Bourdais Wins in Montreal

Sebastian Bourdais won the rain delayed Champ Car race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal on Monday.  It looks like Bourdais, with Newman-Haas power, will win his third champ car title. Isn't it about time for Bourdais to drive for Renault in F1? Bourdais was happy.  This quote courtesy of Yahoo/AP:

It was a hell of a day for the championship,'' the jubilant Bourdais said Monday after winning the Montreal Grand Prix while his closest pursuers in the points failed to finish.

IRL in Wine Country

We had to go to the grocery store yesterday afternoon so I missed what was probably the best race of the weekend. Marco Andretti won the race. He may have done it under dubious circumstances.

The story goes like this: In the final laps of the race, Marco was leading but was running short on fuel.  He desperately needed a caution period to slow the field so he could save fuel. It so happens that his teammate, Brian Herta, spun bringing out the yellow flag.

Can it be proven that Herta spun on purpose? No. Oh well, a win is a win.

Just last week I was chuckling at Marco's statement that he wants to be a better driver than his father and grandfather.  Better than Mario Andretti? We shall see.

Next Race - Sunday September 1 Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet, Illinois

Champ Car Rain Out

The Champ Cars were rained out yesterday in Montreal.  They are expecting to run the race today.  The highlight of yesterday was Paul Tracy showing up dressed like a Mexican wrestler. It was hilarious.

You may hate Paul Tracy or love Paul Tracy but you have to admit.  He seems to have a sense of humor.  Sometimes he's pretty funny.  His antics are clean, in good taste, self-deprecating, and good for Champ Car.

Next race - September 24, Road America, Elkhart Lake Wisconsin.

Turkey Grand Prix

Another Grand Prix and we are really no closer to knowing who will be the world's champion.

It was a great day for Felipe Massa who won his first Grand Prix race.  It's beginning to look better for Ferrari's chances to win the manufacturer's title.  I would like to know what happened when both Ferraris came in for a pit stop after the safety car came out.  What were they thinking? That one bone-headed move may cost Schumacher the championship.

I must admit, it does make for a more exciting championship when it comes down to the end of the season and the contestants are still close in points.

Next race - September 1 Monza, Italy

Most Obvious Headline

Here's the most obvious headline I've ever read.

"Michelin critical of Bridgestone"

Really! No Shit?

Me and Jenson Button

Formula One Driver Jenson Button and Chris Howell

Before the memory fades ... I wanted to post the picture of me and Hungarian Grand Prix winner Jenson Button.

This picture is from the 2000 United States Grand Prix when Jenson (I call him Jenson) was driving for Williams.

F1 News Bits

I have been neglecting my blogging duties recently for a variety of reasons but mainly because I just sold my good ol' Porsche 914. Oh well, good bye and good riddance. Anyway, here are a few news bits from around the world of F1.

• The German press reported Wednesday that Mercedes intends to buy McLaren and that the deal has already been done but not announced.


• Villeneuve is out of a job. He must believe his career in Formula One is over because he's not afraid to burn bridges and badmouth others. He called Michael Schumacher "bland and a liar". Bland? Is that the best he could come up with? Accusing someone of not being exciting? That's the pot calling the kettle black.


• Like a little boy who has run away from home, Bernie Ecclestone thinks J.P. Montoya will be back in F1.


• F1 will be back at Indianapolis for at least 2007. Why a one year deal? Tony George gave some lame excuse about there being no Concorde Agreement for 2008 or something.


• And fianally, rumors swirled earlier this week that it would be a Schumacher-Raikkonen driving team at Ferrari for both 2007 and 2008. All will be revealed by season's end with some info about Schumacher's future being unveiled at the Monza race.  Funny thing - the rumors have died down by weeks end.

Be sure to watch the next race in Turkey coming up August 27th.

Wild Hungary

Well, I must say that the Hungarian Grand Prix was the most interesting of the season.

First, Alonso and Schumacher were penalized 2 seconds for being bad boys during qualifying.  I can see a monetary fine, but time off qualifying?

The mysterious disappearance of Villeneuve and the appearance of Kubica was strange.  The excuse was that Villenueve was still smarting from a wreck a week ago. That sent up a red flag

Then, there was rain to put everyone off their strategies. The first thing I thought was Schumacher would do well in the wet.  He always does. Both Schumacher and Alonso moved up fast after the start.  Then Michael and Massa started going backwards.  I was horrified. The intermediate Bridgestones were failing miserably in the rain. Would it rain harder?  Would the rain stop?  Who had the stones to go to full dry tires.

Scott Speed tried it and promptly came back in for intermediates. It looked like Raikonnen and Barrichello would run away from the field and finish one-two. An unusual error for Renault when Alonso's wheel nut came off.

With ten laps to go, Schumacher was fighting off De LaRosa for second spot. I  thought he could hold on but not so.  Schumacher risked penalties for blocking, but then let Pedro by. Then, it appeared that Schumacher's steering went out, giving him a DNF with no points.

Then finally, the dramatic first win for Jenson Button.  Especially sweet after his poor 19th place finish in the French GP.  He was really happy.

Even after the race the drama continued. Kubica's car was disqualified for being underweight, giving Michael one point.  It was announced that BMW has let Villenueve go, giving the seat to Kubica for the rest of the season.

Report: Brawn to Retire

Reports say Ferrari Technical Director Ross Brawn is set to retire at the end of the season.  If so, that will probably be the end of the "age of Ferrari" in Formula One.

This from Yahoo Formula One: 

The Guardian in England claims that the 51-year-old's departure will be permanent; a prospect that will further stir speculation that the current Ferrari era is drawing to a close with the possibly concurrent withdrawals of Michael Schumacher and Jean Todt.'