In the round-up: Lando Norris criticises the attitude of some rivals after he collided with the lapped Simon Pagenaud while leading yesterday’s IndyCar iRacing CHallenge.
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
"I feel so bad for the guys as well. Maybe some people aren't taking it seriously. They just think it's a game, it doesn't matter. But there's still a lot of other drivers who - I have Jarv and the engineers and the guys doing the strategy, we still put time into it, whether or not we're at home doing nothing, they're still working and trying to do things. They could be doing other things with their families. They're still wanting to take part in this and have a bit of fun and try to win a race. Then some guys get all selfish, don't care about any of it."
Ecclestone on the future of F1, dictators and Elon Musk (Autocar)
"I get really upset when I see a driver walking along, and standing beside him is a young PR (public relations officer) with a microphone or something, waiting to see what he says. If the guy wants to explode and say something, let him. It’s like they have minders to keep them out of trouble."
The former Ferrari president says Senna wanted to join them 'at all costs' in 1994.
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
"We take Lando out, let's do it!"@simonpagenaud's live stream from the laps before his collision with @LandoNorris.#IndyCar #iRacing pic.twitter.com/NNDGv0JLEF
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) May 2, 2020
Yeah
For sure.
Not deliberate.
At all. pic.twitter.com/t9mg4xabwM
— Krzysztof A. Woźniak (@KAWizja) May 2, 2020
That would give drivers an incentive to pull out of the first race if they weren't in a good position in order to gain a better starting position for the second race.
Why would you want to do that?
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) May 2, 2020
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Comment of the day
There was a lot of disappointment in the driving standards from some in yesterday’s IndyCar simrace:
Seriously, this whole ending was a farce and showed a lot…
Simon Pagenaud admitted that he didn’t want an F1 driver to win a virtual race and Santino Ferrucci decided to turn left on his opponent and crash him, just to have a slight chance of winning it.
I thought these guys, as racers, would respect some basic stuff and wouldn’t act like a bunch of 15 year old guys, who have online rage….
Miltiadis (@Miltosgreekfan)
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On this day in F1
- 40 years ago today Alan Jones put his Williams on pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder
John H (@john-h)
3rd May 2020, 0:32
That Pagenaud stream says it all. If I were Norris I wouldn’t race with this crowd again. He got invited back after last week and then this, pretty sad really.
Dale
3rd May 2020, 1:36
It might be a game for him, but it was televised in countries around the world to fill the broadcast gap left by the Indy shutdown … and he just made a complete farce of the efforts made by many people to put on some sort of show.
Indy bosses should view his actions no differently than if he did it in a real race.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
3rd May 2020, 6:41
It was nice to see Lando took it so well. However, I don’t see the point in a racing series such as Indycar or F1 trying to get real drivers into their simulated racing series, then promoting it as fairly credible and being the closest you can get to the real thing under the present circumstances, and then have people “take out” the driver leading the race.
I must admit Johnny Herbert was up to some sort of nonsense in the first two F1 iGPs, but it looks like he’s now been dropped.
I think iRacing need to do what F1 does in regard to lapped cars, where a lapped car is just a “ghost” when a car on a lap ahead is approaching them, so if their paths cross then there’s no collision.
graham228221 (@graham228221)
3rd May 2020, 7:38
I’ve surprised myself how angry I am about that Indy race. On the one hand I know it’s just a game, with no championships or careers on the line. And also I get that it was a clumsy move by Norris that put Pagenoud out.
But it was such a shame to spoil what was a great race, and a surprisingly engrossing and competitive series. I’m thinking of the tens of thousands of people, like me, that were relying on these races for some much-needed escapism. Not to mention all what must have been a non-trivial amount of money involved from NBC in producing it. I spent over an hour of my life getting emotionally involved in this, and it was all wrecked by two grown men acting like complete children. We all expect stuff like this from Ferrucci, but I thought Pagenoud would be above this. If they were actually going to treat it like a 4 lap sprint race on Forza 7, why spend a whole week practicing and over an hour seriously racing?
