All-purpose open-wheel (F1, IRL) racing thread

Time for the drivers to hit the simulator.

 

It will be interesting to see if Alonso wins his appeal.

I don't think it will be successful, given that he's trying to get penalties for the top two drivers in the championship.

 

So Button, Barrichello, Alonso and Sutil are all found to have blown through the yellow flag section, and all four get a 5-spot grid penalty.

Buemi gets a reprimand for driving his car away after the wreck.

Glock will likely be unable to race with a cut on his leg.

Now that was a goofy qualifying session.

 

A reprimand for driving away after a wreck? The FIA sure isn't NASCAR.

 

No one quite knows the starting grid yet. According to the BBC, the FIA will announce it about two hours before the race.

From what I can gather, here is what it should be:

1. Vettel
2. Trulli
3. Hamilton
4. Heidfeld (from sixth)
5. Raikkonen (from eighth)
6. Rosberg (from 11th)
7. Kubica (from 13th)
8. Sutil (from fourth)
9. Barrichello (from fifth)
10. Alguersuari (from 15th)
11. Button (from seventh)
12. Fisichella (from 16th)
13. Kovalainen (from ninth)
14. Buemi (from 10th)
15. Nakajima (from 17th)
16. Grosjean (from 18th)
17. Alonso (from 12th)
18. Liuzzi (from 19th)
19. Glock (if he can race) (from 14th)
20. Webber

 

Here's the official version, from James Allen:

Grid for Japanese Grand Prix (Changes in brackets)
1 Vettel
2 Trulli
3 Hamilton
4 Heidfeld (+2)
5 Raikkonen (+3)
6 Barrichello (-1)
7 Rosberg (+4)
8 Sutil (-4)
9 Kubica (+4)
10 Button (-3)
11 Kovalainen (-3) gearbox change
12 Alguersuari (+3)
13 Buemi (-3) Impeding
14 Fisichella (+2)
15 Nakajima ( (+2)
16 Alonso (-4)
17 Grosjean (+1)
18 Liuzzi (+1)

Starting from pit lane: Webber
Non Starter: Glock

 

For the first time, I listened to F1 on the radio (XM carries F1 now) as I was on my way home from a road trip. Kind of glad I did because I didn't sound like I missed much by not seeing it.

 

Bubbler, who does the broadcast? BBC FiveLive?

 

What channel? Didn't realize that. (Of course, there's almost no chance I'll be in the car during a race, but still...)

And yeah, pretty uneventful race apart from the Alguersauri wreck that brought out the safety car. And even that had little effect on the race.

 

My theory was more along the lines of powers that be in the IRL "suggesting" to Penske and Briscoe that it would be good for the sake of the series to have a three-way battle for the title in the season finale. As for Briscoe's pit road failures, aside from Indy '08 I'm having problems recalling any others so I don't know that "somewhat notorious" is accurate. Then again, the same can probably be said of my theory of the Japan race.
As for Indy, it just seemed strange to me since Briscoe had made up for the time he lost with the bad set of tires, and it wasn't like there was any way he would be able to go the rest of the way. They didn't even try; they brought him in under the yellow with, what, 20 laps to go? Seems like Penske could have gotten a 1-2 pretty easy, given the pit road issues the Ganassi cars had again.

 

Hooray for proofreaders! ;D
http://sports.yahoo.com/irl/news?slug=afp-autousaindy&prov=afp&type=lgns

I especially like these gems:

Has anyone told Dixon or Dario that?

Call me crazy, but it stands out enough that anyone reading over the story even at a glance should be able to notice it. But then again, maybe not.

 

Franchitti on the pole for Saturday's finale, with Dixon alongside and Briscoe starting third. I've gotta believe the Ganassi guys will team up and have Dixon get the two points for leading the most laps if they can. That would put Dixon 10 up on Briscoe, so even if Briscoe wins and Dixon is second they tie in points, with the tiebreaker going to Dixon via more wins. However, Briscoe has looked stronger on the 1.5-mile ovals than anyone else so I wouldn't be surprised to see Briscoe lead the most laps. Will be interesting if he can hold off the Ganassi guys by himself, or if Castroneves can move up to be a factor.