Unfortunately over the next four races it became very clear that the greatest season in recent memory may be followed by one of the worst. The complete and utter dominance of Sebastian Vettel is bordering on that of Michael Schumacher during the 2004 season where Ferrari won every race except three. There is nothing wrong with the fastest man in the fastest car winning, that is what the sport is about.

However when this is compounded with the fact that KERS is nothing more than a marketing scheme for F1 to say it is relevant because it’s cars are hybrids. KERS is used for nothing more than defensive maneuvers the same as when it was introduced in 2009, Giancarlo Fisichella would have won the Belgian Grand Prix if Kimi Raikkonnen had not been using KERS out of the corners to pull away before Fisichella could have made his move.
DRS has turned out to be the biggest disgrace to F1 I have ever seen. DRS can only be used by a chasing driver when that driver is within one second of the car it is chasing. When activated part of the rear wing element becomes parallel with the ground reducing the drag on the chase car and enabling it to go several miles per hour faster than the car it is chasing. It is basically the same as deactivating one cylinder of the car in front so the car behind can pass. This can only be used in a specified zone on the track, usually a long straight.
The result of this has been races where there are a record number of passes in a race but to me they are meaningless and it has devalued the overtaking ability of some drivers on the grid. Kamui Kobayashi is probably one of the most prolific overtakers next to Lewis HAmilton but it’s hard to notice when every lap there are 20 DRS passes. Istanbul, Turkey was the worst race by far with cars just passing and repassing, it was a shameful display from a great series.

Just when I think I will not go out of my way to watch the rest of this season The Grand Prix of Monte Carlo arrives. This race is always a little different because it takes place on the narrow streets of a fishing town. This race almost gave one of the best finishes of the season. Sebastian Vettel was running in first place on old tires while he was being caught by a quick Ferrari piloted by Fernando Alonso on newer tires who was rapidly being caught by a McLaren piloted by a possessed Jenson Button on even newer tires. With 16 laps to go it looked as though Vettel would be overtaken by Alonso and even Button. Unfortunately with a few laps to go there was a big accident and the race had to be stopped so the tack could be cleaned and the injured driver could be removed from the car and taken to the hospital.
During the race suspension all of the teams put fresh tires on their cars and the amazing finish we all wanted to see was taken away just like that. The top three cars finished where they started once the race resumed.

The next race in Montreal, Canada is also a little different since it is raced on the public roads of a park along the St Lawrence River. It looked as though Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing were again going to have their way but mother nature intervened with rain and this allowed for what was probably the greatest race of the 2011 season and probably one of the greatest drives to victory ever. The overtaking during the race was genuine and they weren’t overshadowed by the DRS passing. Jenson Button the eventual race winner had five pit stops and one drive through penalty but still drove from the back of the field to win the race after pressuring Vettel into an error. This was the type of racing that was promised for 2011, it only took a race track made out of park streets and inclement weather to produce it.
I hope that the last two races of the season are showing that the season is getting better but I feel that the racing will only get worse and may even surpass the low of the Turkish Grand Prix. I know I am in the minority when it comes to viewing the season this way but the racing for most of the season has been artificial, commentators, fans and drivers know it. I hope I’m wrong though because I love F1 and don’t want to see it value the ‘show’ over the racing.

Bernie who is turning 80 years old in a few days has been running F1 since the late 70s and has been part of the sport for much longer. He started out in F1 as the new team owner of the Brabham Team in 1972 and later gained control of the sport through his commercial deals for F1. Since he has been running the sport F1 has risen from a sport filled with privately funded teams racing in central Europe to a sport that has seen almost every major auto manufacturer involved at some point and races on almost every continent. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on who you ask but he has made himself a decent retirement fund in the process.

It seems as though by making F1 into this ‘must have’ commodity he has drifted away from what made the sport what it is. Since every country appears to want a race on the schedule the track fees have gotten to be so excessive that countries such as England, Turkey, Australia and Korea had to put in money to help pay the track fees for their respective races. These higher track fees have also resulted in higher ticket prices with race promoters looking to recoup money. Recently there has been a lot of funding for teams coming from oil families from the Middle East for such big name teams as Ferrari and Mclaren. This has led to tracks in places such as Abu Dhabi and Q’tar where there is no real atmosphere or fans to watch the races.

