2014 Malaysian Grand Prix preview

By Mar 27, 2014, 10:30 AM EDT
0 Comments

After a two week break, Formula 1 returns this weekend with the Malaysian Grand Prix as the first race in a double-header with the Bahrain Grand Prix. Following his dominant victory in Australia, Nico Rosberg is looking to equal his father’s tally of five grand prix victories this weekend, and it is hard to write off the German driver given the pace of the Mercedes W05 car.

However, Rosberg will have to be wary of the challenge posed by teammate Lewis Hamilton, who was forced to retire after just three laps in Australia due to an engine problem. The Briton will be looking to make up for lost time this weekend, as will defending world champion Sebastian Vettel following his own retirement down under.

You also have to consider the likes of Daniel Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas, Felipe Massa and Jenson Button as possible race winners, whilst rookie Kevin Magnussen will be hoping to build upon his second place finish in Australia.

Finally, there’s that ever-present factor in Malaysia: the weather. This race has always been held in monsoon season, meaning that rain can strike at any time.

2014 Malaysian Grand Prix – Talking Points

Just how quick is Mercedes?

How much has really changed in Formula 1 over the winter? Once again in Australia, a German driver won the race with relative ease (albeit in a different car… and it was a different German…). Nico Rosberg seem rather relaxed when winning the race down under, like it was a formality. Will he and teammate Lewis Hamilton enter battle with each other this weekend for the race win?

Rookies hope to continue good form

Having made their debuts in Australia, Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat will be hoping for more of the same after both scoring points at Albert Park. In second place, Magnussen claimed the best result for a driver on debut since 1996, whilst Kvyat picked up some good points in ninth place, and even hassled Kimi Raikkonen for position at one point. Marcus Ericsson’s debut ended prematurely due to an oil pressure problem, but he too will be encouraged by his maiden Formula 1 outing.

Can Red Bull bounce back from fuelgate?

Everything has a -gate nowadays, and this is no exception. Following Daniel Ricciardo’s disqualification from the Australian Grand Prix (which has been appealed), Red Bull needs a good weekend in Malaysia to avoid losing any more ground as the team bids for a fifth straight world title. The car is quick, certainly, but it needs to see the finish line if it is to give the team any points.

Bottas and Massa are the dark horses

With 19 overtakes, Valtteri Bottas provided a good chunk of the action in Australia, and it was a joy to watch him race. Had he not made contact with the wall when chasing Kimi Raikkonen, he may well have finished on the podium. Alongside teammate Felipe Massa (who retired at turn one), Bottas is a dark horse to give Williams a podium finish that would undoubtedly underline its pace for the coming year.

Honoring MH370

The Malaysian Grand Prix will be a rather subdued event this weekend following the recent disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. A number of teams will run with tributes on their cars, and a minute’s silence is expected to be held ahead of the race on Sunday.

Track: Sepang International Circuit, Sepang (5.3km)
Laps: 56
Corners: 15
Lap Record: Juan Pablo Montoya 1:34.223 (2004)
Tire Compounds: Medium (Option); Hard (Prime)
2013 Winner: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
2012 Pole Position: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
2012 Fastest Lap: Sergio Perez (McLaren) – 1:39.199
DRS Zones: Main straight (T15 to T1); T14 to T15

For the complete TV times and schedule, click here.

Roger Penske vows new downtown Detroit GP will be bigger than the Super Bowl for city

By Jun 1, 2023, 2:00 PM EDT
0 Comments

DETROIT – He helped spearhead bringing the town a Super Bowl 17 years ago, but Roger Penske believes the reimagined Chevrolet Detroit GP is his greatest gift to the Motor City.

“It’s bigger than the Super Bowl from an impact within the city,” Penske told NBC Sports. “Maybe not with the sponsors and TV, but for the city of Detroit, it’s bigger than the Super Bowl.

“We’ve got to give back individually and collectively, and I think we as a company in Michigan and in Detroit, it’s something we know how to do. It shows we’re committed. Someone needs to take that flag and run it down through town. And that’s what we’re trying to do as a company. We’re trying to give back to the city.”

