I don't know why these things are so interesting, but Button swapped cars with V8 Supercar Champion Jamie Whincup (who almost gets the award for the most appropriate name for a racecar driver) ahead of the Australian GP.

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlin...0/3/10556.html

I was reading this on another site. Whincup said his life as a professional driver was now ruined because the F1 car was so much faster.

Well, motorcycles accelerate on par with f1 cars. But he was probably most impressed with the braking performance. Nothing short of crashing into a wall compares with an f1 cars brakes.

Very Cool...I've been watching Australian V8 Supercars religiously the past few years, Jamie Whincup has been dominant, I wonder if he's ever had any open-wheel experience...I still think that series is one of the best on earth. Speed's been showing the races on a one-week delay on the weekend if you haven't seen it.

I'm telling you, Supercars is what NASCAR should be.

If I had a pile of money lying around... I'd start an American Supercars series. People would watch big engined heavily modified production cars go at it if it was marketed like NASCAR is... except they'd run 80% road courses with the occasional short track oval or roval mixed in. Figure Mustangs and Camaros obviously, but then also mix in the STI, EVO.. maybe a the 5 series BMW and S5 Audi... pretty much any mass produced car with four seats that's not a Porsche, weighs around 3000-3500 in race trim, and can make 400-500hp.

Hamilton's car impounded!

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.a...48049&PO=48049

... his personal car after doing a burnout in front of a police van in Melbourne. :lol:

Also, 'anti-hoon' law?

Where you see the word "hoon", just substitute "street racer".

I may do just the opposite from here on forwards.

OMG.... I'm totally starting toguehoon.com.... It'll be the haven for wannabe JDM street racers.... (please be free, please be free...)

YES!!!

OUtstanding! hahahaha

http://en.espnf1.com/mclaren/motorsp...ory/12886.html

Don't forget... back to back race weekends this week! Get your picks in soon for Malaysia!

Don't forget... we race in China this weekend!

Actually, tonight we qualify.

you get the idea.

I can't decide if Stefan GP is nuts or brilliant.

http://adamcooperf1.com/2010/04/23/s...ld-f1-circuit/

They've officially submitted their bid for 2011 and signed a contract to build a 3.5km circuit and home base in Serbia.

They've also posted pictures on their website of all the drivers they talked to in 2010. Maybe even all the drivers they even had a casual conversation.

Jacques Villeneuve
Narain Karthikeyan
Kazuki Nakajima
Pastor Maldonado
Bertrand Baguette
Sebastien Loeb
Ralf Schumacher
Christian Klien
Karun Chandhok
Takuma Sato
Adrian Valles
Alex Margaritis

Who's got two thumbs with a 10M euro insurance policy on 'em? This guy.

The only way this makes sense is that broken thumbs is a common injury for open-wheel drivers when they can't get their hands off the wheel in a wreck... otherwise, why does Alonso need a special rider for his thumbs?

As if there wasn't enough real drama in the sport... up next: a lawsuit over subliminal cigarette advertising?

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-...investigation/

Makes me want to go out a pay $5 for 20 smokes. "First, let's kill all the lawyers"

It's been a long break. Don't forget that Spain is this weekend, get your picks in soon!

Ferrari is dropping the barcode livery this weekend, which was (quite obviously) never meant to be a tobacco related ad.

http://adamcooperf1.com/2010/05/06/f...arcode-livery/

Actually, I totally believe that the barcode was supposed to be a Marlboro ad. I just think that it's fully ridiculous for it to be "illegal".

Ironically, this whole legal spat over the barcode has been great advertising for Marlboro, and now that white rectangle on the car is just as much a reminder of the cigarette brand as the actual logo itself.

This is not, I repeat not, a Marlboro endorsement. Anyone who disagrees can have a private word with Mr. di Montezemolo. Oh and that other logo, that totally wasn't a hidden Marlboro ad either.

Makes me think of going back to smoking after 10 years. lol .. well no not really

They're talking about tobacco.

So is Alex... he said "going back to smoking". :lol:

erf. ya!

Peter Windsor > Will Buxton

Actually, I was just thinking during qualifying coverage how much Buxton doesn't suck. Windsor's shoes are impossible to fill, but the new guy isn't horrible. Much better than the Gillet guy they had for the first 2 rounds.

Yeah, that Westbury Gillett guy was the worst...I think I can get used to Will Buxton. I think he used to do BTCC stuff, I don't know for sure. Anyway, I miss Peter W, but he won't be back.

also, Buxton has a nice haircut.