But I think what got the most is it just burst the bubble and sent me crashing back to Earth by reminding me that we’re all just sat on our sofas, stuck indoors, so desperate for stimulation that we’re watching 33 grown men play a video game from their living rooms in the middle of the worst global pandemic for 100 years. Oh well.
John H (@john-h)
3rd May 2020, 8:34
I think that sums it up perfectly @graham228221.
BasCB (@bascb)
3rd May 2020, 8:58
Excellent comment @graham228221.
Not George
3rd May 2020, 11:34
That’s well put.
I think Norris’ comment about how his guys could have been spending time with their families deserves a bit of self-awareness. I haven’t watched any i-racing, but do you really need teams of strategists for it? It’s not a revolutionary concept to ask an F1 driver to have a bit of perspective, but come on.
Don
3rd May 2020, 14:01
Once again, surprising how exciting all of the IndyCar iraces have been. This was exceptionally tense, and has certainly generated is a lot of chatter and passion. That’s good for the sport. It will be really interesting when the season (hopefully) gets going.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
3rd May 2020, 14:03
Simon got taken out, if he wanted to waste everyones time he could have least gone for karma and take out the driver that took him out.
Don
3rd May 2020, 21:31
At the end of the day, it’s just really serious video games with a little craziness thrown in for TV. I enjoyed every IndyCar irace way more than I thought I would.
A LOT of discussion about IndyCar with no one racing happening. I’d say they easily won the virtual racing, and their real racing is the best too.
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
3rd May 2020, 1:02
Brundle seems to be going almost full Bernie as he gets older as he seems to be constantly pushing for as many gimmicks as possible now…. Or maybe it’s just because he feels like he has to support every idea Sky want to be pushed as nobody on the Sky broadcast team ever say a bad word about any of the gimmicks.
Also interesting how every silly idea Sky start to push suddenly becomes something F1 themselves put forward as a serious idea.
Which broadcaster is it that is paying F1 the most money again?
@HoHum (@hohum)
3rd May 2020, 7:26
+1
Paul Jarman
3rd May 2020, 10:41
What do you mean by the last sentence? Why would a broadcaster be paying money to F1?
Mashiat (@mashiat)
3rd May 2020, 10:51
Maybe to be able to broadcast F1?
Paul Jarman
3rd May 2020, 11:26
Of course, completely misread that line. Thought Martin was paying them for some reason :D
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
3rd May 2020, 14:08
Brundle is better paid than half of the grid, not really the same Brundle these days, and sky’s investment is also bigger than most teams’. No wonder they push to dictate f1, they most certainly do push the narrative
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
3rd May 2020, 1:06
If they were to do something gimmicky like a reverse grid or something for any second race it would at least give me a reason not to watch the second race.
Just wouldn’t want to be seen as supporting those sorts of gimmicks given how vehemently i’m against them.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
3rd May 2020, 15:36
+1 In fact I may not watch the first one either also to ensure that I’m not showing any indication that I approve of the format
Xcm
3rd May 2020, 19:53
We won’t miss you, either of you. But have fun with sending your little “message”
jamt
3rd May 2020, 1:10
I would not like to be their sponsor…
faulty (@faulty)
3rd May 2020, 1:27
So ferrucci is back to his ferrucci self?
socksolid (@socksolid)
3rd May 2020, 8:24
Disrespecting the event, disrespecting the viewers, disrespecting his competitors and disrespecting indycar. Pretty low showing of their character.
Xcm
3rd May 2020, 19:55
@socksolid
He’s playing a vidya game… get off your high horse. You guys spend way too much time with Antonio ferrucci on your minds.
socksolid (@socksolid)
4th May 2020, 11:05
It was a world wide televised event with sponsors and real racing series being involved. Then couple of drivers decide to treat it as a joke and ruin the event. One of them being known for being unable to act in sportsman like manner whereas the another one being an indy winner who should at least know better. Ferrucci has a natural talent to get himself into these situations. It was a racing event, not scripted wrestling.
