Canadian Grand Prix Review

You can scratch the Bahrain Grand Prix off the top of your list of most exciting races of the 2014 Formula One season. The Canadian Grand Prix has clearly surpassed the excitement that Bahrain provided us. Lewis Hamilton was out qualified by his teammate for the second race in a row. Yet once again, Mercedes started on the front row for the race. Points leader, Nico Rosberg, lead the field into the first corner. While Lewis Hamilton fell back into third, behind the four time World Champion, Sebastian Vettel. Marussia may experienced the highest of highs in Monaco, but in Canada, they experienced the lowest of lows when their drivers, Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi took each other out on the first lap. A few laps into the race, as expected, Lewis Hamilton passed Sebastian Vettel, then caught up with his teammate, Nico. 

Halfway through the race, both of Mercedes’ cars were experiencing mechanical issues. Both Lewis and Nico were losing around three seconds per lap, but they still maintained a decent gap on the rest of the field. On the forty-fifth lap, Lewis Hamilton lost his brakes. He overshot his teammate by cutting through a corner, he then gave the spot back to Nico before he broke it to his crew over the radio that his breaks had gone out as he pulled in to the pits and retired the car. 

      Nico stretched his lead out until the final ten laps. the Infiniti Red Bull machine of Daniel Ricciardo was gaining, but it looked as though Nico was going to hold on to the lead to win the race, while Daniel Ricciardo would finish in second and Sebastian Vettel would end up third. With two laps to go, Ricciardo drove past Nico Rosberg to take the lead. Sergio Perez took his Sahara Force India machine to the fourth spot until Felipe Massa took Perez and himself out in a high speed crash. Fortunately, neither were hurt badly. The race finished under caution with Daniel Ricciardo getting his maiden win, destroying Mercedes AMG's perfect season. Daniel Ricciardo, Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button, and Nico Hülkenberg round out the top five. 

Rosberg has a twenty-two point lead over his teammate and rival, Lewis Hamilton. The next race is in Spielberg, Austria, at the Red Bull Ring June 20th-22nd.

-Dallas Hollins

www.InsidePitRow.blogspot.com

Find us on Twitter & Instagram: @InsidePitRow

Photo Credit: Motorsport.com

Ronnie Renner Claims Gold Medal #6

  

  Ronnie Renner has won his 6th X Games Gold Medal in the Step Up competition. The thirty-six year old had absolutely no problem clearing the thirty-four foot high bar, so much so that he had feet to spare as he went over. Of course, it should be easy.  He made history in 2012 when he cleared the bar at forty-seven feet at X Games LA. Not only is this Ronnie's sixth gold medal, it's his eleventh overall in his twelve year X Games competition history. Bryce Hudson walked away with silver, while 2013 X Games Munich Step Up Gold Medalist, Libor Podmol took home the bronze. 

This is the second day of X Games Austin competition. Look for more Moto X competition Saturday, June 7th, on ABC at 11:00 A.M. PST, and ESPN at 5:00 P.M. PST.

-Dallas Hollins

www.InsidePitRow.blogspot.com

Find us on Twitter & Instagram: @InsidePitRow

The Rivalry: Lewis vs. Nico

There’s almost nothing worse than your own teammate being your biggest rival. He’s on the same equipment, technology, crew, and the team shares each of the driver’s data. Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton know all about what this is like. You could see the tension between the Mercedes drivers at the start of the 2014 F1 season. But according to former karting boss, Dino Chiesa, the feud has been there since they were teenagers. Chiesa claims that Rosberg was the one who worked the hardest because he didn’t have as much talent as Hamilton. “Rosberg has always worked harder and does all the dirty work, the set-up, working with the mechanics and engineers. Lewis has never worked as hard behind the scenes as Nico.” 

Rosberg hinted at a rivalry with his teammate during a pre-season interview with Telegraph Sport saying, “It will definitely be harder, yes. The more success we have the tougher it is.” So far this year, every Q3 has ended with the Mercedes drivers qualifying one-two. With the exception of the Australian Grand Prix, Lewis and Nico have managed to finish one-two in every race. Nico is a measly four points ahead of Lewis in the driver's standings. Hamilton has four wins, Nico has two. Keep in mind that there have only been six races so far this season. 

In Bahrain, Lewis made it clear about where he stood with Nico. “We are not friends. Nico and myself can count our friends on one hand. He doesn’t come in my five friends, I am not in the five friends he has. We are colleagues.” The race itself was very close, and Nico was not happy about finishing second to Lewis. During the Spanish Grand Prix, Lewis questioned his engineers about the strategy he was placed on in comparison to the one they gave Nico. 

