F1 and IRL Early May

F1
Michael Schumacher wins his fifth straight race this season and ties Nigel Mansell for that distinction. The Sandwich was second and Jarno Trulli was third. JPM was a DNF and Fernando Alonso was fourth in front of the home crowd. Sorry but that is about all the excitement I can muster for the Spanish Grand Prix.

One thing of note was the Bernie saying he wasn’t making qualifying changes ASAFP. His proposal is two 30 minute sessions where you must complete a minimum of 6 laps with the fastest being the counted lap. Failure to complete the prescribed number of laps would result in the car being moved to the back of the starting grid.

I like the change proposed as it brings back the more traditional style of qualifying.

IRL

Practice is underway for the 88th running of the Indianapolis 500. On a warm and breezy Mothers Day 33 cars were on the track. For the record Scott Dixon in the 10 car was the fastest at 219.7. Julio was second and Adrian Fernandez was third. Sammy was sick and could not come out to practice. Sarah was the first one out at approximately 1:09 when her mother waved the green flag to start the session. I heard AJIV went out but I never saw his car. I saw him heading back to the garage. I got up to get a Fosters and I guess I missed him.

We were right behind their pits but I never even saw the car come out. The cars seem ready to start attacking the 220 mark today and probably by the time I get out there Friday will be assaulting the 225 mark. With the wind and heat yesterday I thought 219 was pretty good.

I was a little disappointed with Mike. He was only able to muster a 216.763 for 13th best. Guess they still have some work to do.

When we got there I thought the crowd was going to be pathetic. We drove in had a parking spot that indicated there were not many fans there. It was early, but still I expected more. As we neared the pagoda however it appeared as though there were quite a few fans present. The autograph lines were deep and there were a lot of fans milling around. When we came around to the stands I was surprised to see as many as I did. It was an hour before practice and the stands had as many people as were at most practice days combined last year. Again though the weather was great.