What to watch this F1 weekend (Aug 27th - Sept 1st)

• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Belgium; from circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium. Practice 1. Friday @ 5:25am - 6:30am (ESPN2) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Belgium; from circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium. Practice 2. Friday @ 8:55am - 10am (ESPNU) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Belgium; from circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium. Practice 3. Saturday @ 5:55am - 7am (ESPN2) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Belgium; from circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium. Qualifying. Sunday @ 8:55am - 10am (ESPN2) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Belgium; from circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium. Race. Sunday @ 8:55am - 11am (ESPN2) live
• Bitchin Rides. Mon/Tue @ 6pm - 7pm (MotorTrend) replays
• Garage Squad. Mon @ 7pm - 8pm (MotorTrend) replay
• Bitchin Rides. Wed @ 5pm - 6pm (MotorTrend) replays
• Auto Mundial. Tuesday @ 7pm - 7:30pm (MotorTrend) replays
• Motorweek. Tuesday @ 7:30pm - 8pm (MotorTrend) replays
• Top Gear America. Wednesday @ 9pm - 10:30pm (MotorTrend) new

Hungary was a wilder ride than even Silverstone; and once again Red Bull got the short end of the stick. A surprise result for Alpine as their car was incredible and Ocon took his first race win with the help of the wiley Alonso holding up Hamilton's run through the field after the Merc blunder of not switching off wets when the entire field did, following the red flag Valtteri's bowling ball impression caused. I say blunder due to the result, but at the time they were at the front of the field and had no idea what anyone else was doing. So they primarily lost a game of chicken. Back to that bowling ball impression though; plenty of DNFs resulted from that crash, McLaren and RedBull getting the worst of it -- Max continued his race but his barge boards were so destroyed they couldn't be repaired so he raced with jacked up aero all race, but was miraculously able to finish tenth. Another beneficiary of the rain was Vettel, but....as you'll see below his second place finish wasn't meant to be, due to some other issues his car had which lead to him getting DQ'd after the race. That DQ was quite a big deal, because plenty of folks downstream gained points accordingly. William's scored with both cars, but got even more points with the bump. Max got another point, moving from 10th to 9th. Sainz got bumped up to the podium and Alonso got bumped to 4th to bring in the biggest haul for Alpine ever in a single race. And of course Hams moved from 3rd to 2nd, after falling to the very back of the field. Vettel lost out due to the inability to turn over 1L of fuel after the race. Aston Martin put up a fight during the Summer break (video below) but at this time they have no recourse. Everything that's happened has lead to a few things; one, Ferrari has closed the gap to McLaren in the Constructors and has another engine upgrade on the way. Merc has taken the lead over in both Drivers and Constructors Championships. Ricciardo still hasn't gotten a handle on the McLaren and Alonso is as good as he's ever been. Spa is a legendary track where drafting and power are keys to success. It'll be interesting to see how RBR responds and how Valtteri continues working on his bid to keep the Merc seat in 2022. 

Enjoy your motorsport weekends.

Video courtesy of Peterwindsor.

Video courtesy of Autosport.

Watch the Formula 1 Hungarian GP race recap here.

What to watch this Weekend (Aug 2nd - Aug 7th)

• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Practice 1. Friday @ 4:55am - 6:30am (ESPN2(HD)) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Practice 2. Friday @ 8:55am - 10:30am (ESPNU(HD)) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Practice 3. Friday @ 5:55am - 7am (ESPN2(HD)) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Qualifying. Saturday @ 8:55am - 10am (ESPN2(HD)) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Race. Sunday @ 9:05am - 11am (ESPN2(HD)) live
• IMSA Weathertech Sports Car Championship - From Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Sunday @ 6pm - 9pm (NBCSN(HD)) same-day delay, live @ 2:25pm on imsa.tv & nbcsportsgold
• Chasing Classic Cars. Tuesday @ 7pm - 7:30pm (MotorTrend) 
• Motorweek. Tuesday @ 7:30pm - 8pm (MotorTrend)
• Bitchin Rides. Tuesday @ 8pm - 9pm (MotorTrend) replay

