MotorSportsTalk’s Predictions: Italian GP

By Sep 4, 2014, 11:30 AM EDT
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Formula 1 ventures to the spiritual home of motorsport in Italy this weekend at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, based on the outskirts of Milan.

This race is one of the most famous in the history of the sport, having appeared on all but one of the F1 schedules since 1950. It will also see the loyal Tifosi come through its gates to cheer on the Ferrari team, even if its hopes of claiming the race win on Sunday may be shot down by two Silver Arrows.

Following their public fall-out at Monza, will Lewis Hamilton and championship leader Nico Rosberg patch things up? Or could it get out of hand on track for the second weekend in a row? Here’s what the MotorSportsTalk writing team had to say on the matter ahead of F1’s return to ‘la pista magica’ – ‘the magic track’, Monza.

Luke Smith (@LukeSmithF1)

Race winner: Lewis Hamilton. It’s a toss of a coin picking between Hamilton and Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg once again. Both will be charged up to hit back following a nightmarish weekend at Spa, but you can expect Hamilton to dial his car in and gun for a second victory at Monza.

Surprising finish: Kimi Raikkonen. As we saw at Spa, Kimi’s still got it. He may not say much, but the flying Finn still has the same fire and pace that won him the title back in 2007. Ferrari must impress at its home race, but it isn’t all about Fernando Alonso, you know…

Most to prove: Mercedes. Quite simply: “Did you drivers listen to you when you said ‘no more contact’?” If the answer is no, we will find out at the first chicane on Sunday at Monza. The battle of Spa may be over, but the war has only just begun.

Tony DiZinno (@tonydizinno)

Race winner: Nico Rosberg. Mercedes has lost two in a row and it’s not going to be three at a track where power is everything. Rosberg puts the drama of the last two weeks since Spa behind him and returns to the top.

Surprising finish: Fernando Alonso. Alonso’s giant-killing ability with the Ferrari chassis continues to be a storyline, and what better way for him to continue his season than with a podium at the spiritual home of the Scuderia. A win would rank up with Ferrari’s 1988 Monza triumph in the pantheon of upsets… it also has about as much chance happening as that 1988 race. And Jean-Louis Schlesser isn’t making a comeback…

Most to prove: Pastor Maldonado. If for no other reason than you seem to read about him crashing at least once every race weekend. Yes, points are unlikely for Lotus this weekend, but a simple, trouble-free weekend would be nice to see.

Christopher Estrada (@estradawriting)

Race winner: Lewis Hamilton. The Brit won’t be lacking motivation this weekend at Monza, that’s for sure. And having not won since Silverstone, he’s due as well. The World Championship battle between he and Rosberg will tighten up a bit again.

Surprising finish: Kimi Raikkonen. A fourth place result at Belgium was promising, but now Raikkonen must make the tifosi happy at Ferrari’s spiritual home. Many expect teammate Fernando Alonso to lead the Scuderia’s charge here, but I have a feeling that Raikkonen will finally earn his first podium of 2014.

Most to prove: Sebastian Vettel. Mercedes dominated the headlines even though they didn’t win. And the guy that did win was Vettel’s teammate, Daniel Ricciardo – who’s now up 3-0 on victories this season. The German’s been missing from the podium since Canada – he needs to get back on it this weekend and reclaim some of the spotlight for himself.

Jerry Bonkowski (@JerryBonkowski)

Race winner: Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard could finally break through with his first win of the season this week. He’ll have a tough battle with points leaders Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, but this one goes to Alonso. It doesn’t hurt that he’s in a Ferrari and in the red horse’s home country, either.

Surprising finish: Jenson Button. JB has had an uncharacteristically and surprisingly dismal campaign in 2014. At this point, we would thought he’d have had a better year than he has had. He’s due for a decent finish, and this weekend could finally give him that. It may not be a podium finish, but it’ll be close.

Most to prove: Lewis Hamilton. Being ranked second in the standings, you’d think Lewis Hamilton would have very little to prove. But if has hopes of still winning the F1 title, he has to overtake Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg by season’s end. To do that, Hamilton has to get moving – and moving fast.

Strong rebounds for Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi amid some disappointments in the Indy 500

By May 28, 2023, 10:00 PM EDT
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INDIANAPOLIS – Alex Palou had not turned a wheel wrong the entire Month of May at the Indy 500 until Rinus VeeKay turned a wheel into the Chip Ganassi Racing pole-sitter leaving pit road on Lap 94.

“There is nothing I could have done there,” Palou told NBC Sports. “It’s OK, when it is my fault or the team’s fault because everybody makes mistakes. But when there is nothing, you could have done differently there, it feels bad and feels bad for the team.”

Marcus Ericsson was a master at utilizing the “Tail of the Dragon” move that breaks the draft of the car behind him in the closing laps to win last year’s Indianapolis 500. On Sunday, however, the last of three red flags in the final 16 laps of the race had the popular driver from Sweden breathing fire after Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden beat him at his own game on the final lap to win the Indianapolis 500.

Despite the two disappointments, team owner Chip Ganassi was seen on pit road fist-bumping a member on his four-car team in this year’s Indianapolis 500 after his drivers finished second, fourth, sixth and seventh in the tightly contested race.

Those are pretty good results, but at the Indianapolis 500, there is just one winner and 32 losers.