Bernie also seems to only rely on one person to create new tracks, Hermann Tilke. Tilke Design has been responsible for designing all of the latest tracks F1 uses such as Turkey, Abu Dhabi, Q’tar, Korea, Singapore and the newly proposed track in Houston, TX. All of the Tilke designed tracks are considered to lack character and result in boring high speed parades with the exception of Turkey with Eau Rouge corner. His tracks have none of the character that the older circuits have. There is not a single part of tracks such as Spa, Circuit Gil Villeneuve in Montreal, or Suzuka that are boring. These boring tracks combined with very expensive ticket prices have led to less fans at the track and in front of the TV. Bernie Ecclestone has definitely done great things for F1 but the next person in control may need to move away from some of his tactics and adapt to the changing motorsport economy before F1 becomes another expensive accessory for the super-rich and that is something that would sadden this F1 fan.

Fernando Alonso is a two-time F1 World Champion. He has driven for power house teams such as Renault F1, Mclaren-Mercedes and Ferrari. He is known as the best driver on the grid, fast and determined. I don’t question these things about him but I feel that some of his actions throughout his career will ultimately tarnish his reputation. Alonso complains a lot for a championship winning driver. I realize that competitive individuals can be seen as narcissistic and cocky but I feel that they should not be whiners.

Alonso always seems to not respond well when his teammate is as fast or faster than him. He complained during the 2005 Canadian Grand Prix that his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella, who was in 1st place, was not going fast enough and should let him pass. Fisichella later retired from that race with a mechanical problem and Alonso got his wish. After he won the championship in 2005 it was clear that Fisichella had been regulated to the 2nd driver role. This meant that he was just there to support Alonso and finish as close to him as possible as long as it wasn’t in front of him. His last teammate at Renault, Nelson Piquet, was in so much of a support role that he was told to crash his car during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. The track in Singapore is street circuit with very high walls and requires the use of the safety car for big accidents. The strategy worked because Alonso took a poor qualifying position and turned it into a win. Piquet and the Renault officials involved were later fired from their team and the sport.

Alonso’s time at Mclaren-Mercedes was just one big season of drama. His move to Mclaren seem like it was a major coup for both Mclaren and Alonso since Mclaren is one of the best teams in F1 and Alonso was the best driver. However Alonso couldn’t come to terms with the fact that Mclaren didn’t have a clear number one or two driver and that his rookie teammate, Lewis Hamilton, was just as fast as him. The entire time it seemed that Alonso was complaining about the team favoring his teammate or just plain whining about Mclaren not treating him like F1 royalty. At the end of the season the relationship between the two had deteriorated to the point that his 3 year deal was terminated and Alonso was trying to blackmail the team.

In 2009 Alonso took over at Ferrari for 2007 World Champion Kimi Raiikonen. This was the worst kept secret in the paddock since the agreement between the two parties had been leaked a season earlier. Alonso would be teaming up with Felipe Massa, the 2008 World Championship runner-up. Felipe Massa is far from a slow driver but many worried that he would not be the same driver in 2010 that he was in 2008 and 2009 because he was involved in a major accident that kept him out of the car for most of the 2009 season. The 2010 season started out as many predicted with Alonso winning the first race and taking most of the points for the team but there were signs that he was still going to try to make Ferrari his team. At the Chinese Grand Prix Alonso passed Massa as they were both traveling on the in-road to pitlane. This is a highly controversial move since it is proper racing etiquette to stay inline once off the main part of the track, it wasn’t illegal but it wasn’t right at all. During the German Grand Pix Massa had been leading the entire race after making a very heroic pass on Alonso and Sebastian Vettel on lap one. Massa was leading Alonso and there were times when Alonso looked faster but couldn’t make a pass to get around him. Alonso radios to the team that he is the faster driver, this basically means that Massa should let him pass. After a few laps Massa was instructed in a somewhat coded message to let Alonso pass him. The Ferraris went on then went on to finish the race 1-2, the same way they would have finished if Massa hadn’t been instructed to let Alonso by. I heard a lot of commentary about how the team let him by for the maximum amount of points but if the drivers are running 1-2 that is the max points available. Alonso should have manned up and passed Massa since ‘clearly’ Alonso thought he was the faster driver.

