It’s another ‘twofer,’ with two weeks in one report. Things are really busy at Inside Track World Headquarters as they are putting together the Motorama Custom Car & Motorsports Expo, taking place March 7, 8 & 9, 2025 at the Toronto International Centre. It promises to be bigger and better than ever. BE THERE!
In other Motorama news, if you won a season-long championship in 2024 competing in a weekly division or touring series (short track, drag racing, road racing or karting) you’re eligible to celebrated during the Fast Eddie Night of Champions at Motorama. The event takes place Saturday, March 8 at Motorama. Watch www.MotoramaShow.com in the next few days to register.
Starting with last week’s Formula One Qatar GP. With a Sprint race, there was only one free practice session. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) topped the two McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) was seventh, while his teammate Fernando Alonso was 12th. Max Verstappen (Red Bull), the 2024 champion, was 11th.
In qualifying for Saturday’s Sprint race, Norris topped the charts, ahead of George Russell (Mercedes) and Piastri. Stroll was 14th.
The Sprint race went green to checkered with no yellows or incidents over the 19 laps. However, despite the FIA declaring that team orders are illegal, Norris pulled over just before the line to let Piastri take the win, with Russell third. The team orders were that Norris NOT relinquish the lead. Funny how that worked out. Stroll finished 13th.
In Saturday qualifying for the Sunday race, Verstappen won the pole over Russell and Norris. Stroll qualified 15th.
Well, that didn’t take long. On the first lap, Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) got into Esteban Ocon (Alpine), who then took out Franco Colapinto (Williams), resulting in a full-course yellow. Stroll was also involved, resulting in a spin, but kept going before pitting for tires. The green came back out on Lap 5. Lewis Hamilton was noted for jumping the start but his in-car camera appeared to show that he moved after the car in front of him moved first.
On Lap 34, both Hamilton and Carlos Sainz appeared to have run over debris, with both cars showing sparks from underneath; the safety car was then deployed.
It was just a little late, as the debris had been spotted on about Lap 32. More ‘race direction’ concerns? On Lap 40, Hulkenberg landed in the gravel trap and Sergio Perez lost hydraulic power, resulting in another safety car.
At the flag, it was Verstappen over Leclerc and Piastri. Stroll finished 18th.
Now onto Sunday’s Formula One Abu Dhabi GP, the season finale. In free practice one (FP1), Leclerc was quickest; in FP2, Norris prevailed; and in FP3, Piastri was atop the charts.
The abject stupidity of the Stewards Program once again raised its ugly head in qualifying. Two cars had their laps deleted for their brain dead ‘track limits’ violations. Then, wait for it, BOTH cars had their times reinstated. PLEASE make it stop!!
In qualifying, the McLarens of Norris and Piastri claimed the front row, ahead of the Ferrari of Sainz. Other notables were Verstappen fifth, Russell seventh and Hamilton, in his last drive in a Mercedes, 18th. Stroll qualified 13th.
Hamilton ran over a ‘bollard’ (looked like a pool noodle to me!) kicked loose by Magnussen, who had moved over to give Lewis room. Hamilton stated that the bollard killed his ground force and ruined his lap. His team apologized for sending him out so late in the round. Several penalties juggled the starting order.
On the initial start, Verstappen drove deep under Piastri and made contact, spinning both cars. As a result, Max was deemed to be the aggressor and was thus penalized 10 seconds. Later on that same lap, Valtteri Bottas got into Perez, spinning the other Red Bull. Piastri pitted to replace a damaged tire and, on pit out, he contacted the Williams of Colapinto and was penalized 10 seconds. I found it interesting that, on Lap 13, the seven cars still running back were all on hard tires.
On Lap 32, Bottas overcooked the corner, running into and spinning Magnussen, which resulted in a flat right-front tire on the Bottas car. On the last lap, the RB of Liam Lawson came to a stop just off track with what appeared to be a blown engine.
At the flag, it was Norris over the two Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc. Hamilton finished a very impressive fourth. In the Drivers’ Championship, Verstappen won by 63 points over Norris and by 81 over Leclerc. In the Constructors’ Championship, McLaren won by only 14 over Ferrari and by 77 atop Red Bull.
Snowball Derby: In qualifying for the race, 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Ty Majeski nabbed the pole. Canadians were well represented; Treyten Lapcevich timed 13th, Cole Butcher was 15th and Cayden Lapcevich was 27th. All three were able to start the main.
