Summer break is almost over, but things are still a bit quiet around the F1 world.

This week we learned how Kevin Magnussen keeps himself motivated - turns out he has an active imagination.

The rapid growth at Renault's Enstone base hasn't been all positive.

Renault can't turn their attention to their 2019 car yet.

Cyril Abiteboul things that F1 needs more standard parts.

Fernando Alonso is leaving F1 at the end of the season - but he's not retiring.

Its looking like McLaren and Fernando are headed to IndyCar - but Scott Dixon won't be Fernando's team mate.

Carlos Sainz Jr will be taking Fernando's seat at McLaren

Santino Ferruci has impressed Dale Coyne - we just don't understand how.

And the 2019-2020 season of the World Endurance Championship will require a little less endurance.

Work continues on the new Concorde Agreement for 2021 - Chase Carey says that it's just down to the details and the compromises. However Cyril Abiteboul says that at least on the engine through - plans have fallen behind.

What won't be happening soon - a shift to a fully electric system in Formula 1.

F1 is open to rethinking how they generate revenues from events.

Could there be a German GP in 2019?

Lawrence Stroll has bought his son a Formula 1 team - which pretty much puts to shame any gift your father has given you.

No - Fernando Alonso will not be going to Red Bull. Not now, not ever. Don't bother asking Red Bull about it, because it's a dumb question.

Niki Lauda was days away from death when he was put on the lung transplant list.

And there's a new licensing scheme coming to IndyCar.

We're back!  After a busy couple of weeks we're back and expect to be back for a good stretch.

Last week as IndyCar Weekend at Mid-Ohio Motorsports Course.  Alexander Rossi had a picture perfect weekend - but our highlight of the weekend was the time we spent with Robert Megennis and everyone at the Juncos Pro-Mazda team. We look forward to following Robert as his career progresses.

Unfortunately, Mazda has announced that they are ending their sponsorship of the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires at the end of the season. We don't fully know how this will impact the series but we plan to keep an eye on the situation.

Michelin has weighed in on F1's new tire tender - and they're not happy about it.

F1 and the automotive industry was shocked by the passing of Sergio Marchionne - however, even Fiat-Chrysler didn't know how ill Sergio was, and now they want answers.

Valtteri Bottas didn't appreciate Toto Wolf calling him Lewis Hamilton's "wingman" but things are better now.

Red Bull is really upset over Max Verstappen's latest MGU-K failure - and Renault doesn't care what Red Bull thinks any more.

Force India has gone into receivership, and there's more to the situation than meets the eye.

Daniel Riccardo is leaving Red Bull for Renault - and now the entire driver's market is spinning.

Niki Lauda has had a lung transplant.

And Billy Monger drinks from a leg... 

We're back (for a week)!

We know the levels were off for the start of the show - not sure what happened but we got things back under control about halfway through.

This week we're all about the silly season news - some departures, some signings, some maybes...

We're back - briefly...  We bring you a new show this week but we'll be gone for the next two weeks while one of us hits the road.  Keep an eye on the Facebook page because there will be pictures from them trip going up on our page there.

While we were gone -

Teams are looking for less testing in 2019.

Aston Martin says that Red Bull shifting to Honda isn't a problem.

Christian Horner expresses concern over the coming rule changes.

Was the French Grand Prix that great?

Folks are upset over Sebastian's penalty in France, and mistake like this could give away the Championship for Seb.

Silly season is underway - with rumors that Kimi Raikonnen, Charles Leclerc, Daniel Ricciardo and Adrian Newey on the move?

Renault says their new MGU-K is ready to go - the MGI-K that was supposed to be rolled out the beginning of 2017... And both Red Bulls and Fernando Alonso aren't going to use it this week.

F1 won't be going to Germany in 2019, and if it goes to Miami next year the course is already going to be different from what we were told it would be.

Susie Wolf will run a Formula E team for the series' 2018-19 season.

The FIA is considering kicking a driver out of Formula 3, and Billy Monger got to drive an F1 car..

We've got some important scheduling notes regarding the next few weeks.  Make sure you listen for more information.

Fernando Alonso and the Toyota Gazoo racing team win this year's 24 hours of LeMans.

Formula E brought motorsport back to Switzerland for the first time in over 60 years.

It wasn't Winnie Harlow's fault that the checkered flag came out early in Montreal - but it did mean that the race ended at the end of lap 68.

