Racing Rewind: Jan 24, 2025
The big news and best reads in the motorsport world this week
Welcome to the Racing Rewind! Every Friday, I'll share a round-up of the big news and best reads in the motorsport world — from my own work to the good stuff that made me think.
The latest from E. A. Blackstock:
We're rapidly approaching the Rolex 24 (it's this weekend, and if you're in America, you can watch the whole thing on Peacock; if not, it's all going to be streamed on YouTube), and I'm celebrating by looking at every F1 driver to have won the race, as well as sharing the 14 ex-F1 drivers racing in the event this weekend.
For some reason, Will Buxton thinks IndyCar can be bigger than NASCAR, so I've laid out six key things IndyCar needs to do to actually make that happen.
My big Mario Andretti feature is out! I spoke to him about the importance of his F1 career, and how it shaped the very impressive legacy he has left on the world.
Enjoy this love letter to Watkins Glen, the race track that defined what Formula 1 in America could — and should — be.
Haas hired a woman (Laura Mueller, represent!) to serve as a race engineer for the first time in F1 history. Here are some more important firsts for women in the sport.
RQ1, a quarterly Formula 1 publication from the folks who published RACEWKND, is out. I contributed to a fair bit of the text for this bad boy!
On The Elizabeth + Ash Show, we're ranking the jobs of all F1 team principals!
The FIA has effectively banned critical speech. I wrote about what that means, and why it matters, and how it relates to our overall political landscape at the moment, right here on Substack.
Big racing news:
Penske Entertainment bought the promotional rights to the Music City Grand Prix (aka, IndyCar's Nashville finale), which means Penske Entertainment owns IndyCar, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, an IndyCar team, an IndyCar engine supplier, and promotional rights to eight of 17 events on the calendar.
Formula E is apparently going to introduce “pit boost,” or fast charging, after spending several years talking about maybe possibly doing so.
Lewis Hamilton arrived at Maranello for his first week as a Scuderia Ferrari driver and also got his first test behind the wheel of some Ferrari machines from the recent past. He has also apparently joined back up with his former physio, Angela Cullen, which is FANTASTIC news.
Prema Racing and head of engineering Michael Cannon have parted ways ahead of the IndyCar season. Cannon was only with the team for about two months and was expected to be a key player in helping the Italian outfit get up to speed on ovals.
NASCAR has unveiled a new format for The Clash at Bowman Gray, which I do not understand and also have no interest in understanding.
What I loved this week:
Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari. Who didn't?
This great Motor Sport Magazine story about Luigi Musso's personal belongings. Musso was a complex Italian racer in F1's early years; he'll feature in an episode of DPTJ This year.
A little morale boost in the form of a post from Attention Economy titled “when bad things happen to good novelists.”
I started (and finished) Matt Whyman's Inside Mercedes F1: Life in the Fast Lane, a book that I simply did not think could be published in 2024. I'll be chatting more about it later this year!