In the round-up: Romain Grosjean says he had the pace to win after leading an IndyCar race for the third time last weekend but finishing 16th.
In brief
Grosjean “had the pace” to win in Nashville
Romain Grosjean said he was quick enough to win last weekend’s IndyCar race in Nashville after qualifying fifth and leading the race, but rued the string of caution periods which turned the race into a lottery.“We had some pace, we were up there with the top guys, we led a few laps,” said Grosjean. “But with all the yellows you needed to be lucky to win and that’s what happened today and for us, we didn’t get lucky.
“So it’s a bit of a tough one to digest because we had the pace, we were fighting at the front but we didn’t get the yellows that we needed.”
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
For their first time at a race my kids saw my leading. How cool is that ???
❤️❤️❤️— Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) August 9, 2021
Sponsor offers for @Ericsson_Marcus ‘s plank must be rolling in.
— Alex Brundle (@AlexBrundle) August 9, 2021
They finally got our seats built. pic.twitter.com/ksqnzgfs2S
— D.J. (@Indycardj32) August 8, 2021
Turn 6 at Road America. This is how F1 tracks need to be configured to end the constant debate about, “exceeding track limits,” green grass will do it for you, Grip tends to go down alarmingly on grass! What a concept. pic.twitter.com/Swq92lStXS
— David Hobbs (@MrDavidHobbs) August 8, 2021
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Engine head Taffin leaves Alpine F1 team (Reuters)
"A spokeswoman said the Frenchman left by mutual agreement in early July."
Ricciardo brands 2021 the toughest year of his career (Speedcafe)
"I think it’s the first time I’ve consistently found it difficult. For sure over the years you have bad weekends, and even you might have two bad ones on a trot, but then you kind of get it right where I feel like it’s been definitely more bad, or more or less impressive than good."
The shanty town on Valencia’s abandoned Formula 1 circuit (El Pais)
"Today, the sum of €42.9 million still owed for the circuit is proving the main stumbling block for the development. The investment group Atitlan, which owns much of the land, and the British fund Hayfin Capital are negotiating with Valencia City Hall over how the project should go forward, according to sources from the department of urban planning."
Arthur Leclerc – The young Monégasque aims to get to the top of motorsport (The Paddock Magazine)
"We had quite a difficult start to the season, unfortunately, we didn’t have the best of luck at the beginning. I mean the puncture in Barcelona, then we had several technical issues in the following races, there were some mistakes from my side as well, so it was far from ideal – let’s say."
"I'm closer to the title fight now than I was when I was behind JEV (Jean-Eric Vergne) going into the season four finale. So, I take comfort and positivity in that."
NASCAR Cup drivers aren't thrilled for the Indianapolis road course Race (Autoweek)
Ryan Newman: "Being from South Bend and spending a lot of time in Indy, I would personally much rather it be on the big track and not the road course. Honestly, I’d prefer it to be on the dirt track instead of the road course on top of that."
Bob Jenkins, legendary voice of Indy 500, dies: 'He was one of us in every way' (Indianapolis Star)
"That a kid obsessed with cars whizzing at 200 miles an hour got to eventually be the 'Voice of the 500' and work in IndyCar and NASCAR for ESPN and NBC Sports, was always a wonder to Jenkins. 'I always have been and am now a race fan who got lucky,' Jenkins told IndyStar in May."
"Patch 1.06 is out now on PC and PlayStation, and coming to Xbox very soon."
We always endeavour to credit original sources. If you have a tip for a link relating to single-seater motorsport to feature in the next RaceFans round-up please send it in via the contact form.
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Comment of the day
Sunday’s IndyCar race in Nashville proved divisive:
I’ve regularly sang the praises of IndyCar on this forum, but yesterdays race highlighted its negative aspects.
The circuit was a brave attempt to create something amazing, but ultimately it fell short. The surface was just too bumpy even by IndyCar standards and some sections of the track were guaranteed to make accidents. The driving standards were appalling. So many clumsy moves and so many full course yellows meant that anyone could win.
I felt so sorry for Herta. He was head and shoulders above anyone else all weekend and the fact he didn’t win is a travesty. IndyCar need do do some head-scratching.
