What to watch this F1 Weekend (July 18th - July 22nd)

• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Practice 1. Friday @ 4:55am - 6:30am (ESPN2) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Practice 2. Friday @ 8:55am - 10:30am (ESPN2) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Practice 3. Friday @ 5:55am - 7am (ESPN2) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Qualifying. Saturday @ 8:55am - 10am (ESPN) live
• IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. Sebring. Saturday @ 5:30pm - 8:30pm (NBCSN) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Race. Sunday @ 9:05am - 11am (ESPN) live
• Bitchin Rides. Mon/Tues/Wed @ 5pm - 6pm (MotorTrend) replay
• Chasing Classic Cars. Tuesday @ 7pm - 7:30pm (MotorTrend) replay
• Motorweek. Tuesday @ 7:30pm - 8pm (MotorTrend) replay
• Overhaulin. Tuesday @ 9pm - 10pm (MotorTrend) replay
• Wheeler Dealers: Dream Cars. Wednesday @ 9pm - 10pm (MotorTrend)

Another solid race weekend with another coming next week from Hungary. Lando Norris, what can you say; he's coming on form and has delivered yet again. While Renault is protesting the Racing Point Mercedes cars for being 2019 Silver Arrows, the real problem is that they're breaking down and McLaren is giving it to them with the same Renault power unit that they're running. While qualifying was exciting, I didn't get to see it in real time due to the rain delay on Saturday so I caught up on what happened during the SkySportsF1 pre-race on Sunday. Lewis has always been strong in the wet and on this occasion out dueled Max in a fantastic back and forth for purple laps until Lewis put the hammer down the hardest in Q3 to take pole. Williams' Russell got his car into 11th with a little bit of penalty help, but got his car within a tenth of Q3 which is something George can hang his hat on despite being in a back field trailing package. Bottas didn't qualify as well as he wanted, but made up for it in the race in dry conditions and Sainz drove his ass off in the wet to take P3. The race was relatively predictable Merc dominance, but there were a couple of important things that took place which can't go without mention; Leclerc's enthusiasm lead to a Ferrari double DNF when they needed to get data on to try getting ahead of their correlation problems given the lack of running on Saturday, which was a major setback. The mid-field battle raging right now is very important as Racing Point, McLaren, Renault and AlphaTauri are all mixing it up. Ferrari powered cars are struggling and many things need to be sorted out before the balance of pace changed from where it is now. The mass attrition from last weekend didn't repeat itself and only 3 cars DNF'd, the red cars along with Esteban Ocon who had to retire with a mechanical problem. Perez, despite Norris' strong outing got my vote for driver of the day. He went from 17th to 6th with a tremendous drive and this is likely why Renault is protesting their car, because Lance was right behind him, finishing 7th. The Red Bull boys took 3rd and 4th to try making up for last weeks Albon DNF; Albon had another close call in this race which could've ruined his race, but fortunately it played out much differently; he raced strong and held off Perez who looked to have the faster car. Max did as best as as he could've with his car; the tire strategy fell away from him early after Bottas stayed out for another ten laps when he pitted. Ricciardo raced well too, but his car was only so good. With the checkered flag waved, the Driver's Championship standings are as follows: Bottas, Hamilton (-6), Norris (-17), Leclerc (-25), Perez (-27), Verstappen (-28). No one tested positive for another week, so cross your fingers, we're on to the Hungaroring.

Enjoy your motorsport weekends.

Video courtesy of Formula1.

What to watch this Independence Day and F1 Season Opener Weekend (July 3rd - July 8th)

• Formula 1 - Austrian Grand Prix; from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. Practice 1. Friday @ 4:55am - 7am (ESPN2) live
• Formula 1 - Austrian Grand Prix; from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. Practice 2. Friday @ 8:55am - 11am (ESPN2) live
• Formula 1 - Austrian Grand Prix; from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. Practice 3. Friday @ 5:55am - 7:30am (ESPN2) live
• Formula 1 - Austrian Grand Prix; from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. Qualifying. Saturday @ 8:55am - 10:30am (ESPN) live 
• IndyCar. Racing action from Indianapolis Int'l Speedway in Indiana. Saturday @ 12pm - 2pm (NBC) live 
• WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. 240 at Daytona. From Daytona International Speedway in Florida. Saturday @ 6pm - 9pm (NBCSN) live
• Formula 1 - Austrian Grand Prix; from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. Race. Sunday @ 9:05am - 11:30am (ESPN) live
• Bitchin Rides. Mon/Tues/Wed @ 5pm - 6pm (MotorTrend) replay
• Wheeler Dealers. Monday @ 9pm - 10pm (MotorTrend) replay
• Chasing Classic Cars. Tuesday @ 7pm - 7:30pm (MotorTrend) replay
• Motorweek. Tuesday @ 7:30pm - 8pm (MotorTrend) replay
• Overhaulin. Tuesday @ 9pm - 10pm (MotorTrend) replay
• Garage Squad. Wednesday @ 4pm - 5pm (MotorTrend) replays
• Wheeler Dealers: Dream Cars. Wednesday @ 9pm - 10pm (MotorTrend)