Just when I said Silverstone was the best race of the 2019 season so far, the German Grand Prix has a swan song of epic proportions. It's a short week so I won't run too long here, but it was nothing short of a victory for those looking for a different podium, action on the race track and hell, even for those looking for a different top ten. Hockenheim delivered everywhere. Hams took pole Saturday, but finished 9th -- with the help of technical regulation compliance fault on both Alfa Romeos (vid below). Kubica scored the final point, in 10th, with this same help! Sainz finished 5th with another strong weekend after nearly collecting himself into the barrier early (drag strip victim #245); his teammate Norris wasn't so lucky and ended with a DNF. Kvyat finished on the podium in 3rd! Lance Stroll took 4th! Bottas, Hulkenburg and Leclerc all crashed out in different ways on the skating rink/drag strip area, late in the race. Vettel had car troubles in Qualy that made him start from 20th and he took 2nd! Max Vertstappen stopped 6 times in this race, spun 360* in the wet and not only took the checkered flag, but the fastest lap. What a magical, rainy, safety-car laden race this was. There were more victims of the DNF bug too, Gasly (a bit too eager to pass Albon and broke the front of the car), Perez (lost the car in the rain off the racing line on lap 2, hitting a barrier) and Ricciardo (engine #1 of the season went up in smoke) couldn't make it out unscathed. The result? Everyone on the podium was elated to be there, the small teams off the podium celebrated like they were on it; quite the scene. I was on vacation watching this race off DVR on my phone and I can't count how many times I put my hand of my head, saying 'holy crap' as unpredictable things happened time and time again. Amazing. Anyways, with the smoke cleared, Merc had one of their worst weekends ever, Ferrari split the difference with one car getting 18pts vs Mercs 2pt haul for Hams. Meanwhile Red Bull chipped even deeper into Ferrari's lead in the Constructors Championship. With the Hungarian Grand Prix around the corner, the drivers standings are as follows: Hamilton, Bottas (-41), Vertstappen (-63), Vettel (-84), Leclerc (-105), Gasly (-170). Hungary will be the last race before the summer break. There's a ton of talk about multiple drivers that may be losing their seats this year, but time will tell how this will shake out. The Hungaroring will be the next battle ground for who stays and goes; most of those team decisions will likely be determined afterwards.

Enjoy your weekends.

Video courtesy of Autosport.

What to watch this Weekend (July 27th - Aug 1st)

• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Practice 1. Friday @ 4:55am - 6:30am (ESPN2(HD)) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Practice 2. Friday @ 8:55am - 10:30am (ESPNU(HD)) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Practice 3. Friday @ 5:55am - 7am (ESPN2(HD)) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Qualifying. Saturday @ 8:55am - 10am (ESPNNEWS(HD)) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Race. Sunday @ 9:05am - 11am (ESPN2(HD)) live
• Pirelli World Challenge. 2018 GT action from Portland. Sunday @ 5pm - 7pm (CBSSN(HD)) delayed airing from 7/14
• Motorweek. Tuesday @ 7:30pm - 8pm (VelocityHD)
• Chasing Classic Cars. Season10 Ep6. Tuesday @ 10pm - 11pm (VelocityHD) new
• Speed Is The New Black. Season2 Ep7. Wednesday @ 9pm - 10pm (VelocityHD) new

