In the round-up: Both Toyotas were disqualified following their one-two finish in yesterday’s World Endurance Championship Six Hours of Silverstone. That promoted the Rebellion pair to a one-two, led by the Gustavo Menezes/Mathias Beche/Thomas Laurent car.
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Rebellion take victory after Toyota exclusions (FIA WEC)
"The two Toyotas were found to be in non-conformity of Article 3.5.6.d of the 2018 LMP1-H Technical Regulations which covers the deflection of the skid block. Toyota intends to appeal the decisions and therefore the race results remain provisional."
Hulkenberg proud to have 'survived' pay driver era (Autosport)
"Asked if he ever felt vulnerable, Hulkenberg replied: 'Maybe yes, in a way. I never had the help of money in the background - it could be the cherry on the top a little bit - whereas some others had that to offer.'"
Alonso move to IndyCar would be fantastic, drivers say (Reuters)
"It shows that there’s huge interest from really a global standpoint, from competitors in what is perceived as the pinnacle to be interested in coming to IndyCar and obviously he expressed that interest and loved his experience in Indy 500."
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Now that we know @robertwickens is alert…I appreciative inquiries as to whether I was hurt. I am in turn 2 right behind the fence, but incident was 200 yards past me. Additionally- reports major car parts penetreated the fence are false. And the AMR safety crew is amazing.
— Jake Query (@jakequery) August 19, 2018
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Comment of the day
Does Jean-Eric Vergne deserve another chance in F1?
I’d love to see Vergne back in F1 but maybe not to Red Bull.
Don’t want to see Perez or Ocon leaving either, rather one of those guys take the Red Bull seat, Gasly’s not got enough experience for the Red Bull seat yet, don’t want another Kyvat.
What about Buemi as well?
Dave
Happy birthday!
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Mach1 (@mach1)
20th August 2018, 0:38
Looks like Alonso has bit more work to do in retirement….
bukester (@bukester)
20th August 2018, 4:24
Was Briatore at Silverstone?
NoName (@noname)
20th August 2018, 8:01
@bukester LMAO 😂😂😂😂
Fletcher LeGardy (@fsliv)
20th August 2018, 18:07
Wow lmao
Ruben (@)
20th August 2018, 6:55
It’s a shame that LMP1 is dominated by Toyota. The excitement as in LMP2, GT Pro and GT Am is not found in LMP1. I didn’t care that the 8 passed the 7. WEC should do something about that cause as viewer the LMP1 can be skipped for now.
Mashiat (@mashiat)
20th August 2018, 7:14
I’m just wondering, which other drivers in history have won a F1 and WEC title? I would think that it’s been at least 25 years since it happened, if it did indeed ever happen. Moreover, has anyone ever done the ultimate triple crown: F1, WEC and Indy title?
FlyingLobster27
20th August 2018, 7:56
No-one has @mashiat, but the World Sportscar Championship didn’t have a Drivers’ title before 1982 (it was a World Championship for Makes back then), and didn’t exist at all between 1994 and 2011, so the F1+WEC challenge hasn’t been around for very long.
I think that Toyota will end the whatever little in-fighting they had. They’ve thrown away a significant championship lead when they should have been looking at an easy ride to both titles. It’s time to win as slowly as possible, and order the 8 ahead so that both titles can be sealed before Le Mans (despite their display this year, they will not want to go into Le Mans with a chance of losing the title). Don’t believe me? It’s engrained in WEC mentality, just re-watch the back end of 2015 or 2017. That’s a pity of course, because it distracts from the real, actual close racing happening in other classes, as @ruben said. In my case, it’s distracting to the point I can’t watch WEC at all, waiting for a team order irks me too much, and Toyota dropped that bomb as early as race 1 so… how about no.
And here’s hoping Robert Wickens will recover.
UNeedAFinn2Win (@uneedafinn2win)
20th August 2018, 8:19
This discussion has been done to death in this website and many many others, you can look it up in the archives.
But summa summarum, WEC not a historically established championship and in it’s current format is a dead man walking, Indycar drivers are rarely / never given the opportunity to go for the F1 -title so that’s to be taken into consideration when establishing the “triple”
The “Triple crown” should be the arbitrary designation of three historical races that have lasted thru many generations of drivers and especially series: LeMans, Indy and Monaco
I’m sure someone will disagree
UNeedAFinn2Win (@uneedafinn2win)
20th August 2018, 8:21
*really need the edit button, guys*
Indycar drivers also don’t get to go for the Monaco GP
anon
20th August 2018, 18:54
@uneedafinn2win, well, for a start there is a debate over whether the “Triple Crown” really is Le Mans, Indianapolis and Monaco, since that is not how the “Triple Crown” was first defined.
