The racing weekend that was - Wk 35

In Formula One, at Spa-Francorchamps:
In a truly remarkable race, that saw Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg drop kick teammate Lewis Hamilton early in the race, it was Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo who came in first for a second race IN A ROW!

Though I appreciate the drama created by Rosberg's decisive but unprofessional move on Hamilton, which gave the latter a puncture forcing him to pit and eventually retire, it does put the FIA in a negative light. There are racing incidents and then there is malice, and I am afraid that this falls in the category of the latter. Lewis now trails Rosberg by 29 points.

Lewis on the incident: "It looked quite clear to me but we just had a meeting about it and he basically said he did it on purpose. He said he could have avoided it....but he said I did it to prove a point... and you don't have to just rely on me, go and ask Toto [Wolff], Paddy [Lowe] and all those guys who are not happy with him as well."

And to make matters worse, the race savvy Hamilton realized he was running so far back that he requested to retire his car to save the engine as new regulations put a premium on fresh racing engines. Just 6 laps before the finish of the race he was allowed to do so by the Mercedes top, whereas he requested this very early in the race and repeatedly asked to retire to save the engine. It is sad to see the Mercedes squad so openly play games so a German can win the driver's championship.  For more commentary, please click here.

A last minute battery malfunction on Fernando Alonso's Ferrari while on the grid saw him get penalized with a five-second stop-go penalty. Though he admits they didn't have the straight line speed as the front runners, they could have gotten a podium finish.

The top five:

1. Daniel Ricciardo, Australia, RBR,
2. Nico Rosberg, Germany, Mercedes,
3. Valtteri Bottas, Finland, Williams-Mercedes (pict on the right),
4. Kimi Raikkonen, Finland, Ferrari,
5. Sebastien Vettel, Germany, Red Bull-Renault (RBR)

Well, as one can imagine both Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas were ecstatic on the podium. Rosberg however received a hostile welcome as he was greeted by a chorus of boos, and chants of Hamilton, Hamilton.

The F1 circus returns to the Italian GP at Monza, on September 5-7, 2014.


WRC's Adac Rallye Deutschland:
Thierry Neuville made a fantastic comeback after suffering a massive crash in the shakedown, with his Hyundai i20 WRC rolling over six times. After the race favourites - first Sebastien Ogier and then Jari-Matti Latvala - fell by the wayside, Thierry kept his cool and kept pushing eventually coming in 40.7 seconds over second place finisher and team mate Dani Sordo. So it was a double celebration for the Hyundai WRC team.

Neuville on attack mode.

The top five:
1. Thierry Neuville, Belgium, Hyundai Shell
2. Daniel Sordo, Spain, Hyundai Shell
3. Andreas Mikkelsen, Norway, VW Motorsport II
4. Elfyn Evans, UK, M-Sport
5. Mikko Hirvonen, Finland, M-Sport

The next race will be the Coates Hire Rally Australia on September 11-14, 2014.


Outlaw Pro Mod racing:

Last Saturday night some minds were blown at the Gateway MSP near St. Louis, as they witnessed the quickest and fastest side-by-side doorslammer 1/4 mile drag race in history. Mind you that they do not have the same downforce characteristics as funny cars.

After Frankie Taylor secured the number one qualifying spot the night earlier, Turky al Zafiri behind the wheel of the Q80 racing team's twin turbo powered Camaro defeated Taylor in the Outlaw pro Mod final with a 5.461 at 272.50 mph, vs a losing 5.476 at 263.77 mph.

To watch a video of the record setting run, click here, and for an in-car-camera's view (but of a different pass), here. The Q80 team hails from Kuwait and relies in part on the Pro Line team to go fast!


Thanks for reading.

Photo credit: thisisF1.com, autosport.com, Chris Simmons, Autosport.com,