In the round-up: More points will be awarded for pole position for the Indianapolis 500 following a shake-up of the qualifying format.
In brief
Indianapolis 500 qualifying format gets shake-up
The pole position winner for the Indianapolis 500 will earn 12 points this year – worth almost one-quarter of a regular race win – up from nine last year.The structure of the two-day qualifying format has also changed. On Saturday the positions of the cars which will start from 13th back to at least 30th place will be set. The back row of three cars will also be determined if there are no more than 33 entries in the field.
If more than 33 cars are entered, the last three places and any bumped drivers will be decided in Last Chance Qualifying on Sunday. Later on the second day the Top 12 Qualifying session will decide the third and fourth rows of the grid. Finally the Fast Six session will determine the pole-winner and the five drivers closest to them.
American driver would be ideal for F1 – Stroll
Lance Stroll said that, looking toward the Miami Grand Prix, he was “really looking forward to it and I think it’s great for the sport, is great for Formula 1 and the American market.
“It feels like Formula 1 is doing great right now, the business is really building. So it’s exciting.”
Stroll, who is Canadian, has not had a home race since 2019. He said that “I think to have an American driver, that’s ideal for the US to increase their interest in Formula 1,” however, he added that “Canada’s my home race and will always be.”
Brown bought first kart pawning winnings from Wheel of Fortune
McLaren CEO Zak Brown shed light on how he got started in motor racing in a talk he gave at the Oxford Union recently. Brown said he bought his first kart after speaking to Mario Andretti, using winnings from the teenage edition of game show Wheel of Fortune.
“We went back to the Long Beach Grand Prix in 1987 and got a chance to meet Mario Andretti, one of my heroes,” Brown said. “He’d won the race and I asked him, ‘how did you get started in racing?’ He said karting and there was an ad in the race programme.
“I had been on Wheel of Fortune Teen Week and won a bunch of ‘his and her’ watches, which I then went and sold at a pawn shop, bought my first go-kart, and that’s how I got started in racing.”
Despite his role as CEO, Brown said he regretted “not being fast enough in the race car” because “I’d much rather be in Lando [Norris] or Daniel [Ricciardo’s] suit, but I won’t fit in anymore.”
Andretti aim for race pace fix in Monaco
Andretti Formula E team principal Roger Griffiths said they have prioritised addressing their deterioration in performance on race days, when they tend to slip back following strong qualifying performances.
“The last couple of weeks have been very productive for the team in terms of understanding how the extremely fast pace of the car over a single lap in qualifying didn’t translate into a strong race result,” Griffths explained.
“While the race itself will be the ultimate test, there is a quiet confidence that if this new understanding is correct and combined with the strong qualifying potential of the car, this can offer a great opportunity for both drivers to deliver a good race result.”
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Look what we have here at the @F1 @cryptocom Miami Grand Prix! 👀
Garage signs are up and freight is beginning to arrive this week! 👋 pic.twitter.com/rffAFLWTcl
— F1 Miami Grand Prix (@f1miami) April 26, 2022
Always look where you come from ☝🏻 In 2020 I had no contract , no drive , no sponsorship money. It was close to being the end of my racing career. pic.twitter.com/RHPM3DHIB1
— Ralph Boschung (@BoschungRalph) April 26, 2022
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Bruno Michel's debrief: more point scorers than ever (Formula 2)
Pourchaire opted for the right strategy on Sunday in Imola to cross the finish line first, thus taking a second win in 2022. He is the only driver with two victories this season. Now on 52 points, he is back at the top of the standings, two points ahead of Felipe Drugovich, having scored in only half of the races whereas the Brazilian has managed to score in every single one of them – the only driver to have done so.
Marta Garcia 'I like to inspire women and people who have dreams' (Females in Motorsport)
I finished last year in Austin. I didn’t do the last race because of problems that I had. So, I haven’t done anything since Austin. I’ve been training physically and preparing myself but I haven’t been in a car, not even karting.'
F3 returnee Rasmussen facing hard decision on WEC date clash (Formula Scout)
Rasmussen: 'I really have to thank the opportunity that I get in WEC with Jota. (Joining Trident) does look like an easy choice, let’s say, but we had to discuss it quite a bit over a few days to be able to make the right choice.'
Red Bull says that the cause of many retirements is the vibration in the fuel system due to the porpoising but of course it is also essential to review every part of the hydraulic system and control. If these are resolved, Red Bull will take a big step forward.
Trackside farewell for Sebastian Vettel’s senior senior number two mechanic (Aston Martin)
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Comment of the day
As F1 teams back a move to press forward with six sprint events for next season, Robert says that the way to resolve confusion over naming of the pole winner may be to use reverse-championship order for the sprint race:
I believe that the sprint race can have a positive future in F1 but feel as if the format should be changed. I don’t like how quali and the main race is linked to the sprint race.
I would rather the quali decided the grid order for the main race and that’s it. I don’t know how to fit the grid order for the sprint race in. Maybe just make it the reverse order of the championship standings.
Rob8k
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to El Gordo!
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
27th April 2022, 0:14
If we must persist with Sprint races, can they at least let the drivers stand on the real podium, and not some upturned milk crates in the pitlane, where the drivers look embarrassed to be present and the paying crowd can’t see them?
