Thursday, October 6, 2016

What to watch this Weekend (Oct 7th - Oct 12th)

  • /Drive on NBC. Japan. Friday @ 2:30am - 3am (NBCSN(HD)) replay
  • Formula 1 - Japanese Grand Prix; from the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Japan. Practice. Friday @ 1am - 2:30am (NBCSN(HD)) live
  • Formula 1 - Japanese Grand Prix; from the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Japan. Qualifying. Saturday @ 2am - 3:30am (NBCSN(HD)) live
  • Formula 1 - Japanese Grand Prix; from the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Japan. Race. Sunday @ 12:30am - 3am (NBCSN(HD)) live
  • Chasing Classic Cars. Tuesday @ 7pm - 7:30pm (VelocityHD) replay
  • Motorweek. Tuesday @ 7:30pm - 8pm (VelocityHD) replay
  • Garage Squad. Wednesday @ 10pm - 10:30pm (VelocityHD) new
We have an exciting week ahead with the 2016 F1 season's 5th to last race. The last race in Malaysia was entertaining, but disappointing at the same time. Entertaining due to the great racing action on this repaved circuit, the storyline changes and a major victory for Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, but disappointing due to the DNF's across the field -- notably Vettel on lap 1, after spinning Rosberg and breaking his front left suspension, and Hams around lap 43 resulting from a surprise engine failure  which overshadowed his dominant pole position on Saturday. This lead to multiple outcomes; Red Bull has pulled away from Ferrari in the Manufacturers Championship, Raikkonen (finished 4th) jumped Vettel in the Driver's Championship again, Nico now has a 23pt lead over Hamilton and Petronas Mercedes AMG missed out on the opportunity to clinch the Manufacturers Championship in Malaysia, home of Petronas. Nico did a great job making up positions after getting clipped by Vettel on turn 1, to finish in third position despite a 10 second penalty for a optimistic move on Raikkonen late in the race. Ricciardo held off the advances of young Max to lead a Red Bull 1-2 capped off by a champagne boot celebration by the entire podium. McLaren had another good outing scoring points with both drivers, Button scoring points in his 300th GP. With the checkered flag dropped, the Driver's Championship standings are as follows: Rosberg, Hamilton (-23), Ricciardo (-84), Raikkonen (-128), Vettel (-135), Verstappen (-142). Suzuka is a technical track which will favor Red Bull's aero package so it should be another great fight up front. Mercedes has reliability issues to address, after a relatively solid year in that regard; we'll see how it shakes out, including McLaren's updates for Honda's home GP. 

Enjoy your weekends.

Video courtesy of JDMHub.

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Monday, October 3, 2016