuro/status/1629721307142295552 that wasnt an isolated incident. Fat creep brad has a habit of getting mad at successful people just because his piece of shit auction site went bust. How ironic that he calls doug a dork. I don't like doug's takes no(mostly because I don't have the time to spend 1 hour watching how a jag xk keyfob works), but you have to agree how hard he has worked. From leaving a corporate desk job at porsche to jalopnik and then to video. It's nice to see him grow. Even if he is a dork, he seems from the outside like a very hardworking dude. On the other hand. Just seeing brownell's pic, you know everything about him. He's literally the closest a 40 year old can get to a discord server mod, if you get my drift.
I watched all three major races this weekend: WEC 8 hour race from Sebring on Friday (entirety); IMSA 12 hour race from Sebring on Saturday (bits and pieces during the day, then the final few hours); F1 from Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
F1 Observations:
Red Bull - Imperious on pace, but Verstappen’s driveshaft failure on Saturday, which relegated him to 15th on the grid may portend future reliability gremlins. Perez intimated that both Red Bulls had potential reliability issues in the closing stages of the Bahrain season opener (hence the directive from the pitwall to reduce pace), and also obviously there were issues for both drivers in the final laps of the Saudi race. Liberty Media - to say nothing of the other front-running teams - will want to slow Red Bull down, lest the new fans find something else to watch other than intramural Red Bull conflict. On that note, imagine if Verstappen were to lose the title to Perez due to reliability?
Aston Martin - Lovely to see Alonso at the sharp end again! After a decade in the wilderness, it’s evident that his pace and capability never waned. The trickster has deep experience and the best race craft on the grid - would love to see him win a race this year.
Mercedes - Another race in which (1) Mercedes were comprehensively outpaced by Aston Martin, which is their customer team (AM buys their Power Unit, rear suspension, gearbox, etc. from Mercedes) and (2) Russell outperformed SIR Lewis Hamilton. Russell has beaten LewSIR in both qualifying sessions thus far this year, and the chosen one is out of contract at year end. Will Jim Ratcliffe and Ola Kallenius want to pay Hamilton top dollar when other credible drivers would be willing to take that seat for FAR less? Their votes would overrule Toto’s. Also, IF Hamilton were to leave Merc, where would he go? Not Red Bull; Max will surely have a clause about vetoing a teammate.
Ferrari - The car is slow, and it’s become apparent to me that Binotto’s ouster came courtesy of new Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna. New Team Principal Fed Vasseur has performed a pale imitation of his countryman Jean Todt’s efforts to shield the team from the braying of the Italian media. The Scuderia is already on the back foot politically.
Alpine - Decent race, solidified as the #5 team, so they should scrape the bottom end of the points when both cars from the above 4 teams perform as expected. Eagerly awaiting the cries of Sacre Bleu when the Frenchmen collide on track, which will happen.
Alfa Romeo - Who had Bottas getting outperformed by Zhou Guanyu on their bingo card? Terrible race for the Finn. Who will Audi want to drive their car from 2026? Would it be wise to take a punt on joining them in hopes that they nail the ‘26 regs a la Mercedes in 2014?
AlphaTauri - Tsunoda is outperforming his older, much more mature teammate Nyck DeVries. Unexpected. Also, what about team boss Tost absolutely throwing the engineering team under the bus? Morale must be LOW in Faenza.
Haas - The “Suck My Balls, Mate” duo haven’t collided yet; both have a propensity for self-destructive behavior (collisions, etc.), especially when in a position to score points. Hulkenberg has done very well against Magnussen after 3 years on the bench (occasional super sub appearances aside).
Williams - Logan Sargeant should be a superstar in America? Why isn’t he?
McLaren - Two races, zero points. Zak Brown should be looking for a new job, and Lando Norris will certainly be looking to go elsewhere; his problem is that new boy Oscar Piastri made HIM look weak in the race! Vettel was made to look overrated by Ricciardo in 2014; Ricciardo suffered the same fate against Norris in 2021 and 2022; will the same thing happen to Norris this year? If so, Oscar may get the call up to a top team! Somewhere, Danny Ric is laughing.
FIA / Race Control - Did not cover themselves in glory; fans should finish any sporting broadcast knowing the outcome definitively.
WEC and IMSA Observations:
The WEC race was a real race; the IMSA event was a shambles. The final few hours were punctuated by yellows and safety cars, and the final outcome in any of the IMSA enduros is a lottery driven by safety car restarts. This devalues the race long “narrative” that develops during a quality endurance race. Credit to Toyota for winning against legitimate OEM competition on Friday - they earned it.
I can't believe Jack would disparage minivans with such a comparison.
