This is one of those great racing weekends where no matter what your preferred form of competitive driving in circles is, there is something for you to watch (provided you have the right extended cable package). MotoGP is racing at Circuit of the Americas, Formula 1 is in China, NASCAR is at Texas Motor Speedway, and the WEC makes it's season debut at Silverstone. There's a lot of different story lines that are going to be going on this weekend, but here are three that I am going to be looking at.
WEC: Whose Got the Speed?
Nissan has without a doubt stolen the headlines in this year's WEC preseason. First, everyone marveled at the car's incredible specifications and convention defying design, and then everyone watched the train wreck as Nissan encountered one problem after another. Unfortunately Nissan won't be racing their monstrosity...I mean innovative...LMP1 car at Silverstone this weekend. Audi, Porsche and Toyota however have quietly been toiling away over the winter to make their cars faster. Silverstone is going to be our first chance to really see where the manufacturers stack up against each other. A couple weeks ago I predicted that, on paper, Porsche looks like they have the fastest car. While Porsche did show good speed in Friday practice, Audi (who I thought would have this years slowest car not named Nissan), topped the lap charts. It's going to be really interesting seeing who has the fastest car over the course of a six hour race, and by association, the early favorite for Le Mans.
And for the first time in the United States, will get to see this battle live on TV. Provided you have Fox Sports 1.
IndyCar: Those Aero Kits Really Do Fly (Off the Cars that Is)
The story at the IndyCar debut in St. Petersburg was all about the new aero kits. Specifically how Chevrolet seemed to put together a much stronger package then Honda, as well as the fact that all those winglets, flicks, flaps and fuzzy dice want to fly off the car if you so much as look at them harsh. While it sounds like I'm making light of the fragile nature of this year's cars, the debris really is a serious issue since a fan was injured at St. Petersburg when she was hit by a flying piece of a car. IndyCar has already demanded an increase in strength from the aero kits, and the drivers will begin to adapt to cars that don't allow for any contact, so I expect the flying winglets to become less of a story as time goes on. The thing to look for is whether or not Chevrolet can continue their on track dominance. We still haven't seen the speedway aero kits (we'll need to wait for Indianapolis for that), but the road course/street course/short oval track is the kit we'll be seeing the most of this year. If the Chevrolet aero kit continues to show superior performance at New Orleans Motorsports Park, it may turn into a very long year for the Honda teams.
Speaking of New Orleans Motorsports Parks, this will be the first time the IndyCars will race at NOLA, so if your looking for something completely new this weekend, IndyCar is the race for you.
Formula 1: Was Ferrari's Malaysia Win a Formula One Trick Pony?
Since the first preseason test session, everyone and their mother has been looking at Ferrari's lap times and say "yeah their fast...but..." Preseason testing lap times and early race results suggest that Ferrari is best positioned to challenge Mercedes, as Williams looks on saying "wasn't that supposed to be us?" and McLaren and Red Bull wonder why their cars won't work this week.
After Ferrari won in Malaysia, a lot of people in the racing press were saying that while Ferrari should be congratulated for winning, they wouldn't be able to back it up in China. To that I say, so what? I don't want to see Ferrari replace Mercedes as the dominate team, I want to see Ferrari race Mercedes. Still, Ferrari is in a bit of a tough situation this weekend. On the merits, they have the slower car, but after Malaysia they have a ton of pressure on them to out perform Mercedes. If they don't have a strong showing this weekend, their Malaysia win will be written off as Mercedes losing, not Ferrari winning, which really isn't fair to Ferrari. Like I wrote earlier though, I would really like to see a good Mercedes Ferrari battle this year, so even if Ferrari doesn't win, I'd like to see them put on a strong show.
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