Once in Monaco, Lewis told the press that he was hungrier than Nico because unlike his German teammate, he wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth. During the final qualifying session on Saturday, Nico made a mistake on the last lap that caused a yellow flag, impeding Lewis’s lap, in which he had just set his fastest sector. Lewis was not pleased with Nico on Saturday, and he definitely wasn’t pleased when Rosberg got an early lead and kept it until the checkered flag dropped. There was no interaction between the two during the podium presentation. Mercedes non-executive chairman, Niki Lauda was very upset with the way the two drivers handled themselves at the Monaco Grand Prix, saying that he was to talk to both Nico and Lewis about their actions. 

Last week, Lewis posted a picture of he and Nico as teenagers with the caption: “We’ve been friends for a long time & as friends we have our ups & downs. Today we spoke & we’re cool, still friends #noproblem". They might still be friends, but the rivalry is very much there. With the intense battles on the track, and the not-so-friendly words spewed away from the track, these two are always in each other’s heads. The next race is the Canadian Grand Prix, this weekend May 6th-8th, in Montreal Canada.  

-Dallas Hollins 

www.InsidePitRow.blogspot.com

Find us on Twitter & Instagram: @InsidePitRow

Photo Credit: Motorsport.com, Instagram.com

Monaco Grand Prix Review / Canadian Grand Prix Preview

The 2014 Monaco Grand Prix was by far one of the best we've seen so far this year. The final qualifying session had quite a bit of drama. In Q3 with one lap to go, Nico Rosberg overshot a corner and drove his Mercedes-powered racecar into a runoff area, thus causing a yellow flag, and impeding the other drivers' final lap. It may or may not have been pure coincidence that Lewis Hamilton, Rosberg's teammate and biggest rival, had just set his fastest time in the first sector. Even after an investigation made by race control, Nico Rosberg maintained his pole position for Sunday's race. An off-pole Lewis remained tight-lipped during the post-qualifying press conference, but his body language spoke volumes. The 2008 Formula One World Champion was not pleased with his teammate's actions. Mercedes didn't have too much to be upset about because both of their cars started on row one for the sixth consecutive race this season. The race itself went as expected, Mercedes finished first and second. However, it was Nico Rosberg who graced the top step of the podium with Lewis in second, and Infinity Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo rounding out the top three. This is Nico's second win of the year, the first being the Australian Grand Prix, as well as his his second victory in Monaco. 

There wasn't too much excitement on the first few rows, but the drive of the day is a two-way tie between Marussia's Jules Bianchi, and Sahara Force India's Nico Hülkenberg. Jules had an absolutely fantastic drive from nineteenth to ninth, scoring the team's first ever points paying position in their eighty three race history. Nico Hülkenberg on the other hand, drove from eleventh to an impressive fifth-place finish, driving on super-soft tires for the last fifty one laps of the race. He scored a solid ten points which pushed him to fifth-place in the points, while Sahara Force India is fourth in the Constructor's standings. 

So what's to come this weekend at the Canadian Grand Prix? Lewis is a three-time winner of the Canadian Grand Prix, while points leader Nico Rosberg's highest finish at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is fifth. You can't count out either of Infinity Red Bull Racing's drivers, especially Sebastian Vettel, who won last year's Canadian GP. Sahara Force India, McLaren, and Williams will also be in the fight for points. We might just see Marussia take the fight to the top ten once again. There's one thing I know for certain, the Canadian Grand Prix will be a blast! It starts this weekend, June 6th-8th, in Montreal, Canada.

-Dallas Hollins 

www.InsidePitRow.blogspot.com 

Find us on Twitter & Instagram: @InsidePitRow

Photo Credit: Motorsport.com

Courtney Force Scores Victory #100 for Women in the NHRA

Courtney Force made herstory over the weekend in Topeka, Kansas, as she collected the 100th professional win by a woman in the NHRA. Not only was it the 100th win for women, but it was Courtney’s fourth victory in only her third year of Funny Car competition. She had made history the day before when qualified #1 in the Funny Car class, while her older sister, Brittany Force, qualified #1in the Top Fuel category. Brittany made it all the way to the semifinals, but Courtney was the Force sister who wound up with the Wally in her hands. She flew past Cruz Pedregon in the finals with a 4.148 at 306.46 MPH to get the win. Not only did Courtney walk away with the Wally for the race win, she received a commemorative “100 Wins for Women” Wally as well. In winning fashion, Courtney took a selfie in the Winner’s Circle with her Wallys and crew guys in the picture. This is John Force Racing’s sixth victory in Funny Car so far this season. 

