Thursday, May 20, 2021

What to watch this Monaco GP Weekend (Mar 20th - Mar 26th)

  • Formula 1 - Monaco Grand Prix. From Circuit de Monaco. Practice 1. Thursday @ 5:25am - 6:30am (ESPN2) live
  • Formula 1 - Monaco Grand Prix. From Circuit de Monaco. Practice 2. Thursday @ 8:55am - 10am (ESPN2) live 
  • Formula 1 - Monaco Grand Prix. From Circuit de Monaco. Practice 3. Saturday @ 5:55am - 7:30am (ESPNU) live 
  • Formula 1 - Monaco Grand Prix. From Circuit de Monaco. Qualifying. Saturday @ 8:55am - 10am (ESPN2) live
  • Formula 1 - Monaco Grand Prix. From Circuit de Monaco. Race. Sunday @ 8:55am - 11am (ESPN2) live; same-day replay @ 12:25pm (ABC)
  • Garage Squad. Mon/Tue/Wed @ 4pm - 5pm (MotorTrend) replays
  • Hot Rod Garage. Mon/Tue @ 5pm - 6pm (MotorTrend) replays
  • Bitchin Rides. Mon/Wed @ 7pm - 8pm (MotorTrend) replays
  • Auto Mundial. Tuesday @ 7pm - 7:30pm (MotorTrend)
  • Motorweek. Tuesday @ 7:30pm - 8pm (MotorTrend) 
Barcelona was exciting even through it had a very familiar outcome; Merc clipped Red Bulls wings via strategy and moderately better pace on a set of medium tires during the second half of the race where either one stop or two stop were up on offer. Oh and Hams got pole number 100. Meanwhile Max raced his 100th grand prix. The wily veteran got the upper hand this go around, but I think if Red Bull had pit Max immediately after Hamilton pit for his last set of mediums, Max may have had a chance -- unfortunately there's no way to say at this point given how mighty Hamilton's pace on mediums was all weekend. Charles looked strong again with another best of the rest finish in 4th. Sergio had a solid race as well even though he wasn't along side Max to help counter Merc, finishing 5th. Ricciardo got the monkey off his back and had a strong outing in his McLaren, taking 6th ahead of his speed partner in crime, Lando who took 8th. Sainz took 7th to keep the points coming for Ferrari in their battle with McLaren and Ocon had another solid outing taking 9th. Gasly took the last championship point in tenth. It looks like Merc clawed some performance back despite much talk about Red Bulls bendy rear wing. It also looks like all the swapped drivers are settling into thing in their new surroundings. Alonso had a decent weekend, but Sunday wasn't memorable. With the checkered flag dropped, the Driver's Championship standings are as follows: Hamilton, Verstappen (-14), Bottas (-47), Norris (-53), Leclerc (-54), Perez (-62). After only a few races, the gaps between runners is becoming quite apparent. Most importantly, the gap between Merc and Red Bull in the Constructors' is 29 points. Monaco is a track known for little passing and rewarding qualy and track position. If Red Bull can't take the fight to Merc, on the slow and medium-speed corners of Monaco, it's going to be a long season; especially since everyone has already shifted to 2022 regulation development.
Enjoy your motorsport weekends.

Video courtesy of Formula1.

Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Neo-Vintage Enthusiast Topic: Driving the fabulous Ferrari 250 SWB Revival by GTO Engineering (Autocar)

Matt shakes down a GTO Engineering Ferarri 250 SWB Revival, which improves upon the original to make it a better driver's car while not being completely original. 

Video courtesy of Autocar.

Monday, May 17, 2021