Rosberg and Hamilton At Odds After 1-2 Win at Monaco

MONTE CARLO, MONACO – For the second Monaco GP in a row, Nico Rosberg claimed the top spot on the podium a full 9.2 seconds ahead of teammate and rival Lewis Hamilton.  The German driver drove his Mercedes to the win from the pole position, won in a rather controversial manner.  In the final laps, Daniel Ricciardo made a very heated attempt to claim the number two position from Hamilton but could only manage third for Red Bull by a 0.4 second margin.  "It was a tough race out there today,” said Rosberg, “but I am absolutely delighted to have won my second Monaco Grand Prix in succession. It's an amazing feeling and I'm proud to have done it at home, in front of my family and friends who were all here this afternoon. “

Mercedes has definitely been the ones to beat in 2014 winning every pole position.  But the competition does not stop at the doorstep of the silver arrows team.  The rivalry between Rosberg and Hamilton has been compared with that of Aryton Senna and Alain Prost when each drove for McLaren in the late 1980s.  Rosberg said after the race, “It was important for me to break Lewis' momentum of winning the last four races this weekend.” 

Though cleared by FIA of any wrongdoing, some are claiming that a “mistake” caused by Rosberg during qualifying causing a yellow to come out and dashing Hamilton’s chance for a pole was intentional.  Hamilton was so put-off by the incident, that he refused to congratulate Rosberg for his win.  Mercedes Chief, Niki Lauda, no stranger to inter-team rivalry, is said to not be happy with the situation. “The tension is building up, no question,” Lauda commented, “but we have to make sure that the team doesn’t get out of hand. So if they don’t say hello in the morning, it’s out of hand.”

But, lucky for the fans, Dieter Zetsche, the chairman of Mercedes parent Daimler, agreed that Hamilton and Rosberg should be free to wage their battles, even though imposing ‘team orders’ would mean less ‘grey hairs’ for the management.  “This is exactly what the viewers want to see,” he said. “The worst thing would be nice team orders with one behind the other.

Sir Jack Brabham 1926 - 2014

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – Another racing legend passed Monday – Sir Jack Brabham – three time Formula One Champion and the first, and only, to win a championship in a car built himself.  Black Jack as he was called, had 14 F1 race wins with Drivers championships in 1959, 1960 (Cooper) and Drivers and Constructors 1966 (Brabham).  Brabham again won the Constructors Championship in 1967.  The Australian died peacefully in his home on the Gold Coast Monday morning. READ MORE

Mayhem at 'Dega

TALLADEGA, AL – If you thought the short-track race last week was mayhem, ‘dega lived up to her reputation of being super-mayhem!  The race was won by Denny Hamlin who happened to be at the right place at the right time.  On the last lap of the race, Hamlin’s Gibbs-Toyota car was out in front when a back-marker crash brought out the caution which fixed the field.  Greg Biffle was able to claim second for Roush-Fenway and Clint Bowyer third.  "It feels good to be back in Victory Lane in a points-paying event," said Bowyer, "but I'm still a short-track guy.  Those are my roots, that's where I love racing the most, but we've come a long way. We couldn't finish 22nd at superspeedway races for the longest time and now it seems like when we go we've got the knowledge and car that can win."

Mayhem started early when on lap 6, Danica Patrick took her first lead, but on lap 14, Brad Keselowski attempted to pass Patrick but spun, putting him I the midfield.  Patrick was able to salvage a 22^nd place finish on the lead lap.  Keselowski wasn’t done causing trouble though.  On lap 137, Brad was trying to make up a 7-lap deficit when running with the front runners when he broke loose taking 15-cars including Gordon, Bayne, Kenseth, Menard, Stewart Busch and Johnson with him.  Darrell Waltrip had this to say about Brad’s move “I know the Monday Morning Quarterbacks are saying Brad had no business up front racing being six laps down. The guy is paid to race. He was simply trying to get his laps back.”

And the mayhem continued on lap 174 when Jimmie Johnson’s car broke loose in turn 4 taking out 7 including Kurt Busch, Joey Logano and David Ragan.  On lap 183, Carl Edwards lost a rear tire ending the day for Newman and Cole Whitt.  DW summarized it best “I had a great time. I always have fun at Talladega. As I said on the broadcast, the whole day was just as clear as mud to me. I could see right through it all day long. I'm just kidding. I just threw that out there during the broadcast. It's a saying from way back in the day when you couldn’t  understand something because the explanation was so convoluted they used to say, ‘Clear? Or clear as mud?’"