World Series by Renault

[KekeTheKing]

Has anybody watched much of this series in the past?

I've taken interest this year because there is a promising young American taking part. The opening rounds were last weekend at Motorland Aragon. I've downloaded and watched the EuroSport broadcasts and they were thoroughly enjoyable.

Did anybody catch these races? Does anybody want to see them if they didn't get a chance to?

 

[Brogan]

I watched quite a bit of it last year and all of it the year before.

I haven't seen any of it this year though; too many series to watch and just not enough time

 

[KekeTheKing]

Looking at the standings from last year, it shows that the Russian Aleshin just beat out Red Bull's Golden Boy Ricciardo.

Ricciardo missed the first round this year because he was in China with RBR. How do you rate this kid? Is he really this close to F1?

And I think I'm gonna make a quick (~5 min) highlight package of Race 1, so you can see some of the magic you missed Bro!

 

[KekeTheKing]

Here's a short Highlight Package of Race 1 at Aragon last weekend. There were some good overtakes and even a car getting flipped over. Enjoy!

 

[eaurouge94]

Its a great series, last season was amazing, the last race at Barcelona was wet and the championship outcome was changing every few laps.

Should be quite close this year aswell, Rossi, Vergne, Wickens and Ricciardo all have F1 potential and other drivers such as Kevin Korjus and Albert Costa also have occasional excellent races.

Interestingly, Sebastian Vettel and Jaime Alguersuari were both competing in this championship before being put into Toro Rossos mid way through the season - not a bad omen for Daniel Ricciardo

 

[MCLS]

Alexander Rossi looks like a fantastic prospect. With the American Grand Prix back on the Formula One calender, he really could be what helps ignite American enthuasiasm for the sport if he makes it all the way to F1, (and does a better job than the likes of Speed)

 

[Speshal]

for the video Keke - looks like an exciting series, one of these young chaps could well be a future wdc

 

[KekeTheKing]

So after a dream start to his rookie season, championship leader Alexander Rossi struggled a bit in qualifying at Spa last weekend. He lined up 11th for Race 1 and 15th for Race 2. However, he was able to achieve "Damage Limitation" as we might call it, coming home 7th in both races, collecting 12 points on a weekend where the car was nowhere near the front.

It was the Carlin cars that dominated both races, with Canadian Robert Wickens winning the first and France's Jean Eric Vergne taking the second. Vergne's win came when he was able to overtake his teammate into Les Combes during the closing stage of the race.

Wickens takes the lead in the Championship on 71 points, Vergne is now second with 57 and Rossi drops to third with 55 points.

Somewhat surprisingly, Red Bull's boy Daniel Ricciardo was thoroughly outpaced. He dropped back through the field in both races, collecting a 10th (R1) and a 9th (R2), earning just 3 points for the wekend. After missing the opening round he sits well adrift from the other championship hopefuls.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

Thanks for the review Keke; it looks like an interesting contest, this series.

Somewhat surprisingly, Red Bull's boy Daniel Ricciardo was thoroughly outpaced. He dropped back through the field in both races, collecting a 10th (R1) and a 9th (R2), earning just 3 points for the wekend. After missing the opening round he sits well adrift from the other championship hopefuls.

I remember while watching the Eursport highlights programme, the commentators were discussing whether Ricciardo's concentration and real familiarity with the car and team were being compromised by his dual role. It certainly seemed as if it might be on the evidence of his Spa performance.

 

[KekeTheKing]

I remember while watching the Eursport highlights programme, the commentators were discussing whether Ricciardo's concentration and real familiarity with the car and team were being compromised by his dual role. It certainly seemed as if it might be on the evidence of his Spa performance.

I can't imagine it has helped his cause. But something wasn't right with Ricciardo or the car, because he continued to get passed in the same spot. He was noticeably slow through Eau Rouge and was overtaken on the Kemmel Straight at least 5 or 6 times.

It will be interesting to see if he's back on the pace at Monza.

 

[Enja]

Nice video Keke, greatly appreciated here.

 

[KekeTheKing]

Nice video Keke, greatly appreciated here.

No problem Enja. Glad you liked it. There will be more to come in the future too.

 

[KekeTheKing]

Hectic race at Monza today. I think half the field was warned for "exceeding the track limits" and there was a ridiculous amount of lock-ups out there in defense of a position.

Ricciardo started from the back after his qualifying times were discounted. The Eurosport2 announcers didn't know why he had been penalized, but they speculated it was a technical infringement. This made for an exciting race from him though, charging all the way up to P6.

Rossi was nowhere today, qualified 16th this morning, struggled in the race, was handed a 10 second penalty for "track limits", and was subsequently dropped from P11 to P17 in the standings.