As you can see above, all the sweet sweet motorsports are back for this weekend (even NASCAR is headlining in Indy this weekend) amid all the worldwide pandemic fun you could ask for. There's worldwide social unrest too, which has been sparked largely by the #blacklivesmatter movement's resurgence and growth here in the US, beginning in late Spring with thousands of public protests across the country, in response to several brutally vivid killings of black people by non-minorities (both by public law enforcement and civilians) caught on video. These videos hit the internet and news outlets and were then consumed on the largest worldwide scale that I can remember in my 43 year old lifetime. Outrage, anger, sadness and sympathy spread to other minorities, but most notably these emotions spread to many more non-minorities than these events have historically, which has lead to some of the largest multi-cultural protest gatherings in history...all during a pandemic. Downstream of these civil rights protests many matters of day to day race relations and equality have come to the forefront, around the world, from many different minority groups in various walks of life. Lewis Hamilton is not only arguably the best driver in F1 (inarguably the most decorated active driver in F1), but is the only black driver in F1. Lewis took this opportunity to push F1 to look at what it can do to support the sport's diversity going forward. In support of this initiative, Mercedes AMG will be running Lewis and Valteri's cars' in a black livery this 2020 season to stand against discrimination and support diversity.

I stick to racing and car related content on this blog by design and will continue to do so. Cars, racing and driving (and barbecue for that matter) have always been a prized outlet for me that have been free from the often agenda driven media news cycles which have become inescapable as of late. Some of my best life-long friends came through mutual enjoyment of cars and modifying them, going to races and shows and sharing that automotive passion with one another. I'll leave it at this; living by the golden rule goes a long way. Considering and empathizing with what others go through and how another persons' life experience may be very different from yours, goes a long way. Accepting and respecting one another's views, whether or not you like or agree with what you hear from the other side, goes a long way. Every last person on the planet is looking to improve quality of life for themselves and their loved ones, where ever possible and as human beings every last person has the right to do so. And I know, this is all 'no shit' information for most of us, but still worth stating. While it takes a proverbial village to make macro-level differences in this world of ours, at a micro-level every one of us that make up this village have some amount of power to push and pull those around us in whatever direction we choose. The internet and smart phones have shrunk the globe and you can influence someone in another country, someone down the street or in another state, in just a few seconds, all without much thought. With this in mind, try to avoid being socially divisive when sharing your thoughts, ideas and actions with and upon others.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming -- the 2020 F1 season is looking to start over after the debacle that was the Australian Grand Prix. Thought out COVID-19 precautions are in place and there will be two races in Austria, back to back, to kick things off. Lewis is trying to match Shumi and has chosen not to move to  another team next year. Will Toto leave Merc? Driver moves a plenty for 2021. Vettel is leaving Ferrari after this season and Sainz will join Leclerc. Ricciardo is leaving Renault for McLaren and Valteri is looking for an opportunity to seize not only a chip this year, but a driver's seat for 2021. The 2021 regulations have been pushed to 2022 so Merc should have the edge for this and next season; I mean, they have a dynamic toe-adjusting steering column. On the other end of the paddock, famed Williams is looking for future dollars to keep the team around while getting off the last spot of the grid. Plus many other story lines I didn't get to, but yea, excited to see FP1 tomorrow. Here's hoping everyone has race weekends without covid incidents so we can continue to follow our favorite international motorsport events on tv and internet, once again. 

Enjoy your Independence Day Weekends and stay safe out there.

Video courtesy of SkySportsF1.

What to watch this Weekend (June 13th - June 17th)

• Virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans. Saturday @ 8:30am - 12pm, 3pm - 5pm (ESPN2). Saturday @ 9am to completion (Motorsport.tv) live
• Garage Squad. Monday @ 6pm - 7pm. (MotorTrend) replays
• Bitchin Rides. Monday @ 7pm - 8pm (MotorTrend) replay
• Garage Squad. Tuesday @ 6pm - 7pm (MotorTrend) replays
• Chasing Classic Cars. Tuesday @ 7pm - 7:30pm (MotorTrend) replay
• Motorweek. Tuesday @ 7:30pm - 8pm (MotorTrend) replay
• Overhaulin'. Tuesday @ 9pm - 10pm (MotorTrend) new

Enjoy your virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans weekends.

Video courtesy of SkySportsF1.

Current Events: A Tribute to Sir Stirling Moss | 1929 - 2020 (SkySportsF1)

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times; they don't make em' like this anymore. RIP to one of the all-time greats in motorsport; Sir Stirling Moss.


Video courtesy of SkySportsF1.