So about that race in Germany...what a strategy gambling intensive Grand Prix; we had rain, we had mechanical failures, we had overtaking, we had cheers, tears and offs. Hamilton pushed way too hard in Q2 and seemingly damaged his gearbox, hydraulic failure sticking him in a single gear. This forced him to a starting position of P14 (softs) on Sunday. Vettel had a crazy qualifying run in his home GP, taking pole by 2 tenths over an outstanding lap by Valteri. This lead directly into the race; Ferrari on the front two rows, Verstappen in fourth (Ricciardo starting from the back (mediums) with new engine parts). Ferrari started well as always and the top positions were relatively unchanged. Meanwhile Ricciardo and Hams had to work their way through the field, which they both did; by about lap 20, Hamilton was up to 6th and Ricciardo was in 10th with an overtake on LeClerc. Things continued from there for the next 10-15 laps and then things got interesting; the rain in the forecast was scheduled to arrive around lap 44. Accordingly, Hamilton who had worked his way into the top five stayed out hoping to see what would come, while the leaders who already one stopped onto softs just before lap 20 were over 20 laps old and starting to get a bit scraggly. Then on lap 42 Merc decide to pit Lewis and put him on ultrasofts, betting on the rain being light in enough on most of the track to support much faster lap times to allow him to catch the front runners. His lap pace showed well, gaining about 2secs a lap on Vettel in P1. Then the rain started -- light over all, but enough to coat the road surface in a few places that inspired the mid-tier teams to gamble; Alonso, Verstappen and Grosjean came in for inters, one of the Torro Rosso's even came in for full wets. As lap 50 came closer folks began to understand the error in their gambles; Hamilton was closing the gap on the leaders still and folks with wet tires were shredding them on the dry tarmac. But it wasn't dry everywhere; Vettel put his Ferrari in the barrier on a seemingly innocuous approach to Sachs corner; he lost the front end, corrected and skidded into the gravel, gently tapping into the DHL logo, but beaching himself regardless. A gutting error, but his softs were old and the greasy track wasn't a good combo. 

The ultrasofts became the clear tire of choice during the following safety car while they got Vettel's car moved. At this point Hams took over P1 during the pitstops and Verstappen's mistake of a inter gamble (30+ sec gap) was nullified. With about 10 laps left the field bunched up behind the safety car, Hams with the oldest ultrasofts of all the front runners, with his primary suitor being Bottas right behind him with fresh rubber. The safety car pulled away and Bottas was on Hams tail like white on rice; it appeared Hamilton's tires were colds and the delta in youth was the difference in grip. Hams defended while he worked his tires up to temp, but before that happened Bottas got team orders to hold position. This is how the race ended; Hams, winning a grand prix from 14th (miracle in itself), Bottas finishing where he started in second and the same for Raikkonen in third and Verstappen in 4th. Bottas has had some terrible luck this year, DNFs abound, but when he actually has finished races he's finished second; he's hungry for a victory and I really hope his position in the drivers championship doesn't keep him from getting one he has the ability to fight for this season. While it looked like Hamilton may have been able to catch him one his tires were up to temp, you never know with all the tire wear that occurs when following, especially with two evenly matched cars. Ah well, until next time. Ricciardo's new engine parts had another failure so a DNF for him, unfortunately. 

With the checkered flag dropped, the drivers championship standings are as follows: Hamilton, Vettel (-16), Raikkonen (-57), Bottas (-66), Ricciardo (-82), Verstappen (-83). Mercedes-AMG has taken the constructors championship lead back from Ferrari (+8) with this 1-2 victory at their home GP, which was the most important thing for the team. Now we're headed to Hungary where strong aero teams like Red Bull are strong and Merc will wan to try reestablishing its position against a strong Ferrari power unit and more importantly strong overall package. It should be interesting to see who can get the upper hand before the Summer break.

Enjoy your weekends.

Video courtesy of Porsche.

What to watch this Weekend (July 28th - Aug 2nd)

• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Practice. Friday @ 8am - 9:30am (NBCSN(HD)) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Qualifying. Saturday @ 8am - 9:30am (NBCSN(HD)) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Race. Sunday @ 7:30am - 10:30am (NBCSN(HD)) live 
• Pirelli World Challenge. 2017 GT action from Mid-Ohio. Sunday @ 4pm - 5:30pm (CBSSN(HD)) same-day delayed airing
• Chasing Classic Cars. Tuesday @ 7pm - 7:30pm (VelocityHD) replay
• Motorweek. Tuesday @ 7:30pm - 8pm (VelocityHD) replay 
• RMD Garage. Wednesday @ 9pm - 10pm (VelocityHD) new

