Formula One goes to the Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal. This tends to be an eventful race. There is also the threat of student protests, but I expect if anything this will affect attendance rather than the race itself. I have no idea what advice to offer.
Texas is a 1·5 mile oval which has steep banking (like Las Vegas) by Indycar standards. Thus I believe it will feature everyone flat-out racing in drafting-groups with lots of meaningless lead-changes. Last year, it was split into two legs with the second leg having a random grid. I would suggest ignoring the second result from last year because of that; for example, Power ‘qualified’ third to win and Franchitti finished seventh from twenty-eighth on the ‘grid’. It is only the second oval race for the DW12 cars, so information is scarce. Maybe pay heed to this year’s Indy 500 result and the 2011 oval results from the table-image above.
It had looked as if Honda might be at a disadvantage on the faster ovals, but according to this Autosport report they found a big step in improvement between qualification and the race at Indianapolis.
Pocono is a 2·5 mile superspeedway that is perhaps the weirdest NASCAR track. Its three turns are based on those from three different tracks, Trenton (closed), Indianapolis and Milwaukee, with fourteen, eight and six degree banking respectively. Not only does this make it a nightmare to set up for, but the corners are slow by speedway standards, and shifting gear is involved. It was re-paved earlier this year. For 2012, races are reduced from 500 to 400 miles. It is not a predictable track, with some drivers distinctly more specialist there than others, so do check the stats on potential picks.
Montreal is not the most predictable F1 event in a jumbled year, and might or might not be a chance for Williams and Sauber to mix it with the front-runners. Texas similarly is hardly one of Indycar’s most straightforward events with double-file re-starts adding to the fun. I would be very cautious about NASCAR, unless a driver’s stats reveal him to be very consistent at Pocono; in the last four results only Johnson was top-ten in all. I think it is a week to look for the most likely top-ten contenders and avoid heroics.
Formula One Links:
2012 Championship points-table
2011 Championship points-table
2012 Results-table (Wikipedia anchored link)
2011 Results-table (Wikipedia anchored link)
2011 Montreal Result
2010 Montreal Result
2008 Montreal Result (no race in 2009)
Indycar links:
2012 Standings
2012 Points/Results table (Wikipedia anchored link)
2011 Points/Results table (Wikipedia anchored link)
2012 Indianapolis Results (Wikipedia anchored link)
2011 Texas Results*
2010 Texas Result*
2009 Texas Result*
(*Wikipedia links. Race-results below qualification-results.)
NASCAR links:
Entry List (Page usually turns up by Tuesday.)
2012 Championship points-table
2012 Championship results-table (Wikipedia anchored link)
2011 Championship points-table
2011 Championship points-table without Chase (Can be used to access drivers’ stats pages)
Driver stats page (Brad Keselowski) (Use the ‘SELECT DRIVER’ menu towards the top-right to reach the other driver-pages)
2011 Pocono Result (August)
2011 Pocono Result (June)
2010 Pocono Result (August)
2010 Pocono Result (June)
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