I was originally going to title this ‘Why I don’t like Fernando Alonso’ because I know how I will remember him. To me he will be a petulant little child who relies more on team politics than his natural talent and not the breath of fresh air that ended Michael Schumacher’s dominance of F1.

Unfortunately it wasn’t a big smoky V8 induced burnout.
I just wanted to let everyone know that this blog is not dead.  I have had a lot of distractions lately and haven’t had the time or mental capacity to write anything.  I have put most of those things behind me and will start to populate the blog with more auto related content in the coming days.

Late last month Formula One Management announced that the United States Grand Prix would return to the F1 calendar in 2012.  The race however would not be held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway were it was last held instead it would take place at a purpose built race circuit in Austin, TX.  This location has raised several eyebrows though since it is in the middle of NASCAR country I don’t really think it will matter though because Austin is a beautiful city and in previous years the US Grand Prix has been one of the most attended races only falling behind the British Grand Prix.  The track will be designed by Herman Tilke, the resident F1 track designer, this can possibly be a bad thing since most of the tracks he has designed have produced less than exciting races.  However he is responsible for designing the Istanbul Circuit which does give us great racing year after year.

The other F1 news coming from the US is that of a new F1 team bidding to get the slot that was left available by USF1′s failed attempt to make it to the grid this year.  The bid is being put in by the Cypher Group which is made up of people from USF1 minus Ken Anderson and looks to have solid financial backing.  I’m not sure if they will make it over the other teams bidding for the open spot but there does seem to be some pull in their corner with the latest comments from Ferrari president Luca Di Montezemolo saying that he would love to see another Ferrari team on the grid flying the stars and stripes.  I would love to see that also.

2012 will be a big year for the IRL since they are introducing a new chassis and engine for the series.  When Champ Car and IRL merged many were thinking that the DP-01 that was being run in Champ Car would be used as the new car for the IRL since it was the newer chassis and also had an oval race package developed even thought it was never used in Champ Car.  There are several designs that have been submitted to the IRL for review and the new chassis should be announced in the coming months.  I’m looking forward to this because anyone who has seen an IRL race knows that current car is the motorsports equivalent of a Toyota Camry, very boring.

The new engine rules for the IRL look very interesting and should bring in more than one engine supplier.  Turbos are coming back wich is something that hasn’t been in US open wheel since the Champ Car series.  The engine configuration will be a 2.4l engine of either four or six cylinders.  The horsepower will range from 550 to  700, I don’t really get this but it may have something to do with the varying hp levels per cylinder count.  Currently there are rumors of VW, Renault and several other companies interested in possibly supplying engines for the series.  Honda will be happy since they have been asking for more suppliers in the series.

There are a lot of cool things going on in the open wheel community in the US and I am getting excited for it.  2012 may be the year that open wheel puts NASCAR on notice.

When most people think about F1 racing tracks such as Watkins Glen, Laguna Seca and Indianapolis Motor Speedway come to mind but none of these tracks inaugurated America to the world of Grand Prix racing.  The city that won the bid over cities such as Los Angeles and Indianapolis was Savannah, GA, a small southern city with a passion for all things fast.  Savannah city and port officials and rail road barons used everything at their disposal to bring in the spectators and race teams from all over the world.  The city jail was also turned into a hotel for one of the international delegates since all of the hotels in the city were at maximum occupancy.

By modern standards the track layout was more endurance than standard road race.  The track was 25.13 miles long and included 32 turns, it took over 6 hours to complete.  The course also included the first road in the US to be named Victory Drive.  The roads that made up this race course can still be driven on today.  This race attracted all of the best car manufactures and drivers of the day.  Companies such as Simplex, Fiat, Benz, Buick, Renault and Chadwick all fielded cars, Henry Ford and Horace Dodge were in attendance but did not have cars competing.  The event was won by famous french driver Louis Wagner.

The race was run on a foggy Thanksgiving day November 26th 1908 and was a huge success.  The event attracted more than 250,000 spectators to the small Georgia city.  The Georgia State Military was called out to protect the spectators along the course and setup a 16,000 man human fence due to the lack of concrete barriers.