“There is only one winner, but it was a hell of a show,” three-time Indianapolis 500 winner and Chip Ganassi Racing consultant Dario Franchitti told NBC Sports. “Alex was very fast, and he got absolutely caught out in somebody else’s wreck. There was nothing he could have done, but he and the 10 car, great recovery.

“Great recovery by all four cars because at half distance, we were not looking very good.”

After 92 laps, the first caution flew for Sting Ray Robb of Dale Coyne Racing hitting the Turn 1 wall.

During pit stops on Lap 94, Palou had left his stall when the second-place car driven by VeeKay ran into him, putting Palou’s Honda into the wall. The car sustained a damaged front wing, but the Chip Ganassi crew was able to get him back in the race on the lead lap but in 28th position.

Palou ultimately would fight his way to a fourth-place finish in a race the popular Spaniard could have won. His displeasure with VeeKay, whom he sarcastically called “a legend” on his team radio after the incident, was evident.

“The benefit of being on pole is you can drive straight and avoid crashes, and he was able to crash us on the side on pit lane, which is pretty tough to do, but he managed it,” Palou told NBC Sports. “Hopefully next year we are not beside him. Hopefully, next year we have a little better luck.”

Palou started on the pole and led 36 laps, just three fewer than race leader Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren Racing.

“We started really well, was managing the fuel as we wanted, our car was pretty good,” Palou said. “Our car wasn’t great, we dropped to P4 or P5, but we still had some good stuff.

“On the pit stop, the 21 (VeeKay) managed to clip us. Nothing we could have done there. It was not my team’s fault or my fault.

“We had to drop to the end. I’m happy we made it back to P4. We needed 50 more laps to make it happen, but it could have been a lot worse after that contact.

“I learned a lot, running up front at the beginning and in mid-pack and then the back. I learned a lot.

“It feels amazing when you win it and not so good when things go wrong. We were a bit lucky with so many restarts at the end to make it back to P4 so I’m happy with that.”

Palou said the front wing had to be changed and the toe-in was a bit off, but he still had a fast car.

In fact, his Honda was the best car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway all month. His pole-winning four lap average speed of 234.217 miles per hour around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a record for this fabled race.

Palou looked good throughout the race, before he had to scratch and claw and race his way back to the top-five after he restarted 28th.

In the Indianapolis 500, however, the best car doesn’t always win.

“It’s two years in a row that we were leading the race at the beginning and had to drop to last,” Palou said. “Maybe next year, we will start in the middle of the field and go on to win the race.

“I know he didn’t do it on purpose. It’s better to let that pass someday.”

Palou said the wild racing at the end was because the downforce package used in Sunday’s race means the drivers have to be aggressive. The front two cars can battle for the victory, but cars back in fourth or fifth place can’t help determine the outcome of the race.

That is when the “Tail of the Dragon” comes into the play.

Franchitti helped celebrate Ericsson’s win in 2022 with his “Tail of the Dragon” zigzag move – something he never had to do in any of his three Indianapolis 500 victories because they all finished under caution.

In 2023, however, IndyCar Race Control wants to make every attempt to finish the race under green, without going past the scheduled distance like NASCAR’s overtime rule.

Instead of extra laps, they stop the race with a red flag, to create a potential green-flag finish condition.

“You do what you have to do to win within the rules, and it’s within the rules, so you do it,” Franchitti said. “The race is 200 laps and there is a balance.

“Marcus did a great job on that restart and so did Josef. It was just the timing of who was where and that was it.

“If you knew it was going to go red, you would have hung back on the lap before.

“Brilliant job by the whole Ganassi organization because it wasn’t looking very good at half-distance.

“Full marks to Josef Newgarden and Team Penske.”

Franchitti is highly impressed by how well Ericsson works with CGR engineer Brad Goldberg and how close this combination came to winning the Indianapolis 500 two-years-in-a-row.

It would have been the first back-to-back Indy 500 winner since Helio Castroneves in 2001 and 2002.

“Oh, he’s a badass,” Franchitti said Ericsson. “He proved it last year. He is so calm all day. What more do you need? As a driver, he’s fast and so calm.”

Ericsson is typically in good spirits and jovial.

He was stern and direct on pit road after the race.

“I did everything right, I did an awesome restart, caught Josef off-guard and pulled away,” Ericsson said on pit lane. “It’s hard to pull away a full lap and he got me back.

“I’m mostly disappointed with the way he ended. I don’t think it was fair and safe to do that restart straight out of the pits on cold tires for everyone.

“To me, it was not a good way to end that race.

“Congrats to Josef. He didn’t do anything wrong. He is a worthy champion, but it shouldn’t have ended like that.”

Palou also didn’t understand the last restart, which was a one-start showdown.

“I know that we want to finish under green,” Palou said. “Maybe the last restart I did, I didn’t understand. It didn’t benefit the CGR team.

“I’m not very supportive of the last one, but anyway.”

Dixon called the red flags “a bit sketchy.”

“The Red Flags have become a theme to the end of the race, but sometimes they can catch you out,” Dixon said. “I know Marcus is frustrated with it.

“All we ask for is consistency. I think they will do better next time.

“It’s a tough race. People will do anything they can to win it and with how these reds fall, you have to be in the right place at the right time. The problem is when they throw a Red or don’t throw a Red dictates how the race will end.

“It’s a bloody hard race to win. Congrats to Josef Newgarden and to Team Penske.”

Follow Bruce Martin on Twitter at @BruceMartin_500