Tag: F1

Formula 1 (F1) racing

Jacques Villeneuve Returns to F1

Truth be told, when I started watching F1 in 1995 I fell in love with Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve. Hill won the championship that year followed by Jacques in 1996. It looked like Villeneuve was set for even bigger things, but something went wrong on the way to paradise when he decided to help build BAR.

Oops – big mistake. One that took Villeneuve right out of F1 prior to the last race of the 1993 season. Now Villeneuve is back at the expense of Trulli, testing for Renault, hoping to land a contract for the remainder of the year.

Yesterday, in his first test back in F1, Villeneuve pulled in the slowest time at Silverstone, a full 1.6 seconds off the pace set by McLaren and Raikkonen. Scary, sad. Today Villeneuve managed the 3rd fast time, a mere 0.036 behind Sato’s BAR first place pace. Very nice.

Making matters more interesting, Villeneuve has a chance to knock BAR in the ass if he can help Renault catapult in front of his former team. That would indeed be sweet redemption for Jacques, plus he gets back in racing shape as he prepares to join Sauber next year for a two year contract.

I am not sure if Villeneuve call pull Sauber to the front, but let’s face it, Sauber is the minor league Ferrari team. They have good parts, and a decent setup. Running last year’s spec Ferrari parts is nothing to sneeze at – this could be a great situation for Sauber and Jacques should be able to squeeze nice things out of the car. Say what you will about Jacques, but no one has ever doubted his talent.

“Welcome back to the show Jacques!” F1 just got interesting again, and if you happen to beat BAR a few times in the process, so much the better!

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Indy Racing League Gets Interesting

I have always been a casual fan of the IRL – I do not follow the series very closely, but I do appreciate the exciting racing action, and of course the Indy 500. I have always thoughts that the IRL suffered for two reasons. First, the marketing arm of the IRL does not strongly promote their drivers in the way that NASCAR promotes their top guys. In my opinion, people love NASCAR because of the driver personalities – many are larger than life. Second, the IRL suffers because it is perceived by many casual fans as just another form of oval racing. Oval racing = NASCAR in much the same way that video games = PlayStation.

The reality is much different. As a racing fan I know the IRL’s top teams, top drivers, and understand how difficult it is to setup an open wheel racer to fly around an oval. It is not just driving around in circles. NASCAR is so ingrained in the casual racing community that the IRL is little more than an afterthought. Hopefully that will change. I have written about this before, but many NASCAR fans fail to realize that series has top drivers that started in the IRL.

F1 is by far my favorite form of motor racing. I love F1 because I like road courses, I love the pageantry, and I love the technology. Nothing else comes in as a close second. I follow all sorts of racing circuits – Le Mans, GT, Rally, you name it, but F1 is near and dear to me.

Of course I follow NASCAR – it is kind of hard to live in the South and not follow NASCAR, but it does not engage me in the same way that F1 manages to suck away my Sunday mornings. Except for the Indy 500, I only watch IRL races when there is nothing else on TV that I would rather watch. That is pretty much the same for all other racing except for a few Le Mans races that I always watch if I have the time. Sad and pathetic, but true.

The Indy Racing League just got more interesting. In early August the IRL announced that Infineon Raceway (California) and Watkins Glen (New York) were being added to the calendar in addition to 14 or so oval courses. Yesterday the IRL announced that addition of St. Petersburg, a street circuit race, to the 2005 schedule.

This is great news. The IRL now has ovals, two road courses, and a street circuit. Smells like roses to me. I hope that other racing fans take notice.

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