Kyle Steckly timed at 32nd and had to run the non-qualifiers race. Unfortunately, he was not able to advance to the 400-lapper. At the flag, it was Kaden Honeycutt over Snowball 100 winner Stephen Nasse and polesitter Majeski. As for the Canadians, Butcher finished 20th, Treyten was 28th and Cayden was 35th.
Snowball 100: In qualifying, Canadian Chase Pinsonneault started 22nd of the 45 cars that timed. In the race, he got spun but still managed to finish 19th. The race was won by Stephen Nasse over Matthew Craig and Seth Christensen. Hard to believe but Bubba Pollard finished dead last. Tough race.
Drag Illustrated Winter Series: In qualifying for Pro Mod at Bradenton, there were 65 cars attempting to qualify for the 32-car field; NHRA, are you paying attention? Your feeble attempts to get, maybe, 16 Pro Stocks and even fewer in the Factory Stock and Factory X classes could be replaced with Pro Mod. Different motors, different combinations, different bodies, everything that NHRA was created for. And, the real shocker, there was only 0.056 seconds between 1st and 32nd!!
Mark Micke was number one, with a 3.591 at 218.87. There were four Canadians entered. Kenny Lang was 15th, with a 3.624; last year’s winner Spencer Hyde was 22nd, with a 3.636; and Jay Santos was 29th, with a 3.632. Quebec racer Pierre Chicoine was 57th, with a 3.825, and did not make the show. STOUT numbers all around. This year’s NHRA Top Fuel champion Antron Brown was 42nd and not in the show, with a 3.673 in his first attempt with a Pro Mod.
Hyde was the only one of the three to advance out of Round One, with a 3.634. Hyde evened the score with Erica Enders in round two, running a 3.640 (.025 light) to a 3.648 (.080 light). Sadly, Hyde lost in round three to Kye Kelley – 3.626 (.013) to a 3.624 (.028). In the final, Kelley defeated Ken Quaruccio 3.594 (.033) to a 3.688 (.022). Good race.
Enders and Hyde held a match race on Friday; they left the line side-by-side and Erica prevailed, with a 3.634 (.032 light) to a 3.653 (.033 light).
News and Notes:
It appears that FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem has fired another top official. The senior steward responsible for the United States, Tim Mayer, was fired by text message. Tim is the son of McLaren founder Teddy Mayer. One of the reasons suggested has been the early spectator entry onto the track at the COTA race. This follows the earlier dismissal of Race Director Niels Wittich, just before the Las Vegas race. As well, F2 Race Director Janette Tan, who replaced incoming F1 Race Director Rui Marques, was also fired before Qatar, meaning Marques would have to run both races there. There have been several other dismissals from the FIA of late. At Qatar, George Russell asked “which official will be ‘getting fired’ next.” Maybe the wrong people are being forced to ‘walk the plank’?
In response to legitimate questions regarding what’s happening with all the firings of late, Ben Sulayem haughtily replied ‘none of their business’. Really? It IS their business. How does this guy keep his job? What is wrong with the rest of the board?
Sadly, the FIA is dropping the Dutch Grand Prix from their schedule after 2026. This, perhaps, to make room for races where there are very, very few real fans.
Sad. I guess they go to where the money is?
Apparently Max Verstappen felt that George Russell had complained to the stewards about him at Qatar. It seems that Max slowed in front of George in qualifying, costing George a shot at the pole. As a result, Max was penalized and dropped to second, giving George the pole. Russell reported that Max yelled at him and threatened to ‘put you on your f****** head in the wall.’ Oops.
NASCAR has asked a court to dismiss the lawsuits brought by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports. If I was a betting man, I would bet that NASCAR’s lawyers can ‘out-lawyer’ the teams’ lawyers! In my opinion, it is time to sign the charter agreements and focus on racing and winning, not lawsuits. How embarrassing would it be for one of their cars to not qualify for the Daytona 500 because of some fluke thing and, as a non-charter team, they would not get in automatically? How much money would their sponsor(s) pull back? Hmmm.
NASCAR has announced that the 2025 Clash being held next year at Bowman-Gray Stadium, in Winston-Salem, NC, is already sold out. A much smarter location than the L.A. Coliseum in my opinion. Tremendous cost savings for all the teams involved.
In his ‘State of the Sport’ speech at Phoenix, NASCAR president Steve Phelps commented that they are in negotiations with two new manufacturers interested in joining the series. Here’s hoping.
Any comments can be sent to Dave Mathers via email at motionman@rogers.com or by Facebook Messenger.
