Daniel Ricciardo open to NASCAR-style calendar for Formula 1 - MotorSportsTalk

Daniel Ricciardo is open to Formula 1 taking a leaf out of NASCAR’s book and fitting more races into a season in order to spend more time behind the wheel of his car.

2016 was the longest season in F1 history, featuring 21 races, but the sport’s new owner, Liberty Media, is thought to be considering an expansion to as many as 25 events per year.

NASCAR enjoys a more intense schedule that F1, fitting 36 rounds into a season that lasts from February to November and features very few rest weeks.

When asked if F1 should expand to have more races, Ricciardo was receptive of the idea, believing that the logistical challenge would be the biggest task for teams to grapple with.

“I think it depends on how they structure it. It’s not too many,” Ricciardo said of a potential 25-race calendar.

“NASCAR do 36 or something. It’s a lot but the travel’s a lot less because they’re just in the U.S. So, I think it depends logistically how they do it.

“I like racing. If it means just racing and no testing and less other stuff then… maybe. We spend more days in front of cameras and other things than actually behind the wheel of a racing car.

“I’d be open to the idea.”

Three-time world champion Lewis Hamilton echoed Ricciardo’s thoughts, but wants the weekend format to be shaken up to offer drivers some variety.

“I think if you asked any member of my team whether they’d want to do more races or less, they’d ask for more,” Hamilton said.

“It is definitely tough on the guys that are traveling but they love it. They’re addicted to it. They love motor racing. I’m like Daniel, I love racing.

“So I’m not opposed to more races but I think they’ve got to change the structure, at least on different weekends. If it’s the same four days for 25 races, I think that would be too much.

“If they spice it up and make a period during the season that’s perhaps more exciting than another, I think there’s a lot they can do.”

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel urged caution, though, believing that F1 has already hit its limit with a 20-race schedule for 2017.

“I think 25 is too many. I think 20 is enough, we don’t need more,” Vettel said.

“I think anything between 16 and 20 is the right number. Also, thinking of the efforts going in from the team point of view.

“For us it’s fairly easy, arriving more or less with hand luggage, doing the job and getting back. I think we’re on the better side. For a lot of the team, for the staff, it’s hard work.

“So, I think we are having enough races.”

Follow @LukeSmithF1

Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

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