Racing Roundup: February 21, 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:
This week was DPTJ release week, with Episode 2 focusing entirely on the love life of Enzo Ferrari! You can listen, watch, or read the episode.
I'm starting a new series where I teach you how to become a good motorsport journalist right here on Substack.
I had a big week covering the Daytona 500, including: The Enshittification of NASCAR (also in rant form thanks to The Elizabeth + Ash Show), a race recap, winners and losers from the race, and a take on Ryan Preece's airborne accident.
Over at Past Gas from Donut Media, I wrote the script for their latest episode about the first race across America!
Hungry for a little more history? Over on PlanetF1.com, I wrote stories on America's first F1 Champion Phil Hill, Riverside Raceway (which hosted the second-ever US Grand Prix), a history of NASCAR that ties Charlotte to Daytona, a story on the much-hated AVUS track in Berlin, and that time Enzo Ferrari's wife caused a team walk-out.
Here's the 900th Beginners Guide to F1 that I've written in my lifetime.
This is why American flags are backwards on race cars.
The new Brad Pitt F1 movie trailer is out, and I broke down a few of the details.
Y’all remember Nicholas Latifi?
Big racing news:
William Byron won the Daytona 500, and Chase Briscoe was hit with a huge penalty because his team tweaked a spec component.
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem says Formula 1 could bring back V10 engines — but only if they're run on sustainable fuel. The FIA has confirmed that they've created a technical group to dig into this.
The FIA has also started considering mandatory pit stops for the Monaco Grand Prix, just to spice things up.
Tony Kanaan has been promoted to McLaren team principal over in IndyCar after Gavin Ward stepped down at the close of 2024.
What I loved this week:
I love vintage motorsport stats, and this story on the closest finish in F1 history is wonderful.
Formula 1 and the Motorsport Network have released their annual fan survey, and for once, I was impressed with the depth of the questions and the selection of answers.
The literary side of me has adored literally everything from The Metropolitan Review thus far — even if I haven't read the books in question.
I've just finished Cars at Speed by Robert Daley (book club shoutout!) and also picked up The Grand Prix Year by Phillip Horton. More deep thoughts coming on those two books soon, but I've found it totally fascinating how my book club reads have correlated to some of motorsport's new releases.