Jockey Ewing
4th May 2020, 23:57
Actually according to Pagenaud’s Twitter he treated the event before the start like something really important, what he prepared for a lot and so on, so it’s even worse, with the preparation it’s a bad comedy.
My favourite tweet from him is “I think @NormanPagenaud has more patience behind the wheel than some of my fellow #Indycar @iRacing competitors!” He has a nice dog named Norman, lol.
BasCB (@bascb)
3rd May 2020, 8:59
Sure looks like it.
petebaldwin (@)
3rd May 2020, 1:51
Yeah I think that race confirmed I’m better off watching proper sim racers go at it. Spent a decent bit of time watching that race and actually got quite invested in it as it came to an exciting climax only for a troll to appear and spoil the fun…. It instantly takes all credibility away from it being something more than just a game. If I want to watch people drive around and take out the leader, I’ll watch some Failrace clips on Youtube or load up Wreckfest but iRacing is supposed to be more than that.
BasCB (@bascb)
3rd May 2020, 9:01
I really feel for Norris who clearly did take it seriously. I guess it’s also feeling like this that keeps Verstappen from racing in the F1 game, since he’s not interested in a game but wants serious racing.
JC
3rd May 2020, 2:12
Pagenaud, one of the stars of Indycar, is on the same mental level as Dan Tickum. Sad.
At least we’re getting a good proper look at drivers in this weird lockdown time. Lando Norris has done a lot for both the Mclaren and F1 brand. You can’t say the same for the other 2 named drivers and their respective associated brands.
Todd (@braketurnaccelerate)
3rd May 2020, 2:28
Considering iRacing has a pretty strong opinion against intentionally wrecking people (que Scott Speed getting banned), will they actually do anything about it?
jet
3rd May 2020, 3:17
Perfect example. We shall see.
danarcha (@danarcha)
3rd May 2020, 18:47
The VP of iRacing has said there will be no sanctions because this was a private IndyCar event.
jet
3rd May 2020, 3:25
Well that didn’t take long. Are any F1 drivers going to step in and defend F1 Norris? Would be a shame to just let him get beat up by a bunch of insecure Indy drivers.. Time to take the gloves off.
X1Znet (@x1znet)
3rd May 2020, 3:40
Pagenaud didn’t want an F1 driver to win, so I wonder how he feels that an Australian Supercar driver ended up winning? That series doesn’t even give FIA Super Licence points I think.
This is not at all anything negative about Scott McLaughlin — his was one of the streams I was watching (as well as for the COTA race). The IndyCar/iRacing series allowed to “discover” this driver I didn’t know about before!
Corey (@dragon86)
3rd May 2020, 3:57
Pagenaud and McLaughlin both drive for Penske. He probably felt great about it.
Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
3rd May 2020, 10:30
If I were Pagenaud or Will Power, I’d be giving Scotty as little publicity as possible. He has Penske Indycar driver written all over him and Roger doesn’t like running 4 cars
Jason Miller (@flatdarkmars)
3rd May 2020, 5:50
>The IndyCar/iRacing series allowed to “discover” this driver I didn’t know about before!
I’m glad McLaughlin is getting the international attention he deserves. It was pretty apparent that he was a special talent even when he was driving for the not-front-running Volvo supercars team, and Penske did well to pick him up for their squad. Pagenaud, on the other hand, has long been my least favorite Penske driver. I didn’t really have anything against him, I just didn’t have any particular reason to like him, unlike most of his teammates. But now he has really cemented his position as the only Penske driver I don’t like at all.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
4th May 2020, 0:25
@x1znet Indycars and F1 have had a simmering, albeit low-key, rivalry for decades. That isn’t the case with Australian Supercars, so probably nobody on the grid was too concerned about that – even those who would have preferred an Indycar driver to win the Indycar race.
