Silly season sorting itself out with Massa official, Magnussen close - MotorSportsTalk

As Formula One heads to the Americas for the final two rounds of the 2013 season, the 2014 silly season dealings are heating up.

The news Felipe Massa has landed with Williams is a good move for all parties. It keeps a Brazilian, and a popular one at that, on the grid. It gives teammate Valtteri Bottas an experienced driver to learn from and help guide the team’s setup direction. It also eliminates the consternation regarding the Venezuelan sponsorship dollars brought by Pastor Maldonado, given the investigation into that country’s funding of racing drivers.

Maldonado has been linked to Lotus for some time and if the situation is as dire there as it appears from the Kimi Raikkonen payment saga, his financial package could be too attractive for the team to turn down.

Elsewhere, McLaren’s lineup may be fluid as well with the possibility Kevin Magnussen replaces Sergio Perez, and as it turns out, multiple media outlets have said it’s a done deal.

Lotus is the last top-flight outfit to confirm its 2014 driver lineup. If talent was the only deciding factor, Nico Hulkenberg would already be signed. If it comes down to dollars, Maldonado enters the equation. Assuming reserve driver Davide Valsecchi gets his rightful promotion for the last two Grands Prix (we’d have to expect news within the next 24 hours on this), and does well, he could be in play.

Assuming that happens, you’d have four of the top five teams on the grid this year with at least one new driver entering in 2014; only Mercedes would carry its 2013 lineup over. And Perez has shown enough within his first three seasons to deserve a spot on merit, even though his financial package could help a team struggling in that department.

A similar situation may present itself for the second half of the field. Force India hasn’t made specific overtones about its direction but if the team fails to keep both its 2013 drivers, the potential exists that only Marussia would have the same lineup year-to-year.

Toro Rosso has already signed Daniil Kvyat. Sergey Sirotkin, the Russian teenager, is set for Sauber once he gets his superlicense, and Caterham may bring Heikki Kovalainen back in place of Charles Pic alongside Giedo van der Garde.

More of the 2014 grid should sort out before the holidays get going.

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INDIANAPOLIS – Roger Penske spoke with Dallara executives Monday morning about the loose tire that went flying over the Indianapolis Motor Speedway catchfence and into a Turn 2 parking lot.

The left-rear wheel from Kyle Kirkwood’s No. 27 Dallara-Honda was sheared off in a collision at speed as Kirkwood tried to avoid the skidding No. 6 Dallara-Chevrolet of Felix Rosenqvist on Lap 183 of the 107^th Indianapolis 500.

No one seriously was hurt in the incident (including Kirkwood, whose car went upside down and slid for several hundred feet), though an Indianapolis woman’s Chevy Cruze was struck by the tire. The Indy Star reported a fan was seen and released from the care center after sustaining minor injuries from flying debris in the crash.

During a photo shoot Monday morning with Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden at the IMS Yard of Bricks, Penske met with Dallara founder and owner Gian Paolo Dallara and Dallara USA CEO Stefano dePonti. The Italian company has been the exclusive supplier of the current DW12 chassis to the NTT IndyCar series for 11 years.

“The good news is we didn’t have real trouble with that tire going out (of the track),” Penske, who bought Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2020, told a few reporters shortly afterward. “I saw it hit. When it went out, I saw we were OK. I talked to the Dallara guys today. We’re going to look at that, but I guess the shear (force) from when (Rosenqvist’s) car was sitting, (Kirkwood’s car) went over and just that shear force tore that tether. Because we have tethers on there, and I’ve never seen a wheel come off.

“That to me was probably the scariest thing. We’ve got to fix that. We’ve got to fix that so that doesn’t happen again.”

Asked by NBC Sports if IndyCar would be able to address it before Sunday’s Detroit Grand Prix or before the next oval race at Iowa Speedway, Penske said, “The technical guys should look at it. I think the speed here, a couple of hundred (mph) when you hit it vs. 80 or 90 or whatever it might be, but that was a pinch point on the race.”

In a statement released Monday to WTHR and other media outlets, IndyCar said that it was “in possession of the tire in Sunday’s incident and found that the tether did not fail. This is an isolated incident, and the series is reviewing to make sure it does not happen again. IndyCar takes the safety of the drivers and fans very seriously. We are pleased and thankful that no one was hurt.”

IndyCar provided no further explanation for how the wheel was separated from the car without the tether failing.

IndyCar began mandating wheel suspension tethers using high-performance Zylon material after a flying tire killed three fans at Charlotte Motor Speedway during a May 1, 1999 race. Three fans also were struck and killed by a tire at Michigan International Speedway during a July 26, 1998 race.

The IndyCar tethers can withstand a force of more than 22,000 pounds, and the rear wheel tethers were strengthened before the 2023 season.