But thanks to that mistake, the FIA is looking at other options for ending a race.

Turns out that Sebastian Vettel's complaints of the VSC might have some merit to them.

Mercedes is upset over their performance and say they need to do better.

You know what's embarrassing? Representing your company who is the title sponsor for a race by driving the pace car to start the race - and crashing the pace car coming out of Turn 1 and delaying the race start by 27 minutes...

Is Force India about to be sold - depends on who you talk to...

Electric Karting is becoming an Olympic sport - a Junior Olympic sport.

FOM is looking at significant changes for 2021, from calendar, to aerodynamics, to maybe even tires?

In the mean time it looks like the 2019 season will end in December.

Two big changes coming to the Montreal Grand Prix this year - a third DRS zone and more significantly a change to the DRS rules from this race forward.

Toro Rosso is actively looking to replace Brendan Hartley.

Daniel Riccardo appears to have avoided a grid penalty in Montreal.

Max Verstappen snaps at reporters.

McLaren is struggling in Montreal because it has to go fast and slow.

Mercedes is regretting its tire choices for the weekend.

It's shaping up to be a bad weekend for Haas.

This week we battle allergies to bring you a show...

Force India didn't get out of Mercedes way in Monaco - well they did, but not because they were being kind...

Vijay Mallya is letting go of some of his roles at Force India.

Sauber has a new Technical Director

FIA will use software to figure out if Ferrari is misusing their ERS.

Mercedes is upset that the FIA leaked who ratted out Ferrari.

An engine contract for 2019 is more important to Red Bull than a contract for Daniel Ricciardo.

Miami expects to get sued - a lot - if they host a race next year.

Kimi Raikonnen files an extortion complaint in Canada.

SPOILER ALERT - Will Power won the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500, Daniel Ricciardo won the 76th Monaco Grand Prix, and there was a NASCAR race this past weekend...

A processional race without a lot of passing - are we talking about the Indy 500 or the Monaco Grand Prix? We're talking about both this year...

Hockenheim wants a better deal in order to keep hosting Grand Prix races.

Could the MGU-H get dropped by F1? Jean Todt at the FIA is open to it.

McLaren gets a new shareholder - and he's the father of Force India's Test and Development driver.

Sergey Sirotkin is a workaholic.

Gunther Steiner insists that Romain Grosjean's position with the team is not in jeopardy.

German media is speculating that Brendon Hartley might be replaced by Pascal Wherlin, and Helmit Marko gives a lukewarm denial.

Mercedes questions oil burning practices and Ferrari's battery usage.

Red Bull was willing to let Daniel Ricciardo blow his engine instead of retiring from the lead of the race.

Christian Horner warns Max Verstappen that he needs to stop crashing.

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso didn't like this year's race.

And Citroen fires their driver for "an excessively high number of crashes."

This year has seemed to just fly by so far...  Which may be a good thing if you're missing Felipe Massa - because he's returning to racing and headed to Formula E

Shock in Indianapolis as James Hinchcliff fails to qualify for the Indy 500.

Zak Brown says that McLaren is considering IndyCar and WEC entries in the coming years.

F1 TV launched last weekend - and it didn't go well. 

Those unique mirrors that Ferrari was running last weekend - they're now banned (and weren't really legal when Ferrari run them)

It's unlikely that Kimi Raikkonen will need an engine change even though he had a DNF after an engine failure.

Roman Grosjean gets a 3 place grid penalty for Monaco after his incident in Barcelona

Sergei Sirotkin says he's seat's why he didn't do well in Barcelona...

Mercedes and the FIA are testing new lights.

And there's already a problem with the proposed race for Miami...

We're back with lots of news from while we were gone...

Fernando Alonso had his first ever win at Spa, and it wasn't in Formula 1.

 The Red Bull drivers ended their Baku weekend on the naughty step.

Sergio Perez almost ended up on the naughty step but after looking at the rules different Charlie Whiting was ok with him taking a 5 second penalty under a safety car.

Lewis Hamilton clearly has a different relationship with Valteri Bottas than he did with Nico Rosberg.

Silly season has started - for both engines and drivers.

Ferendo Alonso's McLaren was seriously damaged in Baku - and he still got points.

Fan Vision is coming back to F1, and F1 is closer to coming to Miami.

Max Verstappen wins a lawsuit to protect his image.

