Alonso discovers an F1 take on Ellen’s Oscar “Selfie”

By Mar 3, 2014, 11:12 AM EST
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At last night’s Academy Awards in Hollywood, “Rush” was shut out of any nominations, which would seem to remove any racing element of the show. That said, Chris Hemsworth (James Hunt) still appeared as a presenter, and Leonardo DiCaprio has an FIA Formula E team he can still win with since he lost out for Best Actor to Matthew McConaughey.

Perhaps the biggest moment of the show though was when Oscar host Ellen DeGeneres got together with a number of A-list celebrities and took a “selfie.” That selfie generated more than 2 million retweets on Twitter, to become the most tweet retweeted of all-time.

And in the hours since, that selfie has generated hundreds of memes, where other faces are plastered onto the celebrities.

It’s at this point we show you that Fernando Alonso discovered a meme where F1 drivers’ faces are on the celebrities, originating from Twitter user @EvenstarSaima.

Those featured include Lotus’ pair of Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean, both looking pained. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo are on as well, with their facial expressions providing a good representation of their preseason struggles.

Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez of Force India have grumpy faces, odd considering Force India’s considerable pace in testing. Meanwhile Mercedes factory drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton look happy, again, which would match how well their preseason testing went. Hamilton’s bulldog Roscoe appears nearby.

Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen appear as well, Alonso of course with his famous “selfie” taken from the Italian Grand Prix to capture the “tifosi” Photoshopped in. Williams’ Felipe Massa rounds out the lineup.

Kudos to Alonso for discovering it and props to @EvenstarSaima for the creation.

IndyCar disappointed by delay of video game but aiming to launch at start of 2024

By Mar 27, 2023, 3:00 PM EDT
IndyCar video game 2024
IndyCar
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An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”