Biskit Boy (@sean-p-newmanlive-co-uk)
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On this day in motorsport
- 35 years ago today Nelson Piquet brilliantly passed Ayrton Senna to win the first Hungarian Grand Prix
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Todd (@braketurnaccelerate)
10th August 2021, 1:50
The only thing that’s going to save NASCAR is a transition away from ovals. The vast majority of the younger generation who enjoy motorsports, even those in NASCAR’s bread and butter States, aren’t terribly big fans of oval racing.
Darryn Smith (@darryn)
10th August 2021, 4:17
I thought Hobbs died. Glad to find out he didn’t. I guess it just seems that way with Brundle and that other clown Croft commentating on the races.
Jere (@jerejj)
10th August 2021, 11:00
@darryn Clown, LOL.
Brownerboy (@brownerboy)
10th August 2021, 13:15
Clown is probably putting it nicely. Croft has gone down massively since the days when he was at 5 Live, when I often had to switch to that commentary because of Legard, who was even worse.
I’m not sure if it is Sky encouraging this, but it is getting quite tiresome hearing the constant false excitement he tries to make about ‘potential moves,’ that even a casual fan knows is never going to happen. The mistakes seem to have gotten worse too like getting the wrong driver etc. Some of the things he has said in the past are proper face palm moments, I think Rosberg has called him out on several occasions when he has been talking absolute nonsense.
Nimba (@nimba)
10th August 2021, 21:30
I much preferred Steve Slater ,Steve Dawson, Paula Malai ALi, Alex Yoong and Gary Anderson for tech coverage at Star-Sports-ESPN in India all those seasons where the broadcast rights of sky were diverted through Malaysia using ESPNStar. Have watch all the Schumacher races on the RaceDay and ChequeredFlag converge with this team of commentators.
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
10th August 2021, 5:59
If Honda’s experience with the engine layout change was anything to go by, Renault are a few years too late. Considering they were planning on hitting the ground running next year, this layout change, which is massive, will only set them back. This will effectively be an entirely new PU.
We only have to look at what happened to Honda in 2017. I can agree that it may not be a comparable example, but they did fall further back in 2017 with the new layout, before getting to where they are now, but it took 3 seasons.
Alpine are supposed to be a front running team by next year, I doubt this will happen. Sure they’ve score podiums and a win since Renault returned to Enstone, but all those results were fortunate. They should have taken the plunge a few years ago and committed to the new layout. Cyril was too busy trying to score political points over Red Bull for a time, when he should have been focusing on building his team. As result, now they have no customers, and possibly the worst PU on the grid. Its no surprise that all the key figures from the pre Luca De Meo era have left, about time.
Mayrton
10th August 2021, 8:01
No one told him the concept before?
Dave
10th August 2021, 8:50
Re Grosjean: Also, you need to be a true survivor, heroic cursebreaker and a real defier to win too.
Re Alex Brundle tweet: “Close Field”? :D
Re F1 2021 patch: New tracks next month?
John H (@john-h)
10th August 2021, 10:15
Grosjean calls it luck, but he could have pitted at the first caution like many others did behind Herta and he would have been where Ericsson was. With some many cautions likely, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to work that out, I understand why Herta didn’t pit being in the lead, but otherwise hindsight of course, but it’s not all luck. Requires the team to make sensible decisions also at the right time.
Jere (@jerejj)
10th August 2021, 11:15
So Taffin left over a month ago, but the matter remained unknown until today.
Edvaldo
10th August 2021, 14:56
Grosjean needs to be lucky to win alright.
Balue (@balue)
10th August 2021, 21:28
Is the official F1 eSports simulator a Playstation and Xbox arcade game? Are you kidding me?
JacobC
10th August 2021, 23:01
Grosjean isn’t wrong; it takes a bit of luck to win at everything. You can have the best car on the grid but if nothing goes your way then it doesn’t matter much. Still good to see him thrive in Indy.
Robert Laipply
11th August 2021, 15:16
Get the F1 Tv app and buy a subscription, it’s worth it. I watch the pit lane channel just to hear the different commentators. Sam Collins insights during the race are very inciteful.