And FOM has gotten a trademark on "shooey"

This week, we'll find out if once again the teams decide to do what's best for the sport or to shot themselves in the foot - again.

Teams now have permission to mount mirror to the halo - within limits

Could Mission Control rooms be going away?

Andy Palmer at Aston Martin thinks that they could be leverage against Ferrari's threats to leave F1 - we think Andy's forgetting a key fact.

Could Williams become the Mercedes jr team? Not if Claire Williams has anything to say about it.

Daniel Riccardo had to get surgery last week - and he's not talking to Ferrari about 2019 - yet.

Bernie Ecclestone is criticizing Lewis Hamilton.

Brendan Hartley apologizes for almost causing a major crash with his team mate during qualifying.

And Nico Rosberg has created a driver development program...

This week - Nico Rosberg is no longer part of Robert Kubica's management team.

Mauritzio Arrivabene's description of the ill fated pit stop in Bahrain - Ferrari says that's not really what happened.

Max Verstappen says that he doesn't need to calm down - and his father says he needs to think about his actions.

Just because he had an amazing weekend, Daniel Ricciardo isn't convinced that his future is with Red Bull - yet.

Pierre Gasly and Brendan Hartley say that there was a miscommunication that led to their crash in the Chinese Grand Prix.

Charlie Whiting says that no, they didn't call out the safety car when they did in order to mess with Sebastian Vettel's race.

Once again we're questioning Mercedes' race strategy.

There might be an agreement for engines in 2021 at the end of May.

Fuel loads will be increased next year, and there's some changes to car weights coming.

Williams is in financial trouble - or are they... Actually they really are..

Gunther Steiner doesn't want F1 to be like IndyCar.

You  might thing you've seen this year's McLaren - and you'd be wrong...

n F1 broadcasting news - ESPN will show the remainder of the races this season commercial free, and F1 says that F1 TV Pro is coming in time for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen's crash in qualifying in Bahrain - turns out it was due to a "right foot oscillation"

Sergio Perez and Brendan Hartley got penalties for the same confusing formation lap incident.

Lewis Hamilton was upset by Max Verstappen's bungled pass - but they're better now.

The FIA isn't bothered by smoking Ferrari's.

Mercedes didn't react quickly enough to Ferrari responding to Mercedes' strategy.

Yes, Kimi's mechanic got hurt, but he's doing well and in good spirits. Kimi got beat up over his horrible pit stop - and we don't agree with the criticism.

Red Bull wants the Renault engines to be better, Renault has told their teams that they can push the engines harder, but post qualifying in China Daniel Riccardo said he's loosing faith in the manufacturer...

Zak Brown has a new title at McLaren, and the team admits that the season isn't going as well as they expected.

Force India has a fundamental problem with their car.

And there will be historic cars on track at Silverstone this year....

What do you do with Formula E batteries when you upgrade them? Formula E says that they have plans.

Toyota's WEC car was 4+ seconds faster than the rest of the field during this week's testing - but it wasn't in race trim.

There won't be a fix for the lack of passing any time soon - and Ferrari and Renault are to blame.

Liberty has given the teams their roadmap for 2021 and beyond - and the small teams seem to like it.

Ross Brawn thinks F1 should consider making qualifying a race of it's own.

What's Mercedes' Party Mode? They tell us how it works, kind of.

Lewis Hamilton doesn't know why Mercedes is struggling this weekend - but maybe the tires are the issue?

Pirelli will have a special compound for Barcelona, Silverstone and Paul Ricard.

No new front wing at Force India this weekend - maybe?

Haas makes changes to it's pit box crew.

Max Verstappen explains how he ended up in the wall in Q1.

Russia and Monaco want grid girls - because Russian girls are pretty and children are afraid of mechanical things and Monaco pays their girls...

A big congratulations to Billy Monger who returned to racing in the BRDC F3 season opener with a third place finish.

Yes, we were frustrated by ESPN's race day coverage too.

During the race, Carlos Sainz's car tried to drown him

It's all about the data - Mercedes settled for second and Ferrari got the win - and all because of data.

Haas' wheel nut issues last weekend cost them 10,000 Euros.

Sergei Sirotkin's race was done in by a sandwich bag.

Honda says that they can build a really good F1 engine...  No, really.  Stop laughing.

There were more passes at this year's Australian Grand Prix than last year - but it's hard to get excited by 5 passes all race.

The theories as to why there's less passing could be the aero, could be the car, could be the track...

