F1 Fanatic round-up: 11/4/2010

A little later than usual following some internet connection problems, here’s the Sunday round-up:

Links

Durango F1? Don’t make me laugh. (The Buxton Blog)

“Durango’s time in GP2 was not short of controversy. From as early as Imola 2006 the team was in hot water for contravening regulations by manufacturing their own parts rather than using Dallara’s spec equipment. In Imola it was only the car’s skirts that were the issue, but when Lucas di Grassi’s rear wing fell off at Silverstone later that same season, Durango was excluded from the weekend and sent packing from the paddock after it was discovered the team had sought to cut corners by conducting a botch repair job on structural parts of the car, rather than returning those parts to Dallara for an official repair.

Comment of the day

I wrote about why F1 fans should watch IndyCar yesterday and Icthyes put forward a great argument for it in the comments:

F1 fans deride Indy for being on ovals (which is unfair, seeing what a good balance now exists between different kinds of circuits). Similarly, I’ve heard Americans deride F1 for the fact that they don’t run on ovals and so don’t test that skill. Also, whilst F1 fans may decry some of Indy’s artificiality, there is more action, and F1 at the moment is hardly "pure" either, for much less rewards on the action front.

Both F1 fans and Indy fans should watch each other’s sport and learn to appreciate what makes them different and what makes them good. The sports have a lot in common but also a good deal to learn from each other.
Icthyes

Happy birthday!

No F1 Fanatic birthdays today. If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.

On this day in F1

The only and only world championship race at Donington Park was held on this day in 1993. It was, of course, won by Ayrton Senna after that unfortgettable first lap where he passed four drivers including Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill and Alain Prost.

Sadly the circuit’s future is now in doubt after large sections of it were dug up as part of the construction work that was begun in its unsuccessful bid to host the 2010 British Grand Prix.