The American Grand Prize would continue running in Savannah until 1911.  The event grew so popular that in its final year it was run in conjunction with the Vanderbilt Cup and attracted over 500,000 people to Savannah, GA.  Unfortunately the race was a gift and curse for Savannah, it brought fame and prestige to the area which increased the number of people looking to live in Savannah.  After 1911 it was deemed that Victory Drive had become too congested to be closed for the event and it was moved to Milwaukee where it failed to establish the glamor of the racing in Savannah.

The 2007 MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner is one of the fastest men in the sport and for the past three seasons the only man who could ride the Ducati Desmosedici competitively.  Since he joined Ducati in 2007 Loris Capirossi is the only other Ducati rider to win a race.  It seemed that the Ducati was developed for Stoner only with minimal input from his teammates.  Only recently has the design philosophy at Ducati seem to change, the 2010 season has started with Stoner being beaten by a teammate for the first time since 2007.  This change was possibly due to the fact that Stoner had an up and down season in 2009.  Due to medical reasons he missed several races which left Ducati’s hope for a win on the shoulders of 2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden.

The most common rumor is that Stoner has signed a letter of intent with Honda for the 2011 season.  This is a very plausible situation since the former head of Ducati’s MotoGP team Livio Suppo is now working for Honda.  Stoner was also very upset with Ducati for courting Jorge Lorenzo as they did last season when he was ill.

This will be the linchpin of the silly season because Stoner is on of the top 4 riders on the grid riding one of the best bikes.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out if he does move to Honda.  I think that Honda will drop Dani Pedrosa since he has yet to really reach his potential and he has become quite fragile over the past two seasons.  Valentino Rossi may move to Ducati to fill Stoner’s shoes and rejoin with Hayden.  This will also give Ducati an Italian rider.  With Rossi leaving Yamaha, Ben Spies would probably be promoted up from his junior Yamaha team to join Jorge Lorenzo.  All of this shuffling will leave Pedrosa out in the cold but I don’t really like him anyway so this situation works for me.

This is all rumor and speculation so take everything here with a grain of salt.  I’m not sure it would make sense for Stoner to leave the team that made him a World Champion but Rossi did it and he seems to be doing fine.  If Stoner gets out paced by Hayden all season he will probably leave.

We will just have to wait and see if Stoner is ready to give up his Italian Riviera Sunsets for Tokyo sunrises.

All of the positives came to an end when it was announced that 7 time World Champion Michael Schumacher would be his teammate.  I must admit that I was one of those people who said that he probably just made the worst career move ever since Schumacher would more than likely get the preferential treatment that comes with winning 91 races.

The season however started out a lot different than many predicted, Rosberg was easily out pacing Schumacher in practice, qualifying and during races.  After four races Rosberg was sitting second in the drivers championship and had claimed the first podium of the year for Mercedes GP.  It was looking as though the shine had gone from Mr. Schumacher, he was struggling to get the car around the track the same way his teammate could.

I had started to think that maybe I was wrong, Rosberg’s stock would only go up if he continued to beat Scumacher the way he was.  Then reports started to come out that Ross Brawn was going to change up the wheelbase of the car to change the weight distribution of the car.  He claimed that they had miscalculated how the new Bridgestone tires would react.  At this time there were also reports stating that this was being done to make the car suit Schumacher better because he was having trouble with the understeer in the current version.

The Spanish Grand Prix would be when the revised car would be raced.  I was very interested to see how the new car would work for Rosberg, would this be a change that benefits both drivers or would we see Schumacher rise as Rosberg falls? Unfortunately it was the latter, Rosberg seemed to be struggling with the car all weekend while Schumacher jumped to the sharp end of the field.  During practice the was consistently in the top 5 drivers and qualified well for the race.  This was also the first time this season that Schumacher finished ahead of Rosberg.

This was an expected result but it does bring up a question for the next race will they use the previous chassis for Monaco since it is a shorter wheelbase and will have a better time around the tight turns?  Mercedes could also run both versions of the car, long wheelbase for Schumacher and short wheelbase for Rosberg.  This can be done since the actual tub is the same for both versions just the hard points have moved, this was done so that the tub wouldn’t have to be crash certified again.  Having two different versions of the car gets expensive though since a lot of the parts will be different between the two but the payoff is two competitive drivers.