Racing could be faster at Silverstone this year.

It's here! Opening Weekend of the 2018 F1 season has finally arrived - and importantly we know the name of Sebastian Vettel's 2018 Ferrari...  He's named it Loria...  No, not Gloria, Loria...

Yeah, we thought the same thing...

Bernie Ecclestone's legal issues still aren't over.

F1 has revealed it's new theme music...  Or maybe the theme for the next Avengers movie, we're not sure which...

No F1 TV Pro this week...

Did you like the McLaren series on Amazon? There's a series coming in 2019 to Netflix that will follow the entire paddock for the whole season.

Renault is expecting another difficult season.

McLaren says that they've addressed all their problems from testing.

Helmet Marko thinks that Honda could be a viable option for Red Bull in 2019.

Christian Horner says that the teams will never fully agree on the next Concorde Agreement

Force India is still Force India for 2018.

More unintended consequences from the halo, and we're a step closer to the return of the Dutch Grand Prix.

You still have time to get your team created and join the league over at Fantasygp.com, league code 14831491.

Over in Formula E there was some controversy in qualifying at the Punta Del Este E-Prix, and Lucas Di Grassi got a penalty for wearing the wrong underwear - no really...

How is Formula E going to have races where the drivers don't need to switch cars - make the races shorter.

ESPN's broadcast schedule has been announced, and as we feared, we're loosing pre and post race coverage in the US.

The FIA is watching for teams using engine modes to gain an aerodynamic advantage, and oil burning apparently it's still a thing.

Jean Todt says that the drivers shouldn't complain about the halo because the FIA was just doing what they wanted, and he thinks that Ferrari should loose their rules veto.

Toto Wolff says it would be bad to make Sergio Marchionne angry.

Toro Rosso is realizing that it's pretty cool to be a works team.

McLaren got a flip flop maker to sponsor their halo for a race.

And Fernando Alonso said that he considered leaving F1 at the end of last season and we're not at all surprised.

This week - we got the chance to drive the Fiskar Karma this past week - originally with a starting price of over $100,000 it is easily the most expensive vehicle we've ever driven. Fiskars can now be had for much closer to $30,000 and after driving one, we're not even sure that they're worth that much...

We also drove the Jaguar F-Type R.  There's no comparison between the Jaguar and the Fiskar, the Jaguar is sporty, responsive, and refined in every way that the Fiskar is now. To quote Ferris Bueler - If you have the means, I highly recommend it...

If you haven't already, make sure to join our league at FantasyGP.com code 14831491

In the news this week - 

Carmen Jorda firmly plants her foot in her mouth and works to extract it

There's a new feeder series in the F1 ladder - Formula 3 is coming and will be promoted by the Formula 1 Group.

Liberty is holding off on plans to reorganize the F1 calendar

Kevin Magnusson wants to drive in IndyCar

Williams says that they don't think that Mercedes gives them downgraded engines

The French GP may be bringing back some old F1 traditions.

Mercedes is concerned about how their car treats the softer tires

New year, new colors, new engine manufacturer - but reliability is still a problem at McLaren

Renault has a new wing coming for Australia.

This week Formula 1 announced their much anticipated streaming service, and it looks like it will deliver on much of what we're hoping for:

• Live streaming of races
• Live streaming of press conferences and other coverage around the weekend
• The ability to follow any driver we want
• Access to past races
• Reasonably priced
• Available in the US and 39 other countries

What we don't know is how time shifting will work, or even if it will be allowed, but we're hopeful that this fills the gap in coverage in the US.  

For our friends in the UK you won't get access to the new service but Sky is lowering the price of F1 coverage via NowTV apparently in response to the new service.

Did you know F1 had a theme song? Well, it's getting a new one.

Bernie Ecclestone has crawled out of his cave/Swiss Hotel/Brazilian Coffee Farm and spoken to the press again.

Toto Wolf says that the FIA's message about engines last week wasn't because of something they were doing.

We saw the final car launches and liveries this week - the Red Bull looks like pretty much every other Red Bull, the Toro Rosso looks like last year's Toro Rosso, and the Force India looks like last year's Force India (but more pink and white).

Renault says that they're going to keep their engines turned down to start the season off.

Lewis doesn't like it when tracks get repaved.

Finally we take about testing - and more this year than previous years it's pretty much useless to make predictions based on testing. (Not that it will stop us or anybody else)