F1: is interesting now that there are four teams with a legitimate chance to win races. When's the last time that happened? (Expected response: only Red Bull can and will win, IDIOT)
IMSA: is great if you're there, especially the Rolex 24, but less so on TV, and I'm not interested enough to follow them through a season. (Expected response: you're too dumb to follow four classes at once, IDIOT)
NASCAR: I want to love it for political reasons. Their fan base isn't trying to take my cars, my guns, or my savings. But: too many commercials, stage racing will always suck, and the current cars seem more fragile than IndyCars. (Expected response: Orange man bad, climate change scary, put your mask back on, follow the science, IDIOT)
IndyCar: has a great product, thrilling and unpredictable. I watch every televised race I can and try to attend at least two events live every season. I do miss Michigan and Fontana and the month-long wait from St. Pete to Texas is killing me. (Expected response: it's a spec series that hasn't been good since 1995, and your mother is a prostitute, IDIOT)
MX-5 Cup: thank heaven for YouTube. Great fun to watch in an SCCA Runoffs way. (Expected response: none)
I'm probably alone in this, but I think racing is boring as fuck to watch. Worse than golf.
All I have to contribute is that I enjoy it whenever Lewis Hamilton doesn't win. He is to racing what Patrick Mahommes is to the NFL. It's unbearable the degree to which they're fawned over in the press. I'm sure I'm just a bad person for thinking that, though.
That photo of Bark from your perspective is tough.
“Couldn’t happened to a nicer minivan vendor, if you ask me.”
Ouch! Think the folks in Zuffenhausen might want to ice that burn...
I was so unimpressed with the overall appearance of the Porsche GTP car from the jump that it barely registers with me that it hasn't been competitive. The whole operation seems phoned in rather than a truly top level endurance racing effort from one of the sport's all time greats. Can't help but think the underwhelming nature of this program was a direct result of cost cutting measures implemented to help facilitate Porsche's now DOA Formula 1 aspirations.
Speaking of Formula 1, few things have given me more pleasure as of late than seeing a happy and fast Alonso sharing the same track with an underperforming and despondent Sir Lewis.
I've been following Formula 1 since before Jim Clark died, through its ups and downs. Often it's a parade, but I just love the floats (to steal a line). I remember when Alonso was The Man at McLaren and this brash rookie came and refused to bow to him. Alonso then left McLaren in a huff and took many team secrets with him to his next team (Renault?). There was a huge scandal and I thought that such a lack of character would bar him from F1 entirely. However, F1 is the most Darwinian of racing; all is forgiven, if you're quick. I like Lewis (the aforementioned rookie); he's become the elder statesman, now that Seb has left, and he often seems to be thinking of the bigger picture than just his ride. He follows a pretty predictable script by thanking the fans first, no matter what question he's asked by the media. Having said that, his time has passed. It happens to every athlete and even he is no exception. Russell was quicker than him last year and is much quicker this year. Lewis' only choice now is how gracefully he behaves. Nico Rosberg is the smartest man in F1. He ascended the heights, beat the best to become World Champion, retired at the top of his game (if a bit abruptly), and now lives a perfect life with his perfect nuclear family in Monaco. But he's not a very good announcer; apparently he has an online presence but I've never watched. Final observation: I like Lance Stroll (mostly because of his nationality), and he finally has a chance to prove he's a real racer and that daddy just didn't buy him a ride. He has a(nother) mentor and Alonso has proven he has the car. This will be worth watching for me this year.
MB's (The F1 team) Twitter account has a nice little video clip. GR takes the 3rd place trophy, puts it in the passenger seat of his MB street rig with the seatbelt on the trophy.
Drives over to the AM HQ and puts the trophy on the AM trophy stand.
Actually raised my respect for the guy a little bit. He comes across as too used car salesman wearing a white belt and a plaid sports coat.
“Minivan vendor”. Love it! I go nuts every time I see one of those blobs with kiddie seats on the way to soccer practice. My wife thinks I need help….
Supercross from Detroit Saturday night was great. Drama in the 250 class during a heat race between teammates, a veteran and very popular rookie. Heartbreak in the 450 class when Aaron Plessinger, a fan favorite threw it away right before winning his first 450 main.
Completely unrelated, I was reading an article from an older road and track comparing an M2 competition to 1LE. Was really enjoying the article thinking how well written it was and non-idiotic. Not really a shocker when I realized Jack wrote it.
I shoukd probably follow at least some racing, but don't at all. We have some competitive teams in IMPC, I oughta go check them out some time.
Someone more knowledgeable than me. Why does f1 vary so much? Mercedes dominated for years now red bull is. Aero, engine, all of the above? Rule changes?
WRC Mexico. Lappi seems to have more than his fair share of bad luck.
Sorry jack for discussing this here, but as you will understand, I'm 17 and there's no way dad's paying for my substack subsccription until I get into college(its an Indian thing). But related to your reddit post. I left reddit a while ago, but a friend sent your thread to me. Related to that: https://twitter.com/DougDeMuro/status/1629721307142295552 that wasnt an isolated incident. Fat creep brad has a habit of getting mad at successful people just because his piece of shit auction site went bust. How ironic that he calls doug a dork. I don't like doug's takes no(mostly because I don't have the time to spend 1 hour watching how a jag xk keyfob works), but you have to agree how hard he has worked. From leaving a corporate desk job at porsche to jalopnik and then to video. It's nice to see him grow. Even if he is a dork, he seems from the outside like a very hardworking dude. On the other hand. Just seeing brownell's pic, you know everything about him. He's literally the closest a 40 year old can get to a discord server mod, if you get my drift.