The Championship leader coming in, Wickens, took the lead from Kevin Korjus on Lap 18 after Korjus went straight through the first chicane. But the Canadian retired on the next lap with mechanical issues, and Korjus was left to nurse it home with flat spotted tires.

Wickens' Carlin teammate, Jean-Eric Vergne, takes over the lead in the championship with his second place finish today.

 

[KekeTheKing]

Here is Eurosport's coverage of Race 2 at Monza for the World Series of Renault. They joined the race in progress so get ready to be caught up on a chaotic couple of laps.

If you would rather just read my quick summary of the weekend, then by all means, click the Spoiler button and find out what happened at Monza and where the championship currently stands.

Spoiler

Very interesting weekend in Italy for the World Series boys.

As I mentioned earlier, Jerome Wickens, who was looking fast all weekend and retired soon after taking the lead in Race 1, took pole for Race 2 later that afternoon. Unfortunately for him, he was given a 4 grid place penalty for causing a collision with Cesar Ramos in Race 1. This put him in the mix on the opening laps of Race 2 on Sunday, eventually coming together with Albert Costa, spinning him into the gravel and out of the race. Two DNF's for the Canadian drop him back to third in the championship rankings.

New Championship leader Jean-Eric Vergne took the checkered flag in Race 2, but it was already known that he would be dropped back in the order. He had been handed a 10 second penalty for cutting a chicane and retaining the lead. Nevertheless, he fought off severe pressure for most of the race with a badly damaged front wing and came home first on the road.

The man supplying the pressure on Vergne was Daniel Ricciardo, who was on the pace for the first time this year in the World Series at Monza. His elevation to P1 made him the fifth different driver to claim victory in the first six races.
From http://www.thef1times.com/news/display/03324

After the race, he was asked if he was ready for the pinnacle of motorsport, he replied: "This is a question I am often asked and the answer is yes, I'm ready, I would be more than happy if I had to step in because a driver had food poisoning or whatever."

Alguersuari might want to employ a food taster for the remainder of the year.

Also benefitting from Vergne's penalty was Alexander Rossi, who hung within a couple seconds of the leaders for most of the race once it settled down. His second place was the third podium finish for the American, moving him back up to second in the championship standings. Rossi had qualified 7th for Race 2 and benefited from some of the chaos in front of him in the opening laps.

Championship
90 - Vergne
73 - Rossi
71 - Wickens
62 - Costa
50 - Korjus
39 - Van Der Drift
36 - Ricciardo

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

I saw the Eurosport coverage yesterday (missed the first half though, so thanks Keke for posting the video).
Wasn't it a bit stupid of the organisers to allow Vergne to take the top step of the podium, knowing that he would be placed down the order due to his penalty? And wasn't it equally stupid to give such a penalty in the first place, well before the end of the race? What would have been wrong with applying the normal punishment for cutting a chicane, a drive-through?

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

One other thing while I'm in 'rant' mode:
I spent the whole race (or at least the half that I watched) thinking that Vergne and Ricciardo were teammates, only to discover that their cars, while looking identical (at least to me) were actually from different teams! Both presumably sponsored by Red Bull. How daft is that? Or am I just blind?

 

[KekeTheKing]

It was a bit strange. The 10 second penalty seems to be the standard punishment here though.

The stewards really had their hands full this weekend!

edit - It is a bit weird to see identical liveries run by different teams.

 

[KekeTheKing]

Not a good weekend to be an American lapping a backmarker.

Running in P4 with about 15 minutes left in the race, Alexander Rossi was heading up the hill towards Massanet when backmarker Ollie Webb came to a near standstill to allow the Top 3 runners through unimpeded. It appeared Rossi would be next through.

As the camera picked up the top 3 rocketing through Casino Square, the man who had been in P4 was noticeably absent. Predictably, the next camera shot was of Rossi turned around and in the Armco. He pulled himself out of the car, but walked away with a serious limp. He had to be helped over the barriers and was obviously in pain.

The replays shown were somewhat inconclusive as to what exactly happened, but Webb was going way too slow up the hill in the first place. After letting the first 3 through, it looked like he would easily let Rossi past as well. Didn't work out that way though.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

Drat! Stayed up to watch the Monaco race on Eurosport last night; got all the way through the intro stuff, team Pons feature, qualifying etc... then fell asleep and missed the actual race!
Talking of qualifying, what an odd system of sending them out in two groups, each group determining the grid for one side of the track - at least I think that's how they explained it (mind you, I was just about to drift off...).
I hope Eurosport show it again later in the week.

 

[Fenderman]

I stayed awake long enough to the first few laps then .... adverts! Fell asleep and missed the end. Trouble is those commentators in their studio in Paris send you to sleep even when one is wide awake!