The F1 circus has arrived to showcase the fields talent at the Hungaroring, but before the 2nd half of the season begins lets recap the action from Silverstone two weeks back. There was some initial controversy with Lewis not showing up to the first F1 Live event in England, thrown by the new F1 ownership, but the weekend proved out in his favor. Qualifying was a mixed bag of weather conditions, typical of Silverstone, and with rain fading around the middle of Q1 it turned into a balancing act of running inters or slicks which paid off in spades to a final flyer by Alonso that just barely made the time cutoff, vaulting a McLaren to the top of a qualy session for the first time in several years. Things dried out for the remainder of Q2 and Q3 which brought reality to some of the mid-pack teams taking advantage of wet conditions earlier. Much like the previous race for Hams, Bottas had a gear box change which brought with it a 5 grid-spot penalty so he went for an alternate tire strategy, running Softs in Q2. Bottas had a decent qualy, but he wasn't able to edge the Ferrari's in Q3, putting him in 4th. Raikkonen out paced Vettel, Hamilton put together one of the best laps of all time, a 126.600 (2.6 faster than pole in 2016). This mark was over a half second clear of 2nd and vaulted Hams further into the record books -- 67 poles all-time, one shy of Shumi and a 5th Pole at Silverstone to match all-time leader Jim Clark.

Sunday was hectic, with the biggest surprises being served up in the final few laps. Hams skipped off with another great start. Ricciardo started from 19th, Bottas from 9th, both because of penalties tied to car repairs; Ricciardo had a turbo failure during qualifying. Palmer had DNF'd on the warm up lap, leaving Renault with one car, that of Hulkenburg. The Torro Rosso's came together in Becketts, leaving Sainz DNF'd and Kvyat blaming Sainz for the incident. Thnakfully for Force India, Ocon and Perez stayed clear of one another, despite running together just about the entire afternoon. Their effort resulted in double points, finishing 8th and 9th, respectively. Massa took the final point in 10th, Stroll was in the teens along with the Haas and Sauber duos. Alonso lost another power unit and DNF'd mid-race after a better than average qualy. Speaking of DNF's, Verstappen finally finished a race and he ended up finishing 4th. He pitted really late for new tires and that's where most of the late race craziness came into play. With two laps left Raikkonnen's left front delaminated and tire carcass flopped around while he still had air in the tire, so he limped it back to the pit and got a set of supersofts. He was pissed because of his continued bad luck, which has typically resulted in him finishing behind Vettel and it looked like the same thing was going to happen. He gets fresh tires and comes out of the pit behind Vettel on the last lap (51/51) and next thing you know Vettel is veering off track with a flat front left soft. Sparks a blazing, Vettel has to limp his way around to the pit while Hams takes the last turn to his 4th consecutive win at Silverstone, much to the crowds delight. Meanwhile, Bottas had worked his way up behind Vettel and was looking to pass him, on his supersofts, but the puncture made life much easier for him. With Raikkonen pitting late as well Valteri brought a much needed 1-2 to Mercedes AMG Petronas Racing. With Vettels' late pit, Verstappen worked his way into 4th, Ricciardo's strong drive through the field topped off at 5th, Hulkenburg took 6th and Vettel was far enough ahead to maintain 7th position. The implications here are tremendous, both with Driver's and Manufacturer's Chips, Hamilton now 1 point behind Vettel going into the 2nd half of the season.

With the checkered flag dropped, the Drivers Championship standings are as follows: Vettel, Hamilton (-1), Bottas (-23), Ricciardo (-60), Raikkonen (-79), Verstappen (-120). Mercedes is now 55pts ahead of Ferrari in the Constructors'. Hungary is a technical track so expect to see the lower powered competitors, like Red Bull and Renault look just about as strong. It should be another exciting weekend to see how the multiple storylines of the field shake out.

Enjoy your weekends.

Video courtesy of GoodwoodRoad&Racing.

Dope Vid. #129

Video courtesy of Sourkrauts.

What to watch this Weekend (July 22nd - July 27th)

• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Practice. Friday @ 11pm - 12:30am (NBCSN(HD)) replay
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Qualifying. Saturday @ 8am - 9:30am (CNBC(HD)) live
• IMSA Weathertech Sports Car Championship. Northeast Grand Prix at Limerock Park. Saturday @ 3pm - 6pm (FOX(HD)) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Race. Sunday @ 7:30am - 10am (NBCSN(HD)) live
• FIA World Endurance Championship. 6 Hours of Nurburgring. Sunday @ 7am - 1pm (FS1(HD)) live
• Chris Harris On Cars. Monday @ 9pm - 9:30pm (BBCAmerica(HD)) new 
• Top Gear (UK). Monday @ 9:30pm - 11pm (BBCAmerica(HD)) replay 
• Motorweek. Tuesday @ 7:30pm - 8pm (VelocityHD)
• Chasing Classic Cars. Tuesday @ 10pm - 10:30pm (VelocityHD) new 
• Wheeler Dealers. Mini-marathon. Wednesday @ 6pm - 9pm (VelocityHD) new

