Back to back Grand Prix Weekends!

Back to back!  And there are other single-seat races too!

If you missed the last weekend, the race was in Hockenheim, and it was raining, and it was EPIC.  In the best way.  Williams, my favorite team as I know I have told you, finished in P12 and P13, their highest result this season!  And with a penalty, got promoted into P10 and got the first point of the season!

They brought upgrades for the car but they were breaking, so they are working on it.  And the Internet is laughing at them still, but I believe they are on the right track, with steady progress each race, and while they are finishing at the back, they are finishing every single race.  The only team to do that this whole season.  So while Matt over at WTF1 is mocking them, they are actually doing the work and not being a sideline critic.  That’s right, Matty, I’m calling you out!

This weekend we are in Hungary, a high downforce track that will favor the Mercedes Benz and Red Bull teams while giving Williams and Ferrari troubles.  It’s probably going to be boring compared with Germany, but I will still watch.  And I will tell you why.

The original drivers were self-financed gentlemen, and they had a lot of thrill-seeking desires after the intense adrenaline dump of ww2. They would build the car, optimize it, and risk life and limb to go fastest.  Nowadays the principles are the same but a lot safer.  The investment of time, research, experimentation, scientific expertise, innovative design and solutions to difficult problems, manufacturing of parts, and finding a driver who can drive the car well, that’s one part of the team.  The pitstops, mechanics, trucks,  trackside engineers, strategists, that’s another part.  The drivers are what we watch, but it is the whole team that makes it work, and I am invested in watching because I am aware of all of this stuff.  It’s what makes it more interesting!

In addition, and maybe what is so appealing, is the single-seat racing.  We drive on the left or right side of the car, meant to transport people and things.  To me, this is practical.  But the purest form of automobile is just the driver and the car, how can the driver feel the limit, go into corners, find the best line for the car.  Even in the Ferrari 458 that Jim took me in, that is compromised because the driver is off to one side.  The proper place for the driver is the middle.  Period.  It’s why I love Lively so much.  It’s why, if I am healed, I am buying this car to daily drive!

Or this one.

There is also Formula 2 this weekend, with my favorite driver Mick Schumacher driving for Prema Racing.  The son of Schumi is really making steady progress, even if he hasn’t won anything this year.  Keep your eyes on him, he’s a covert talent!

So if you want to know what I am doing this weekend, now you know.  Mass, and racing.  Not glamorous, but interesting to me!