Whale perhaps Y’all have already heard this... But ironically as I was getting ready to partake another voyage upon one of our myriad of Washington State Ferryboat’s to one of our numerous Islands... Along with having had the opportunity to go on a Boat cruise the same day, as I awaited my departure I was shocked to hear the news that former Formula 1, ALMS and 24 Heurs du Mans winner JJ Lehto had been involved in a serious boating accident in his native Finland.

Apparently JJ Lehto and a friend were navigating a small Canal in Tammisare, South Finland at a very high rate of speed at 4AM in the morning and failed to thread the needle thru the Canal’s extremely small bridge opening, as Lehto’s Speedboat struck the bridges abutment, subsequently throwing both passengers into the water in which JJ was able to swim to shore, albeit having suffered a concussion and broken ribs, while his late friend succumbed to injuries...

A sad story in Finland

Thus was it really nearly 20yrs ago that I first became aware of the likeable Finnish racing driver Jyrki Juhani Jarvilehto, when I snapped a pic of JJ’s parked BMS Scuderia Italia F1 racecar at Phoenix, Arizona. And eerily Bob Constanduros noted how it was JJ who along with 16 other journalists were spotted in Shanghai getting their Visa’s extended when the F1 Circus was stranded in China due to the Iceland Volcano’s eruption, as Lehto has been serving as a TV Analyst for Finland’s MTV-3 station since 2001...

(2010 Canadian GP picture courtesy of Radu Repanovici)

Race Drive of Montreal
I have to say that I along with the cameras seemed primarily focused upon the intense ‘Scrum for the lead with little attention being paid to the back half of the field... So I’m simply giving it to Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Buemi for his fine eighth place finish along with his cousin Natacha Gachnang racing at LeMans this past weekend...


McLaren
Whale McLaren certainly has put the kybosh upon Red bull simply running away with the Championship by sweeping to two consecutive 1-2 finishes during the past two races... As Hamilton’s seemed to have the edge over teammate button by having out qualified him along with winning the last two events to even their respective scores in the “W” colum as both Brit’s have now two victories apiece...

No. 1) J. Button: Q) 5th; R) 2nd
No. 2) L. Hamilton: Q) Pole; R) Winner
(Car No; Driver)

Name Q R
Button 3 3
Hamilton 5 5
(Head-to-Head Standings)

Mercedes
I have to admit I missed out on what ailed DER TERMINATOR, nee M. Schumacher from making Q3 for the first time this season? (I believe...) As the Seven Times World Champion seemingly had a miserable race and simply seemed out of his league for once if such a thing is possible? As Michael spent the entire race swerving, blocking ‘N banging wheels with his younger competitors whilst once again Nico finished ahead of Schuey in the points.

No. 3) M. Schumacher: Q) 13th; R) 11th (-1 lap)
No. 4) N. Rosberg: Q) 10th; R) 6th

Name Q R
Schumacher 2 2
Rosberg 6 6

Red Bull
After being just nipped by the young Louise for Pole Position, Webber was forced to take a five Grid spot penalty when his Team elected to change his Gearbox and thus started P7 instead, thus elevating Vettel into his starting spot alongside Hamilton.

Yet Vettel once again had some sort of Mechanical issue with his Gearbox, albeit he got the Radio call of the weekend when trying to give his Engineer “Rocky” a Heart attack when asking if he should go for Fastest lap? Negative, DON’T you even think about it... Bleep-bleep-bleep came the reply... That was funny stuff ‘Zebb! As the young German basically motored around to finish fourth while Webber’s late race stop for thrashed rubber saw him finish one place behind Vettel.

No. 5) S. Vettel: Q) 3rd; R) 4th
No. 6) M. Webber: Q) 2nd; R) 5th

Name Q R
Vettel 3 4
Webber 5 4

Ferrari
While Alonso had the much better race, I almost felt sorry for Felipe who musta thought he was playing the leading role in Groundhog Day? “I’ve got you Babe!” As Massa seemingly couldn’t extricate himself from the Force India duo, seemingly fighting them for a lowly tenth place points finish the entire event before once again colliding with ex-teammate Michael Schumacher and falling to 15th place... Then adding insult to injury, Felipe was assessed a 20-second time penalty for speeding in the pits after having rushed to have his nose replaced after his skirmish with Herr Schumacher! Yet the Team claims there’s a raft of updates coming for Valencia, so watch this space, eh?

No. 7) F. Massa: Q) 7th; R) 15th (-1 lap)
No. 8) F. Alonso: Q) 4th; R) 3rd

Name Q R
Massa 3 4
Alonso 5 4

So as I mentioned yesterday, I for ‘Juan was shocked by the surprise announcement of Uncle Bernaughty selecting Austin, Texas as the site of the new USGP beginning in 2012... As after all, I’d just listened to Ye ‘Ol Windbag Dave Despain pester guest co-host Jeff Gordon a mere 36hrs earlier over his alleged ties to the Monticello Motor Club in upstate New York, along with it’s reputedly “leaked” letter inquiring Messer Bernard Ecclestone upon the possibility of landing a future F1 race there. This coupled with the fact that Emperor Bernardo’s sole track design guru Herman Tilke had visited the premises... To which at least Jeff Gordon gave an honest assessment of by stating that the proposed venue would need a lot of major improvements; track & infrastructure-wise... As this all played out on the Sunday night airing of Wind Tunnel at 7PM ET; Thus, I DON’T believe anybody saw this coming, besides the Key Players, who amazingly kept a pretty tight lid upon this news, eh? As reportedly even the Mayor of Austin wasn’t aware of it until the announcement! So, as Marc of the “other” Full Throttle sez; Bernie gave the ultimate head fake!

And believe me; I for one definitely wanna see this happen... Yet isn’t it strange how first RASSCAR hosts their Hall of Fame Grand Opening on Bump Day and then Bernie launches his shocker just prior to the upcoming Indy 500...

As I for one feel this scenario has a bit of a Donnington Park feeling to it, especially since there hasn’t been any property purchased, Edward “The Goose” Gossage is telling anyone who’ll listen his Texas Motor Speedway cost $250 million to complete way back in 1996 and the managing Director of Full Throttle Productions Tavo Hellmund is a RASSCAR Promoter per sei; YIKES!

But you’ve gotta like his ‘Dig, Err Quip towards Texas:
"Austin is more of an F1 crowd than a NASCAR crowd."

Full Throttle Productions LP promotes races at Thunder Hill Raceway, just 20mins outside Austin and Hellmund has competed in various forms of racing.

Joe Saward:
“Hellmund (39) has been a moderately successful driver in various local NASCAR series. He is the son of Tavo Hellmund, the promoter of the original CART races in Mexico City in the early 1980s. He raced in British Formula Ford and other European open wheel feeder series in the early 1990s (often in cars sponsored by Central TX auto dealers.”

Yet according to Marc, Austin averages 90f degrees in June, as Y’all would assume that any USGP would be “bundled” with the Canadian GP which is being held on June 13th this year. Then again, can Y’all say Humidity? As I vividly recall sweltering at Indy during July, 2006’s USGP which was a balmy 97f; SHEISA!

Is Formula One coming to Austin?