Toto Wolff, it’s okay that Lando Norris’ canceled pole time counts again

For a brief moment, Lewis Hamilton thought he was in pole position for the sprint race in China ( Formula 1 2024 live in the ticker ). Although Lando Norris was an impressive 1.261 seconds faster than the seven-time world champion on his fastest lap, the race management canceled the McLaren driver ‘s time due to track limits.

But Hamilton couldn’t be happy about his first pole since Budapest 2023 for long, because surprisingly Norris’ time was recognized again , who will therefore be on pole on Saturday morning.

Although Norris had driven four wheels over the track barrier in the last corner of the previous lap, he not only had that lap canceled, but also the following lap.

It’s nothing new that a track limit violation in the last corner can also have an impact on the following lap. However, there is nothing recorded for China in this regard, so Norris was allowed to keep his time.

This is annoying for Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes, but motorsport boss Toto Wolff can live with this decision: “I saw that he was off the track with four wheels, but to be honest that was even slower,” he says Sky . Because there is now a gravel bed on the outside of the curve, so going off the track is no longer an advantage.

“So he probably would have driven even faster, so that’s okay with me,” says Wolff.

Difficulties until the last second
Until Hamilton’s timed lap, the Brit seemed to have had major problems. “It was quite difficult conditions, there wasn’t much grip,” he says. “But when I saw that the rain was coming, I was happy because we weren’t fast enough in the dry. But then everything came together.”

It was pretty close that Hamilton even got into SQ3. Like teammate George Russell, Hamilton had difficulties with cold tires in SQ2 after queuing at the traffic lights at the pit exit. But while Russell failed in eleventh place, Hamilton narrowly made it into SQ3.

“I’m annoyed that we made such a mistake with both cars in SQ2,” complains Wolff. But Mercedes learned from it and only sent Hamilton out of the garage in the final section when everyone else had already left the pits.

Hamilton gets new tires
However, Hamilton returned to the pits after the outlap to get other intermediates. “That was intentional,” reveals Wolff. “We changed the specification of the tires a little, let’s put it that way.” He doesn’t reveal exactly what was done, but it probably involved adjusting the tire pressure.

Labor unrest and uncertainty is in Chase Elliott NASCAR’s future

It sure is tempting to say yes, considering what happened (or didn’t happen, such as PASSING) at Martinsville and Richmond the previous two weeks.

Having Dawsonville’s Favorite Son (literally, by the way) remembering the smell of champagne is definitely not a bad thing or even a meh thing. Well, OK, maybe a little bit meh.

Fourteen cautions for incidents? Counting stage breaks, 16 cautions for 72 laps, which is over a quarter of the race? A win is a win, but it has the kinda-sorta feel of Musical Chairs with Chase at the head of the table when the music stopped.

It’s been a few weeks since the ongoing negotiations were mentioned, but someone mentioned it to Owner/Driver Jimmie Johnson at Texas, and he didn’t exactly sound upbeat about a new agreement between teams and NASCAR.

“I think it’s going to come down to deep in the year,” he told NBC Sports. “If you look at how much time is left, we’re just getting into the eighth inning, maybe ninth inning of what really needs to happen in negotiations for all parties.”

Eighth or ninth inning? Jimmie ever watched a ballgame.

In the eighth or ninth, it’s time to ring the bullpen and bring in the closer. Can’t really say what’s at stake because this is all new to NASCAR.

Kevin Harvick Deliberately Reckless Move to Oust $228 Billion and Make Sponsor Regret

By the time Kevin Harvick hung up his racing helmet in 2023, his resume was golden. No sponsor would have said no to the veteran driver in the twilight years of his career. Yet once upon a time, things were different.

After Kevin Harvick stormed home the 2007 Daytona 500 title, he faced a long winless streak of two years. Fans began dropping off, and his $228 billion sponsor Pennzoil as well. But Kevin Harvick was determined to take control at the 2010 Talladega race. He bested Jamie McMurray on the final lap, pulling ahead for the race win by 3 feet.

Kevin Harvick recalled his desperate actions, all to teach Pennzoil a lesson. “We were in the tandem drafting. You see myself and Jamie McMurray here. And this exact move that happened, I actually tried it in practice, where you just slide across the back bumper and just get the car to wiggle a little bit. And I got the back of Jamie’s car to wiggle just enough to get underneath him…But I was on like a 109, 110-race winless streak at that time.”

That drab record was why Pennzoil-Shell dropped a bomb on race day. “Shell had told us that we were not coming back. They were out as the sponsor and then we go out.”

Caitlyn Vince quipped angrily, “Why would someone do that the day of a race? Is that normal?” And Harvick explained, “I think it’s probably just when that meeting was scheduled.”

But Vince’s rising rage was satisfied with the story’s climax. Kevin Harvick won the race and ended up with a new sponsor. “So in that fashion, we went back. And as we typically did at that time to just really show them how we felt about it. We went out on the race so that we could get a new sponsor…Wound up with Budweiser. So that was a wild race.”

In a further twist of events, Pennzoil-Shell officials soon openly admitted their remorse.

After leaving Kevin Harvick’s No. 29 car, Pennzoil became the primary partner for Penske Racing’s No. 22 car driven by Kurt Busch. But Harvick’s restored energy gave them second thoughts, and by the end of 2011, a unique situation developed. Suspicions were there that Harvick could win the 2010 Cup championship, and that put Pennzoil in a tight spot.

“It’s definitely awkward,” said Heidi Massey-Bong, Pennzoil’s senior business adviser for NASCAR sponsorships. “We’re leaving somebody who I very much respect and appreciate what they’ve done in the sport, and going to somebody else.”