Eff you Tour de France; last race it lead to some crap F1 coverage and we're in the same boat again this weekend, with P2 not being aired live on the NBC networks. It's hard to bash solely NBC though, FOX effed up F1 coverage when they were handling it years back, too. But I digress; where we last left off, Rosberg was looking to get back into the swing of things heading into one of Lewis' favorite circuits, his home circuit @ Silverstone. Well as we all suspected, that didn't happen. What we didn't know was going to happen is that Red Bull has officially eclipsed Ferrari in pace, and Vettel is having some pretty terrible luck to go along with errors in strategy through this point. Random British weather was the name of the game, affecting both qualy and the race. Rain in Q3 lead to one of the more exciting knockout sessions of the year, with the top ten being determined by flyers as the track dried out. Some jumped on slicks too early and paid the price; the same would come into play during the race, which started in the rain behind the safety car. Young Verstappen finished both qualy and the race in third position, but due to Rosberg getting bailed out by his team over the radio late in the race, his 10 second time penalty put Max in second. This is pretty important, because this drop in points for Rosberg affects the drivers championship standings. Verstappen has been damn good this season and since joining the varsity Red Bull team he's accomplished quite a bit, which Ricciardo will need to keep his eyes on. Raikkonen resigned with Ferrari, Ricciardo made his intentions clear about staying with Red Bull; Rosberg is in a contract year. With the checkered flag dropped, the Driver's Championship standings are as follows: Rosberg, Hamilton (-1), Raikkonen (-62), Ricciardo (-68), Vettel (-70), Verstappen (-78). Ricciardo's consistency has brought him up to fourth, Vettel has dropped out of the top three and Raikkonen's consistency has brought him ahead of his 'Number 1 at Ferrari' teammate. Hungary should be entertaining.

 Enjoy your weekends.

Video courtesy of YouCar. 

What to watch this Weekend (July 24th - July 29th)

• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Practice. Friday @ 7pm - 8:30pm (NBCSN(HD)) delayed airing from 8am
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Qualifying. Saturday @ 8am - 9:30am (CNBC(HD)) live; replay @ 3pm (NBCSN)
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Race. Sunday @ 7:30am - 10:30am (CNBC(HD)) live - replay Sunday @ 2pm (NBCSN)
• IMSA United Sports Car Championship - From Lime Rock Park. Sunday @ 5pm - 7:30pm (FS1) delayed airing from 7/25
• Top Gear (UK). Marathon of past episodes. Monday @ 2pm - 11pm (BBCAmerica(HD)) replays
• Motorweek. Performance Coupe Challenge. Tuesday @ 8pm - 8:30pm (VelocityHD)
• Chasing Classic Cars. Mini-marathon. Tuesday @ 8:30pm - 11pm (VelocityHD)
• Wheeler Dealers. VW Split-screen. Wednesday @ 5pm - 6pm (VelocityHD)

Lewis brought it home in one of the greatest tire change calls in the history of F1, Kimi hit the nitrous button too soon (junior), and Vettel found his way back on the podium, right behind Nico. Masa and Bottas missed their chance for a win, with a combination of touchy politics and poor rain performance with the intermediates. They still finished well, but the team has to figure out how to close the deal. There were retirements out the wazoo, including Jason Button in front of his home crowd. His teammate Alonso, who was non-maliciously responsible for Button's retirement, went on to take his (and Mclaren Honda's) first championship point in 10th place. This weekend brings us to the very technical Hungaroring circuit. This should be another exciting race, but Silverstone has to have been the best race of the year thus far.

RIP to Jules Bianchi who recently passed after several months battling the head injury he suffered at Suzuka last season. Racing drivers always put their lives on the line, so hopefully lessons learned can make accidents like his less likely to reoccur. I think the Virtual Safety Car is a step in the right direction.

Enjoy your weekends.

