What to watch this F1 Weekend (June 4th - June 9th)

• Formula 1 - Azerbaijan Grand Prix; from the street circuit in Azerbaijan, Baku. Practice 1. Friday @ 4:25am - 5:30am (ESPN2) live
• Formula 1 - Azerbaijan Grand Prix; from the street circuit in Azerbaijan, Baku. Practice 2. Friday @ 7:55am - 9am (ESPNU) live
• Formula 1 - Azerbaijan Grand Prix; from the street circuit in Azerbaijan, Baku. Practice 3. Saturday @ 4:55am - 6am (ESPNU) live
• Formula 1 - Azerbaijan Grand Prix; from the street circuit in Azerbaijan, Baku. Qualifying. Saturday @ 7:55am - 9am (ESPN2) live
• Formula 1 - Azerbaijan Grand Prix; from the street circuit in Azerbaijan, Baku. Race. Sunday @ 6:30am - 10am (ESPN) live
• Garage Squad. Mon/Tue/Wed @ 4pm - 5pm (MotorTrend) replays
• Bitchin Rides. Mon/Tue/Wed @ 6pm - 7pm (MotorTrend) replays
• Auto Mundial. Tuesday @ 7pm - 7:30pm (MotorTrend)
• Motorweek. Tuesday @ 7:30pm - 8pm (MotorTrend) 

Monaco is always the best weekends of the year, for teams, drivers and spectators, and the weather didn't disappoint; perfectly picturesque, sunny and with fans. Charles was home, once again, coming off some poor fortune last time around in 2019. Unfortunately his luck this year was no better, despite taking pole on Saturday via his first run in Q3. On his last run in Q3, however, he clipped the turn 15 barrier and put it into the wall. This is what set into motion what would take place on Sunday. But before we get to that, the rest of the top five qualifiers were on fliers when Charles hit the way, negating their attempts. Verstappen was in second, Bottas took third and a quick Sainz and Norris rounded out 4th and 5th. Ferrari was very quick around the Monaco streets all weekend and it was proven to not be a fluke on Saturday. Merc was not close enough, but Hams had a rough weekend overall, never able to quite get the balance where he was able to push; he qualified 7th. Vettel finally out qualified his teammate and qualified 8th beside Lewis. Gasly showed some pace, qualifying 6th and Perez was in 9th, not quite in a position to help out Max with strategy, but then again this race is almost entirely about track position due to the lack of passing points on the circuit. Sunday came, and the proverbial shit hit the fan (see vid two for an explanation). Leclerc wasn't the only one who got the shaft (no pun intended) Sunday, so did Valteri, who has be up there in the most unlucky drivers over the last couple years -- he's running in a podium position, comes in for tires and never leaves the pit again, as he had shredded wheel nut on his FR (see video three). Picking up the scraps of these mistakes, however, were Norris, Sainz, Verstappen and Vettel (!) who took fifth. Red Bull has taken the lead in the Constructors Championship for the first time in years -- and more importantly Max leads the Driver's Championship for the first time in his career. This weekend in Azerbaijan will be intense across the board; it'll be interesting to see if the unique nature of the Monaco streets were an anomaly or not in terms of pace and result; this championship could be getting really good.

Enjoy your motorsport weekends.

Video courtesy of Formula1.

Videos courtesy of Peterwindsor.

What to watch this Weekend (Mar 29th - April 3rd)

• The Grand Tour. Season 3 Episode 12. Friday (Amazon Prime) new  
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Bahrain. From the Bahrain International Circuit in Manama. Practice 1. Friday @ 6:55am - 9am (ESPNU(HD)) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Bahrain. From the Bahrain International Circuit in Manama. Practice 2. Friday @ 10:55am - 1pm (ESPNU(HD)) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Bahrain. From the Bahrain International Circuit in Manama. Practice 3. Saturday @ 7:55am - 9am (ESPN2(HD)) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Bahrain. From the Bahrain International Circuit in Manama. Qualifying. Saturday @ 10:55am - 12pm (ESPN2(HD)) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Bahrain. From the Bahrain International Circuit in Manama. Race. Sunday @ 11:05am - 1:30pm (ESPN2(HD)) live
• Chasing Classic Cars. Tuesday @ 7pm - 7:30pm (MotorTrendHD) replay
• Motorweek. Tuesday @ 7:30pm - 8pm (MotorTrendHD) replay
• Restoration Garage. Tuesday @ 10pm - 11pm (MotorTrendHD) new
• Chasing Classic Cars. Wednesday @ 9pm - 10pm (MotorTrendHD) new

Last time around in Australia...Merc showed themselves to be tops once again, Honda got on the podium for the first time in the hybrid turbo era, Grosjeans luck continued to go awry for another year via wheel related DNF, Ferrari looked slower than expected and Leclerc was seemingly told to back off once he reeled in Vettel due to some undisclosed (at the time) issue. Bottas lost out to Hamilton's qualifying mastery, by a tenth, but got what really mattered most to him, a (dominant) win and as icing on the cake, the single point for fastest lap (new rule in 2019). This brings him to 26pts after the first race. Hamilton didn't seem to be in too bad of spirits after wondering why he lacked pace during the race, as he explained he knows why the problem arose so theoretically it'll be resolved next time around in Bahrain (see vids below, re: floor damage). McLaren's Norris was able to make Q3 which was positive, but Sainz unfortunately channelled his inner Alonso and had a power-unit failure, smoke spewing out of the back of his car around mid-race. I just thought about how Alonso could've been suffering that failure if he was still on the team, but Norris did make it to the end of the race in his Renault powered McLaren. Ricciardo's home race was disappointing to say the least, starting off bad with his front wing getting ripped off on a bold starting move where the ground clearance was misjudged. The rest of the race deteriorated from here and pretty close to the end the team decided to pull him for some data on the screens that didn't bode well. With the checkered paddle dropped, the current race standings are as follows: Bottas, Hamilton (-8), Verstappen (-11), Vettel (-14), Leclerc (-16), Magnussen (-18).