100 professional wins for women is a huge deal. The NHRA has shown more gender diversity than any other form of professional motorsport in the world. For comparison, Formula One hasn’t had a female competitor on the grid since 1992, and no female has ever won an F1 race. The 2014 IndyCar season has seen Pippa Mann finish 24th in this year’s Indy 500, but Danica Patrick remains the only woman to have ever won an IndyCar race. NASCAR has two women competing in two of their major series, Danica Patrick and Jennifer Jo Cobb. However, a woman has yet two win a NASCAR race. NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series’s track record with women over the association’s sixty three year history is simply remarkable. Other racing series should take notes, because the world of motorsports needs more prominent, winning female figures. 

Congratulations on your fourth win, Courtney! Thank you for capturing victory #100 by women! 

-Dallas Hollins 

www.InsidePitRow.blogspot.com

Find us on Twitter & Instagram: @InsidePitRow

Check out a list all of the professional wins made by women in the NHRA: 

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20140525/nhra/140529859

Picture Credit: NHRA/ National Dragster

The Diversity of the NHRA

 When you think of professional motorsports series, you generally think of Formula One, IndyCar, NASCAR, and NHRA. Of course there are many, many other professional motorsports series out there. The four mentioned are just amongst the most popular. Out of the four, there is no professional racing series as gender diverse as the National Hot Rod Association. 

  NHRA has had more success with women in its series than any other. Over the span of the association’s sixty-three year history, there have been 100 wins in the four professional classes by the women of the sport. Angelle Sampey, Shirley Muldowney, and Erica Enders-Stevens lead the way with the most wins. So far this season Erica Enders-Stevens, Alexis Dejoria, and most recently, Courtney Force, have collected five wins. Eight women have already competed in the four professional categories of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series in 2014, not to mention the dozens that compete in the sportsman ranks. Only eight races into a twenty-four event season, this looks to be a very promising year for the ladies. 

Danica Patrick and Jennifer Jo Cobb are the only women competing in any of the three major NASCAR series. There have yet to be any female winners in NASCAR. In IndyCar, Pippa Mann is the only woman that has competed so far this year, but so far has only raced in one event, the Indy 500. The first and only win by a woman in IndyCar came six years ago, by Danica Patrick at the Indy Japan 300. Formula One hasn’t had a woman compete in its series since Giovanna Amati’s three race stint in 1992. However Susie Wolff is currently a reserve driver for Williams Martini Racing, and Simona De Silvestro is an affiliate driver for the Suaber F1 Team. There have only been five female racecar drivers in Formula One, but none have captured a win or stood on the podium.

It’s hard to pinpoint why exactly the NHRA has had so much success with their racecar drivers that happen to be female. It’s hard to pinpoint why other racing series haven’t had as much success with women. One day, we will have a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion that is a woman. One day, we will have a female Formula One World Champion. The way NHRA Pro Stock points leader, Erica Enders-Stevens’s season is going so far, we might just see the first female World Champion in that class at the end of the year. It’s all simply a matter of time. Before you know it, all forms of motorsports will have much more diversity in every aspect.  

-Dallas Hollins 

www.InsidePitRow.blogspot.com 

Find us on Twitter & Instagram: @InsidePitRow

Midfield Teams On the Rise

    

        Too often we forget about the power of the newer and/or small-budget Formula One teams. Four races into the 2014 F1 season and we have already seen how the new rules and regulations have shaken things up for the teams. Some of the big teams such as, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, Infiniti Red Bull Racing, and Scuderia Ferrari had and still have their struggles with the new 2014 rule changes. One team in particular has done quite well this so far this season, Sahara Force India. The team is currently sitting third in the Constructor Championship. Sahara Force India driver, Nico Hülkenberg, who was at one point third in the points, is currently holding down a solid fourth place in the Driver standings. His teammate, Sergio Perez, had a third place finish at the Bahrain Grand Prix and is tenth in the points. Nico is a mere five points away from Fernando Alonso's third  place spot, and Sergio is two points out of ninth place. Sahara Force India isn't the only midfield team that is making gains. The Williams Martini Racing team is sitting in sixth in Constructor standings. Williams driver, Valtteri Bottas, is seventh in the points, while his teammate, Felipe Massa, is in eleventh place.

One thing we know for sure is that it will be a very interesting season. The fifth round of the Formula One World Championship will take place this weekend, May 9th-11th at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. 

-Dallas Hollins

www.insidepitpow.blogspot.com

Find us on Twitter & Instagram: @InsidePitRow

Photo Credit: Motorsport.com