After 30 years of being run on Belle Isle, the race course has been moved to a new nine-turn, 1.7-mile downtown layout that will be the centerpiece of an event weekend that is designed to promote a festival and community atmosphere.

There will be concerts in the adjacent Hart Plaza. Local businesses from Detroit’s seven districts have been invited to hawk their wares to new clientele. Boys and Girls Clubs from the city have designed murals that will line the track’s walls with images of diversity, inclusion and what Detroit means through the eyes of youth.

And in the biggest show of altruism, more than half the circuit will be open for free admission. The track is building 4-foot viewing platforms that can hold 150 people for watching the long Jefferson Avenue straightaway and other sections of the track.

Detroit GP chairman Bud Denker, a longtime key lieutenant across Penske’s various companies, has overseen more than $20 million invested in infrastructure.

The race is essentially Penske’s love letter to the city where he made much of his fame as one of Detroit’s most famous automotive icons, both as a captain of industry with a global dealership network and as a racing magnate (who just won his record 19th Indy 500 with Josef Newgarden breaking through for his first victory on the Brickyard oval).

During six decades in racing, Penske, 86, also has run many racetracks (most notably Indianapolis Motor Speedway but also speedways in Michigan, California and Pennsylvania), and much of that expertise has been applied in Detroit.

“And then the ability for us to reach out to our sponsor base, and then the business community, which Bud is tied in with the key executives in the city of Detroit, bringing them all together,” Penske said. “It makes a big difference.

“The Super Bowl is really about the people that fly in for the Super Bowl. It’s a big corporate event, and the tickets are expensive. And the TV is obviously the best in the world. What we’ve done is taken that same playbook but made it important to everyone in Detroit. Anyone that wants to can come to the race for free, can stand on a platform or they can buy a ticket and sit in the grandstands or be in a suite. It’s really multiple choice, but it is giving it to the city of Detroit. I think it’s important when you think of these big cities across the country today that are having a lot of these issues.”

Denker said the Detroit Grand Prix is hoping for “an amazingly attended event” but is unsure of crowd estimates with much of the track offering free viewing. The race easily could handle a crowd of at least 50,000 daily (which is what the Movement Music Festival draws in Hart Plaza) and probably tens of thousands more in a sprawling track footprint along the city’s riverwalk.

Penske is hoping for a larger crowd than Belle Isle, which was limited to about 30,000 fans daily because of off-site parking and restricted fan access at a track that was located in a public park.

The downtown course will have some unique features, including a “split” pit lane on an all-new concrete (part of $15 million spent on resurfaced roads, new barriers and catchfencing … as well as 252 manhole covers that were welded down).

A $5 million, 80,000-square-foot hospitality chalet will be located adjacent to the paddock and pit area. The two-story structure, which was imported from the 16th hole of the Waste Management Open in Phoenix, will offer 70 chalets (up from 23 suites at Belle Isle last year). It was built by InProduction, the same company that installed the popular HyVee-branded grandstands and suites at Iowa Speedway last year.

Penske said the state, city, county and General Motors each owned parts of the track, and their cooperation was needed to move streetlights and in changing apexes of corners. Denker has spent the past 18 months meeting with city council members who represent Detroit’s seven districts, along with Mayor Mike Duggan. Penske said the local support could include an appearance by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Witmer.

Denker and Detroit GP  president Michael Montri were inspired to move the Detroit course downtown after attending the inaugural Music City Grand Prix in Nashville, Tennessee.

“We saw what an impact it made on that city in August of 2021 and we came back from there and said boy could it ever work to bring it downtown in Detroit again,” Denker said. “We’ve really involved the whole community of Detroit, and the idea of bringing our city together is what the mayor and city council and our governor are so excited about. The dream we have is now coming to fruition.

“When you see the infrastructure downtown and the bridges over the roads we’ve built and the graphics, and everything is centered around the Renaissance Center as your backdrop, it’s just amazing.”