Styrian GP
Today was the Styrian GP. It is amazing how different two races can be, with the same contestants, on the same track, only a week apart. LeClerc, who drove such a disciplined, persistent race last week, this time destroyed both of the Scuderia's cars attempting a manaical three-wide pass against his team-mate on the third turn of the first lap. Lewis Hamilton was back on form after a masterful pole run in the rain, and led start to finish. He didn't even appear to be really pushing it - he just opened up a huge gap, then cruised along, staying off the curbs and taking care of his car. Bottas finished comfortably second, to take the lead in the drivers' standings. There was a strange bit of strategic racing near the end, where Verstappen pitted from third, with two laps to go, to put on soft tires and try for the fast lap (and an extra point). He had enough lead that he didn't lose position, but unfortunately came out in traffic, which spoiled that. Lando Norris passed two positions on his final lap, which was amazing.
This week, robots distributed the trophies. A cool idea, even if one of them had to be given a pretty good push to get it going.
Racing Point look very solid this year, surprisingly so. Renault is bitching and moaning that Racing Point copied their brake ducts from Mercedes, but honestly, why not? There are only so many ways to make a brake duct, and given the computer-assisted nature of modern engineering, at some point they're all going to converge on a common design with tiny variations. I miss the days when you had weird cars, but those aren't coming back.
*****
The BBC has an excellent retrospective on Tony Brooks. He too, was a dentist, which I'd not known. Original posted at https://rain-gryphon.dreamwidth.org/158604.html
This week, robots distributed the trophies. A cool idea, even if one of them had to be given a pretty good push to get it going.
Racing Point look very solid this year, surprisingly so. Renault is bitching and moaning that Racing Point copied their brake ducts from Mercedes, but honestly, why not? There are only so many ways to make a brake duct, and given the computer-assisted nature of modern engineering, at some point they're all going to converge on a common design with tiny variations. I miss the days when you had weird cars, but those aren't coming back.
*****
The BBC has an excellent retrospective on Tony Brooks. He too, was a dentist, which I'd not known. Original posted at https://rain-gryphon.dreamwidth.org/158604.html