Oh, Westbury Gillet is who I was remembering as being terrible. I kinda tuned out after a while thinking Buxton was the same dude. I guess I'll have to give him another shot next race.

Will the Speed channel air Monaco again?

I don't see a re-air scheduled on speedtv.com.

Thought's on Schumacher's pass: http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-...p-monaco-pass/

I was actually wondering if something like this was going to happen because I saw the "SC in this lap" graphic on the screen during the last lap and thought "does this mean they get to race from pit-in to the s/f line!?!" Apparently not, but if that's the case, why did they wave green flags as the SC came in? I understand the SC is supposed to pit to allow the cars to parade across the line (I guess just for the photo ops?) if they're finishing under caution, but doesn't that pretty explicitly imply there should have been yellow flags waving?

Frankly, I think MSC has a pretty good argument. But I'm sure the FIA will ignore his protest, then quietly revise their confusing rules to prevent this in the future. Really the fair solution is to deny MSC his pass and just set the finishing order as it was just prior to the SC pulling into the pits. A 20s penalty is dumb when the reason for the "pass under the SC" was because the SC rules aren't rigorously defined.

At first I thought you couldn't pass until start/finish, but as someone pointed out on another forum to me, this year they changed the regs. As soon as the car comes in, they can pass. Except in the case that its the last lap and the race is finishing under the safety car.

So, I went from thinking MSC was a dumbass, but now I'm starting to see his argument (especially if they were waving the green flags). I doubt Mercedes will even get an appeal though, let alone win it. Its being scored as a post-race drive through penalty, which is always a 20 sec penalty, and which usually doesn't even see a day in court.

Yeah. I just read at the bottom of that article I linked: they can appeal the ruling, but not the penalty ('cause yeah, that makes sense).

But the most important thing in what you just pointed out is that "the race is finishing under the safety car". That race didn't finish under the safety car... there was a notification that the safety car was coming in, and green flags waved.

FIA really needs to clarify the difference between bringing in the SC with 0 to go, and having it pull out of the way for a photo-op as the finish under caution. Maybe the SC could pull off to the side but stay on track and wave everyone by to the finish line. Or they could stop being retarded and actually finish behind the SC and end all the confusion.

Safety car goes in, green flags waved, penalty should be reversed.

End of story.

http://adamcooperf1.com/2010/05/18/m...monaco-appeal/

Mercedes has dropped the appeal.

Ugh. I hate this nonsense:

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-...ety-car-rules/

Really, if the FIA is going to amend the rule, they should also give back Schumacher's finish less the one position he wasn't supposed to have taken.

Poor Sato... still can't keep the car in one piece.

http://irl.gpupdate.net/en/indycar-s...-for-indy-500/

But seriously, I hope he's okay and makes the grid for the 500. I'd really like to see him do well at the race.

F1, in Texas? From 2012 to 2021!?!

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlin...0/5/10824.html

I think I'll just go back to Montreal.

I'm surprised by this, but it makes a lot of sense, and they found a group to build a track from scratch, in close proximity to transportation and accomodations...Overall, good plan...I'm excited to see the result.

I agree it's the right plan. They just picked the wrong location. A purpose built facility in Vegas makes way more sense to me.

I agree somewhat, but a track in Vegas is not very appealing from about June through September due to the heat, other than that, yeah, it's set up to handle a TON of visitors.

Actually, doing an October Vegas race just before heading down to Brazil would have been sweet.

Austin is supposed to be pretty sweet. It's the most non-Texas part of Texas.

I will be there in 2012

The track better be Abu Dhabi level amazing. Otherwise I'd rather go back to Montreal. Then again, I think I'm going to try to go to Montreal in 2011... so Austin may be up after that.

Then again, I'm sure there's loopholes large enough to drive a truck through for Bernie to cancel this deal. Anyone else remember the 10 year deal signed for Donnington Park? That was just leverage to get Silverstone to upgrade. Maybe Austin is just a means to trigger a massive rework of Watkins Glen or even Indy?

I've been hearing some speculation that its a jab at Indy. Either to motivate, or to frustrate. Especially since it was announced the week running up to the Indy 500.

Another interesting thing, is that since this will be a back-to-back with Montreal, it'll likely be in June. Texas Speedway has IRL/NASCAR on June 4-5, so Bernie may be really trying to irk George.