Bahrain is a different style circuit to that of Melbourne, so it'll be interesting to see if Ferrari figures out what's going on, if Leclerc is allowed to flourish or just be the permanent #2. How will Hams fare against Bottas once his issue is resolved and how strong can Haas be when both cars can finish the race. Will McLaren be able to resolve the issue that lead to the failure and be able to have both cars finish? We'll have to tune in to find out.

Enjoy your weekends

Video courtesy of PeterWindsor.

What to watch this F1 Season Kickoff and 12hrs of Sebring Weekend (Mar 15th - Mar 20th)

• The Grand Tour. Season 3 Episode 10. Friday (Amazon Prime)  
• Formula 1 - Australian Grand Prix; from Melbourne/Albert Park Circuit. Practice 2. Friday @ 12:55am - 2:30am (ESPNNews(HD)) live
• FIA WEC. 1000 miles of Sebring. Friday @ 3:30pm - 12:30am (MotorTrendHD) live
• Formula 1 - Australian Grand Prix; from Melbourne/Albert Park Circuit. Practice 3. Friday @ 10:55pm - 12am (ESPNNews(HD)) live
• WSCC - 12 hours of Sebring (FL). 67th annual running of this historic race. Saturday @ 10:30am - 1pm (CNBC(HD)), 1pm - 3pm (NBCSportsLive), 10:30am - 10:40pm (IMSA.com webcast), 3pm - 11pm (NBCSN(HD)) live 
• Formula 1 - Australian Grand Prix; from Melbourne/Albert Park Circuit. Qualifying. Saturday @ 1:55am - 3am (ESPN2(HD)) live
• Formula 1 - Australian Grand Prix; from Melbourne/Albert Park Circuit. Race. Sunday @ 1:05am - 3am (ESPN(HD)) live
• Chasing Classic Cars. Tuesday @ 7pm - 7:30pm (MotorTrendHD) replay
• Motorweek. Tuesday @ 7:30pm - 8pm (MotorTrendHD) replay
• Restoration Garage. Tuesday @ 10pm - 11pm (MotorTrendHD) new
• Chasing Classic Cars. Wednesday @ 9pm - 10pm (MotorTrendHD) new

We've been waiting for this weekend all off-season -- the start of the 2019 F1 season. F1 testing sessions up 'til now show Ferrari with the edge, Merc getting things together and Red Bull ironing out kinks with its packaging in order to maximize the new Honda power plant. Haas and Renault look to battle it out in the mid-field and McLaren has some pace which they hope to prove is real this weekend. Meanwhile, the IMSA 12hrs of Sebring is also taking place this weekend, as well as a World Endurance Championship race on the same circuit. This should be a great start to the full motorsport season.

On a sadder note, our thoughts go out to Charlie Whiting's friends and family, as he passed away this week. Charlie went from a Brabum engineer in his younger days to becoming the F1 Race Director, overseeing high level motorsport for decades. He not only watched over races, but worked with teams and drivers on regulation nuances, requirements, safety regulations as well as working with the circuits themselves to ensure they were as safe as possible for each event. He'll be missed, to all of us motorsport fans as well as everyone in the motorsport world that relied on his technical acumen and effectiveness in his multiple roles.

Enjoy your motorsport weekends.

Video courtesy of Peterwindsor.

What to watch this F1 finale and Thanksgiving Weekend (Nov 23th - Nov 28th)

• Formula 1 - Abu Dhabi Gran Prix; from the Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi in UAE. Practice 1. Friday @ 3:55am - 5:30am (ESPN2(HD)) live
• Formula 1 - Abu Dhabi Gran Prix; from the Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi in UAE. Practice 2. Friday @ 7:55am- 9:30am (ESPNU(HD)) live
• Formula 1 - Abu Dhabi Gran Prix; from the Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi in UAE. Practice 3. Saturday @ 4:55am- 6am (ESPN2(HD)) live 
• Formula 1 - Abu Dhabi Gran Prix; from the Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi in UAE. Qualifying. Saturday @ 7:55am- 9am (ESPN2(HD)) live
• Formula 1 - Abu Dhabi Gran Prix; from the Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi in UAE. Race. Sunday @ 8:05am - 10am (ESPN2(HD)) live
• Chasing Classic Cars. Tuesday @ 7pm - 7:30pm (VelocityHD) replay
• Motorweek. Tuesday @ 7:30pm - 8pm (VelocityHD) replay
• Bitchin Rides. Tuesday @ 9pm - 10pm (VelocityHD) new
• Garage Squad. Wednesday @ 7pm - 8pm (VelocityHD) replay 
• Wheeler Dealers. Wednesday @ 10pm - 11pm (VelocityHD) new

It's been a memorable season, but so much to look forward to in 2019, both good and bad. We'll miss Alonso, but we'll welcome some new young talent and the attempt to reinvigorate McLaren. Ferrari looks to be that much closer to challenging Mercedes and Red Bull hopes to make it a clear three way fight via their new alignment with Honda. In the meantime everyone is looking to finish off the season in a positive way. Bottas, Verstappen, Vettel, Ricciardo, Hamilton and Raikkonen all look to make some noise in the middle east.

Enjoy your holiday weekends and be safe on the road.

Video courtesy of PeterWindsor.