The Dolphins
27th April 2022, 4:15
I found it particularly interesting last weekend how the 2nd and 3rd place “milk crates” were reversed. Charles finished 2nd and should have been on Max’s right-hand side. Perhaps just another quirk of the Sprint?
Simon
28th April 2022, 0:15
Another quirk was the two separate post-Sprint interviews – one by Davide Valsecchi then one by Naomi Schiff. Not sure what happened there, maybe Valsecchi’s for the circuit and Schiff’s for the TV broadcast?
PeterG
27th April 2022, 1:00
They should just put Indy 500 qualifying back to what it used to be.
Pole day on Saturday & Bump day on Sunday.
None of these top 9 shootouts ot last chance hour and the other stuff they keep trying to throw at it every few years. It’s just more confusing, Provides less interest & takes away all of the elements that used to make Indy qualifying so tense and thrilling on both pole & bump day.
The fact they have had to constantly mess with the format since they initially changed it a decade or so ago should be proof enough that the more traditional format was better as it stood and worked for decades with very little change and no complaints. It just worked perfectly and should never have been changed.
PeterG
27th April 2022, 1:12
And they should also stop allowing them multiple attempts with the 2 lines and they having the option to have a risk free run by keeping there initial time.
You go out and do a run, You complete the run and that time/car is locked in unless you get bumped. You wave the run off before taking the chequered flag you get another attempt but you can only do that twice. If you decide to have another go you have to withdraw your time/car and make the new attempt in the t-car.
That used to create a ton of jeapody as there was more pressure to get it right the 1st time. Now they can just keep doing runs so theres less pressure and less jeapody which has taken away a lot of the tension and excitement.
Plus the top 9 get another go in the shootout and they all get multiple runs anyway so its all been diluted down so much that its lost everything that made it so great to begin with.
S
27th April 2022, 3:20
And we should all go back to life as it was in 1950.
Right?
PeterG
27th April 2022, 11:21
Obviously not.
It’s just in this specific case the qualifying format as it was worked & was tense/exciting & that nothing they have tried since has worked anywhere near as well in that regard.
The fact they have had to keep changing it every few years on top of the fact there is less interest in Indy qualifying now than there was is proof that the changes haven’t been as good or worked as well as what they started with.
S
27th April 2022, 11:34
F1 changed their qualifying system multiple times too.
They could have left it alone, but instead they tried to find something that was even more appealing. Eventually, they did.
Indy is going through the same phase. They’ll eventually find something that strikes a satisfactory balance for viewers, competitors and stakeholders alike – and who knows, it may be substantially ‘better’ than what they had in the first place.
But they’d never know if they never changed anything.
Two things come to mind:
You can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. And,
You can’t please everybody.
On declining interest – motorsport globally is seeing declining interest, pretty much directly in line with declining interest in motoring.
The best they can do is try to slow the decline as much as possible, by trying to be as interesting an engaging as possible.
greasemonkey
27th April 2022, 15:35
No back to the 50’s for nostalgia’s sake, but sometimes sweet spots are found, sometimes by luck, sometimes by design, generations before now. The Marshall Superlead (Plexi); some dumb luck some design. Steering wheels. Wheels.
Sometimes it is best to grill a good steak as it has been done forever. Our ancestors had the same genes (and intelligence) as we do.
Indy 500 bump and pole day drama, wrt stories with humans doing human things, I think stuff like 1995 (where even Penske failed) is more compelling.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
27th April 2022, 9:26
They’re doing this as there is no bump day this year. They’re scrabbling around desperately trying to find a 33rd entry as the grid isn’t full yet. Everyone guaranteed to qualify.
This is an attempt to drum up alternative excitement to cover the loss of bump day.
GeeMac (@geemac)
27th April 2022, 8:04
Ah, Frentzen’s first win! As a lifelong fan of Williams and Damon Hill this was the most annoyed/conflicted I ever was after a Williams race win…I still don’t know how I feel about it to be honest.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
27th April 2022, 12:09
Do you know I don’t think I ever really forgave Williams for dropping Damon Hill. Especially once he was WDC. I thought it quite obvious that he was as good as or better than Frentzen. I thought then it was an act of treachery. I still do really and I have not ever seen Frank in the same light since.
Jere (@jerejj)
27th April 2022, 8:24
Maybe 2024, the planned season for the Andretti team entry.
The Best Car Web post on RBR’s struggles this season is good.
Qualifying could merely decide grid order for both Sprint & race simultaneously.
Nothing wrong with this option.
Stephen H
27th April 2022, 10:26
At least they’re not having an ‘Indy 100’ to determine the staring grid for the 500 …
S
27th April 2022, 12:27
Would it really be so bad if they did?
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
27th April 2022, 12:20
I sort of agree with COTD. I don’t like the sprint races really but if they have to stay (which seems is the case), then I would rather they were a standalone event that did not effect the main Sunday race at all.
I would still award them some points that contribute to the WDC and WCC standings but not have them effect the starting grid of the main race.
As @jerejj says above, a solution is that the qualifying session could set both grids. Or perhaps the top part of the grid for the sprint could be in reverse champ order, similar to F2.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
27th April 2022, 12:53
I meant reverse qualification order, not championship order!