Weekend Motorsport Wrap: Italian F1 and Indy NASCAR

Welcome to a new feature in the blog: Weekend Motorsport Wrap. Barring special circumstances, which would be either no motorsport on a weekend or a similar incident and feel following the Spa weekend in F1, I'll be writing a quick rundown of everything in the motorsport world. First of all, Alex Peroni has a fractured vertebrae, but is otherwise doing OK following this major accident:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-08/alex-peroni-walks-away-from-massive-f3-crash/11489830

Yikes. Looks almost as if it is straight from a Failrace episode with the car just getting launched by a kerb.

The corresponding F1 race was dominated by Charles Leclerc. He managed to fend off Lewis Hamilton and then Valtteri Bottas at different stages of the race, who finished third and second respectively. The Renaults had an incredible weekend with theoretically the weakest engine at the fastest track producing fourth and fifth for the factory cars and a tenth and a retirement for McLaren, although the retirement was caused by a mechanic's error leading to Carlos Sainz losing a wheel at the pit exit. Dani Kvyat and Kevin Magnussen also retired, Kvyat being caused by an engine failure.

The race wasn't without drama with many penalties being applied, overtakes being made and cars sent bouncing through gravel. From the back of the grid, Max Verstappen got sandwiched with Sergio Perez being an innocent victim of Max being hit from behind, which cost max a front wing and dropped him to dead last. Hulkenburg and Vettel battled through the opening lap as did Albon and Sainz in lap 3. Albon bounced through the Lesmo 1 gravel trap as a result. On lap 7, a pivotal moment in the race occurred when Vettel ran wide through the Variante Ascari, spun and hit Lance Stroll at the rejoin. Both drivers were given pit lane penalties, with Vettel being forced to stop and hold for ten seconds- the most severe penalty in the sport barring exclusion.

Albon and Raikkonen were also penalised, Albon for running wide through the second chicane and therefore cutting a corner, and Raikkonen for starting on the wrong compound tyres, considering he made it through Q2. It was an innocent mistake though, as he had to start from the pit lane, which was the source of the team's error. Following pit stops on lap 20 a fierce battle ensued for several laps with Hamilton, who ran through the escape road at Turn 1 and was passed by Bottas. The results leave Hamilton still in control of the title race, Leclerc up to fourth in the standings, and Vettel one major incident away from a race ban and potentially a F1 debut for Mick Schumacher.

Meanwhile in the USA, Kevin Harvick won in NASCAR at Indianapolis as Clint Bowyer and Ryan Newman entered the playoffs. Jimmie Johnson and Dan Suarez missed out as a result of the race, with Johnson hitting the wall on Lap 105. Kyle Larson, after finishing second in the first stage, crashed lightly at the first corner of Stage 3, and then heavier in the middle of it after a precautionary pitstop. Kyle Busch, the winner of the Xfinity Series race, had his engine fail at the start of the second. It wasn't easy for Bowyer, being nearly collected by a spinning Alex Bowman. Joey Logano finished second, with Darrell Wallace Jr in third and nearly snatching a shock playoff place.

And in an aside, Lexus have announced Nick Cassidy and Ryo Hirakawa, and Nissan have announced Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda to take part in the DTM finale at Hockenheim, following the series moving to use the same regulations. In other DTM news, the series will race at Monza in 2020.

Finally, I have a blog announcement: there will be no Under the Hood next week. This is because I have a Frankfurt Motor Show special coming in its place. Under The Hood will be at its regular slot this week, with something French. I also have an exciting Behind the Wheel interview coming in the next couple of days.