Graham Hill, the man who first was given that accolade, always defined the F1 component of the “Triple Crown” as winning the World Drivers Championship, and didn’t really hold the Monaco GP that much higher than any other F1 race.
Furthermore, one of the first journalists to ever use the term has also said that he never intended for it to refer to just the Monaco GP – in terms of public perception, the Monaco GP barely registered and wasn’t considered any more important than any other race on the calendar, and it was only the overall title which registered as being comparable in recognition to Le Mans.
If you were to argue that it should be the Grand Prix that has lasted through the most generations of drivers, there is a stronger argument for the Italian and British Grand Prix to be ranked ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix – both of those races are older events, with the Italian Grand Prix first held in 1921 and the first British Grand Prix in 1926 (Monaco’s first race being in 1929), and those two races are the only ones which have been permanent fixtures on the F1 calendar since the inception of the series in 1950 (Monaco didn’t hold a Grand Prix between 1951 and 1954 inclusive).
Alternatively, if you want to say that accolade should go to the most historic race, then the French Grand Prix – which, dating back to 1906, is by far the oldest event (and, perhaps appropriately, did take place at Le Mans), and in the past traditionally used to offer the greatest prizes for participants as well.
Patrick (@paeschli)
22nd August 2018, 12:11
Given the two other non-F1 events are races, it makes more sense to me that Monaco should be the ‘real’ Triple Crown and not the F1 title.
I think the current interpretation of ‘F1-champ, Indy and Le Mans’ comes from Alonso claiming to go for the Triple Crown while never having won Monaco.
NoName (@noname)
20th August 2018, 8:02
Did not Alonso moaned about no excitement in F1 because only two teams are racing for victories yet he has no problem winning with Toyota while all other don’t stand a chance.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
20th August 2018, 8:06
That’s the keyword. Every driver moans when they can’t win, and enjoy the status quo when they can.
Steven Robertson (@emu55)
20th August 2018, 8:10
He can’t just make opponents appear out of nowhere though, it could be years until the replacement class for lmp1 is launched.
Philip (@philipgb)
20th August 2018, 9:25
@emu55
And F1 can’t just materialise a competitive grid out of nowhere either.
We’ve 6 drivers capable of winning on any given Grand Prix weekend, better than it’s been for years. Alonso’s complaints about F1 are perfectly valid, but there’s a degree of irony that he’s kept schtum about an even less competitive series he just happens to be winning in.
Robbie (@robbie)
20th August 2018, 14:57
@noname But it’s not just about winning though. If it was he would have left F1 sooner. It is about hope. It is about enjoyment. It is about spending one’s days enthusiastic about what one is doing in life. We all know the issues F1 has, particularly for the drivers those being bad tires on cars that are too negatively affected in dirty air such that they need the gadget of drs to fake passes. He has certainly experienced being in F1 while someone else dominates, but at least he felt like he could still have a great time racing. That is gone for him. I’m sure he would acknowledge WEC and Indycar are not perfect either, with their pluses and minuses, but he didn’t create their issues. He just needs to do something more and something different from F1 while he is still young enough to do well elsewhere. Maybe he’ll even be back in F1.
Philip (@philipgb)
20th August 2018, 9:21
Given Toyota are only competing against themselves it’s possibly one of the dumbest own goals in motorsport to not build a car robust enough to withstand the demands of a 6 hour race.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
20th August 2018, 9:42
The pinnacle™ of endurance meets the pinnacle of a kerb, @philipgb
Jere (@jerejj)
20th August 2018, 10:07
Although I’ve already replied to the COTD in the previous round-up (from which it originally comes from), I’ll still do it again here:
Verstappen wasn’t any more experienced at the time of his RB-promotion than Gasly is going be at the beginning of next season, so not really a valid argument there. Just because Kvyat failed after having received a top drive after only one full season in F1 doesn’t mean others would automatically suffer a similar fate to him (Verstappen is the prime example of the opposite).
Garns (@)
21st August 2018, 15:27
@jerejj – fully agree Max made it work where Daniil didn’t , its a shame but that’s F1.
Captain Pie (@captainpie)
20th August 2018, 17:43
Whilst I respect Hulkenberg and think he is genuinely a good driver deserving of a seat, saying he does not bring funding to the sport is a a bit of a lie surely. Did he forget about Dekra?
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
20th August 2018, 18:19
I think that was the “cherry on top” Nico alluded to.
Casanova (@casanova)
21st August 2018, 18:30
JEV is absolutely deserving of a seat in F1 – he was every bit a tough team mate to Ricciardo at STR as Verstappen has been at RBR, albeit in lower-profile machinery. However, I don’t think JEV would want to come back – it would be a backwards career move, especially with the success he’s enjoying in Formula E.