Video hosted courtesy of CanalMonday.

What to watch this Weekend (July 25th - July 30th)

• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Practice. Friday @ 12pm - 1:30pm (NBCSN(HD)) delayed airing from 8am
• IMSA United Sports Car Championship - From Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Indiana. Friday @ 5:30pm - 8pm (FS1) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Qualifying. Saturday @ 8am - 9:30am (CNBC(HD)) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Race. Sunday @ 7:30am - 10:30am (CNBC(HD)) live - replay Sunday @ 2pm (NBCSN)
• Top Gear (UK). Marathon of past episodes. Monday @ 4pm - 10pm (BBCAmerica(HD)) replays
• Chasing Classic Cars. Wayne's Amelia Island Trip. Monday @ 9pm - 10pm (VelocityHD) new
• Motorweek. 2014 MINI Cooper. Tuesday @ 7:30pm - 8pm (VelocityHD)
• Wheeler Dealers. Maserati 3200 GT. Wednesday @ 9pm - 10pm (VelocityHD)

Another great weekend ahead folks; a second straight week of F1 action, this time at the Hungaroring. We also have TUDOR USCC action from Indianapolis on Friday night. F1 recap next week, folks.

Video courtesy of Goodwood Road & Racing.

What to watch this weekend (July 27th - Aug 1st)

• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Practice. Friday @ 8am - 9:30am (SPEED/SPEEDHD) live
• Rolex Sports Car Series. Brickyard Grand Prix. Live from Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Friday @ 4pm - 7:30pm (SPEED/SPEEDHD) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Qualifying. Saturday @ 8am - 9:30am (SPEED/SPEEDHD) live
• Mazda Motorsports Hour. Star Mazda: Iowa Motor Speedway (Episode #8). Sunday @ 12pm - 1pm (VelocityHD) new
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Race. Sunday @ 7:30am - 10am (SPEED/SPEEDHD) live - replay Sunday @ 12:30pm
• Top Gear (UK). Season 2 - Episode 8. James and Richard test the best new verts. Monday @ 9pm - 10pm (BBC America/BBC America HD) new replay
• Motorweek. Cadillac XTS. Tuesday @ 8pm - 8:30pm (VelocityHD) replay
• Chasing Classic Cars. Mini-marathon. Tuesday @ 3:30pm - 8pm & 8:30pm - 11pm(VelocityHD) replays
• Wheeler Dealers. Ferrari 308 GT4. Wednesday @ 9pm - 10pm (VelocityHD) replay

This time of year is great, because you get back to back F1 races and plenty of automotive action when flipping the channels. The German Grand Prix last weekend, while not answering many questions, did clear up a couple things. First off, Alonzo isn't as fortunate as he is consistent, the first driver to three wins this season with only ten races left. He drove one hell of a wet Q3 lap and that put him in the position needed to make victory a more direct path. Second, McLaren's consistency on podium is as ragged as ever. Button finally got to sip champagne after multiple ducks and now Hams has Schumi's luck. Third, the field is as close as ever. Force India finished with both drivers in the points for the first time in 3 years. Lastly, Lotus Renault is one or two races away from sitting next to McLaren in the 'clubhouse'. They've been steady accumulating points all these weeks and now are poised for big things; they just need a little something to put them over the top. In related news Red Bull Racing is still competing strongly as always and after some scrutinizing by the stewards, this past weekend concerning their re-engineered exhaust gas flow/downforce solution, they escaped penalty for the time being but will have additional eyes on them going forward. With so little room for advantage between teams, the real skill is where strides can be taken within the existing guidelines.

There's also Grand-Am Rolex racing tomorrow afternoon. For the first time in Grand-Am history, they have a race held at the legendary Brickyard, aka Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This racetrack is well known for NASCAR and IndyCar battles, harboring motorsport in the US for over 100 years. For those of you worried it'll be an oval track race, never fear! This will be a adapted road-course incorporating the main outer oval. This three hour endurance race will start Friday at 4pm. Enjoy your weekends.

Video courtesy of MagicLardra.

Quick Vid: 2012 BMW (F10) M5 Review

Totalcarfan reviews the all new BMW M5. This Hungarian outfit does great work, hopefully they'll take on some additional reviews in the future.