Jere (@jerejj)
3rd May 2020, 7:43
I couldn’t agree more with the COTD nor with Keith’s reply to Martin Brundle about reverse-grids.
baasbas
3rd May 2020, 8:22
OK, Indy did their best to make it as real as possible, including a full field of drivers. F1 couldn’t muster more than an arcade game …and arcade players. But after investing time in Indy I now feel cheated because I expected more (yes, naive about Ferrucci I guess).
So did the Pagenaud and Ferrucci farce make F1 correct in hindsight?
BasCB (@bascb)
3rd May 2020, 9:03
Ferruci seems to be acting very much the same way he’d like to in real life racing though.
SadF1fan
3rd May 2020, 10:33
F1 could organize an event on Iracing.
F1 is legally bound by contracts with Codemasters that they can’t.
Codemasters pays a lot of money for the license to produce an F1 game. That neither F1 or Codemasters care that product isn’t up to scratch is a different story.
But for F1 it’s legally impossible to organize an official simracing event on Iracing.
From a marketing point of view, it is also incredibly redundant to do iracing, given that the new F1 2020 game is coming out right now.
Xcm
3rd May 2020, 20:00
Imagine not being able to tell the difference between a casual arcade game and “Look ma! I’m driving a race car!” simulators…
How sad. But at least you got the right username!
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
4th May 2020, 0:27
@baasbas Quite possibly so. It is possible to take something too seriously and therefore bring it out of proportion.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
3rd May 2020, 8:49
Lando is so right. I don’t understand why you’d deliberately try to spoil the fun for others. What I was most surprised about was that Pagenaud even appeared on iRacing Instagram promoting the race, even telling people to come and watch his stream. So he was being “part of it”. Being so silly later, even with everyone watching, only because you’re salty that a F1 driver is leading you is so childish… Lost all respect for the guy.
Stewart Moir
3rd May 2020, 12:46
Never had any respect for him in the first place. He reminds me of Sacha Baron Cohen’s character in Talladega Nights. A pompous nozzle
Balue (@balue)
3rd May 2020, 9:26
Good for telling it like it is with the idiotic reverse grids. Disappointed in Brundle about this.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
3rd May 2020, 10:04
I think Martin Brundle’s tweet is a bit daft in the current circumstances. The last thing F1 needs to do now is to start playing around with the race formats. It’s a struggle for everyone to get the season going at all.
I guess they might, at some circuits, be able to change the version of the circuit used between two back to back races. But I wouldn’t recommend any more experimentation than that. No two races are the same anyway and teams and drivers would gain information between races to change their setups, etc.
SadF1fan
3rd May 2020, 10:29
The last thing F1 needs is Adhoc untested changes to format on the basis of kneejerk reactions.
We have had too many in the past, and they all failed.
SadF1fan
3rd May 2020, 10:26
The Indycar e-race made me a very Sad motorsportfan.
But it confirmed once again that certain indycar racers suffer from an inferiority complex, probably because they didn’t make it at the higher levels of racing.
I honestly hope Pagenaud and Ferrucci get banned from real life Indycar events for unsportsmanlike behaviour. And in Ferrucci’s case, they might want to think about pulling his racing license altogether. Since it’s not the first time he purposefully runs into a fellow competitor.
Sloppy Shades (@sloppysmusic)
3rd May 2020, 14:26
Somewhat ironic that certain Indycar drivers, in a mean spirited bid to stop an outsider from showing how simple their race series is to compete in with minimal practice by any serious driver, actually highlighted how insecure they are in that artificial superstar bubble. Tear the walls down boys! I’d love to see a serious group effort from non official Indycar drivers to gate crash their exclusive party. With a highly professional and sporting attitude of course.
StephenH
3rd May 2020, 14:39
So who the hell would get on a real race track now with Pagenaud, now knowing he’s now probably willing to kill to win.
He’s certainly no Senna.
He’s now a tainted champion.
Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
6th May 2020, 4:17
Does IndyCar (virtual) have a driving standards steward?
The Australian Supercars have a driving standards steward who is there to ensure the drivers treat the event seriously as a competition and not “just a game”.
The whole production by the series complete with commentary, a “pit lane” reporter has you at times thinking it’s the real thing.