I hope that Nico will come to grips with the car or Ross Brawn will figure something out so that both drivers can coexist at the team.  I would hate for him to be in the same spot as Rubens Barrichello when he was at Ferrari.

Once Fox was in control there was a massive influx of NASCAR programming on the channel.  I understand that NASCAR is the dominant motorsport in the country so I can understand that they would want to tap into that market of viewers.  What I cannot understand is why they would alienate the people who had followed the channel since its inception.  NASCAR has always had a place on regular network television while other racing series in the US and Europe were relegated to cable networks such as SPEED.  SPEED has always had a bias to NASCAR programming but there was still room for Formula 1, American Le Mans, MotoGP, etc.

The programming on SPEED has puzzled me recently as I can’t imagine they appeal to the hardcore NASCAR fan.  Shows such as Fast Track to Fame, which looks like a bad version of American Idol, or The Racing Chef cannot be what people are calling or emailing the network for.  I would gladly give up these aimless programs for delayed showings of FIA GT Racing, Touring Cup or some kind of actual racing.  I’m worried that the people running SPEED have no clue who they want to target and just approving every idea that has nothing to do with real racing.

I remember back in college I would enjoy sitting in front of the television for several hours watching everything from SCCA Touring Car racing and AMA Superbike racing to MotoGP and Formula 1.  Maybe I’m just living in the past and need to embrace my future of having to download or watch races live online since there is not a good channel to bring it into my living room.  I know that I am not the only one who feels this way since the SPEEDtv.com forums are full of people complaining about similar things.  Hopefully they will listen or better yet SPEED can become all NASCAR and then a station that doesn’t have to compromise will appear and market itself to the non-NASCAR watching motorsport enthusiast.

How do you feel about the situation, are you content with the access you have to motorsports?

Why do we watch racing?  Is it for the actual racing or is it for the manufactured excitement that most racing series seem to be trying to implement.

I am a purist when it comes to racing.  I love watching for three laps while drivers/riders setup a pass and the sounds and the technology behind the machines.  I know that I do not share the view of most people but I would like to think that most people who watch motorsports for the love of the sport and not some synthetic excitement created by arbitrary rule changes.

The 2009 season in Formula 1 was awesome overall, Jenson Button got to show that he was a championship capable driver and Ross Brawn showed everyone why he is the most sought after technical director.  The only problem I really had with that season of F1 was the introduction of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS), it would have been fine if all teams were mandated to use it but since it was voluntary for 2009 the only some teams used it.  This created some of the most disjointed racing I had ever seen, there were cars that were obviously faster than the KERS equipped cars but couldn’t get around them because when the KERS equipped cars hit the ‘button’ they would just pull away from the faster cars and this irritated me so much.  I feel that the faster driver/car pairing should win not the slow car with the power boost button.

On April 27^th the Indy Racing League (IRL) announced that there will be three championships this year.  There will be one overall champion and a separate champion for ovals and road/street courses.  I’m not sure what this is going to do really, maybe it is to appeal to people like myself who don’t watch IRL races that take place on ovals.  I feel that this may confuse the casual fan since there are three different standing to keep track of.  Some people feel that this rule was made to make Danica Patrick look better since she is 16^th in standing overall.  I’m not sure if that would really help her though because she is probably the 4^th or 5^th best oval racer.

I feel NASCAR has always gone for the spectacle over racing approach, I won’t claim to be an expert on NASCAR since I don’t really understand the sport and only check in now and then to see where Juan Pablo Montoya and Scott Speed are in the standings.  There is always something crazy going on with NASCAR though, from Green-White-Checkered finishes to officials telling drivers to be more aggressive on track leading to the Edwards-Keselowski incident.  It is also the only racing series I know of where people expect and wait for a wreck or as they say ‘the Big One’.

I feel that the purity of the racing should speak for itself but NASCAR is showing that providing a show is more profitable than providing good racing.  Is it the racing that makes you tune in or is it the hope or expectation of some wild event?

Let me know what you think.