The 2016 challengers for the Formula One World Championship turned their first wheels in anger around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for one of two pre-season tests ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. While the whole picture can be gleaned from testing, we probably did somethings in terms of pace and reliability.
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Formula One: 2016 Pirelli Wet Tyre Test
We’re still three weeks from the drivers and teams of Formula One arriving in Barcelona for their two weeks pre-season testing but that doesn’t mean that F1 cars aren’t on track. Last week, Pirelli invited Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren to the Paul Ricard Circuit in France and turned on the sprinklers to have the teams test various prototype wet tyre compounds for the 2016 season.
The Dollars and Cents of the Fantasy Football Boom (Infographic)
With the hockey season just underway and the NFL already far enough in for my Lions to be eliminated from the playoffs, fantasy football’s busiest time of year is in full swing. You know it’s a big deal because you hear people talking about fantasy sports all the time. What you may not know is how big a deal it is. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry with tens of millions of people playing every week.
For more on the dollars, cents and sense of fantasy sports, here’s a handy infographic looking at the fantasy football industry.
Car Rallies (Almost) Anyone Can Do (Infographic)
Not every car race is in single-seaters or purpose-built racing machines. For some big races, all you need is a car and the willingness to chew through thousands of miles from Point A to Point B. That’s what’s great about car rallies. If you’re willing to put in the effort, you can race. To help you figure out if you can handle a rally, we have a handy infographic for you.
Also, why is the distance rated in Grosjeans? Have we forgotten about Tom Kristensen?
F1 Japanese Grand Prix: The Silliest Silly Season
The weekend started with literal and figurative dark clouds hanging over Suzuka. The weekend started with rain as the teams returned to the site of Jules Bianchi’s fatal accident in similar weather conditions. The skies cleared over the weekend but it didn’t give way to a particularly exciting weekend. Lewis Hamilton won the race in a dominant effort but all the real interesting happenings in Formula One aren’t happening on-track.
F1 Singapore Grand Prix: Bright Lights, Big Win
As much as I don’t like bestowing massive praise on a relatively young event but the Singapore Grand Prix has quickly established itself as one of the signature events of the F1 season. Along with the old standards of Monaco, Silverstone and Monza, this is one of the races that everyone seems to race with extra motivation to win.
With that in mind, it was quite a surprise to see Mercedes off the pace in Singapore. In fact, with the lights shining bright, it was Ferrari that was fastest through the night. Sebastian Vettel scored a grand slam by qualifying on pole, setting the fastest lap, leading all the laps and winning the race.
F1 Power Rankings: Singapore Grand Prix
When you’re on the road, it’s hard to keep track of the Formula One scheudle. I was so out of the loop that I missed that Roberto Merhi has been replaced for five of the next seven races by Alexander Rossi. Rossi sits P2 in GP2 so it’s not like he’s coming out of nowhere. But being an F1 rookie and running for Manor, I don’t rate his chances that well. Whose chances do I like? That’s why we have the Power Rankings.
Curling 101 (An Infographic)
I’m not sure if I ever mentioned it before but I was a pretty good curler in high school. Well, good is a relative term. I could make an Olympic caliber shot if the moment called for it once out of ten or twenty times. That’s the difference between your beer leaguer and your Olympic star. The guy at the club can make the perfect shot one out of 20 times. The guy you’re watching on TV will do it 18 or 19 times out of 20.
Anyway, Smarter Every Day has a handy infographic and video explaining the basics of curling and the science behind curling a stone. It seems so simple when you watch it on TV. In practice, not so much.
F1 Italian Grand Prix: Under Pressure
The Italian Grand Prix is one of the most prestigious and historic Grands Prix on the F1 calendar. While the current state of F1 made the winning manufacturer a foregone conclusion, the post-race drama gave a little intrigue to an otherwise less-than-thrilling Italian Grand Prix.
In the end, it was Lewis Hamilton who crossed the line first and then survived a stewards’ inquiry after the race to win the Italian Grand Prix.
So You Say You Want a #DivasRevolution?
Regular readers know that I’m an occasional wrestling watcher. For the most part, I watch NXT and Lucha Underground. One thing that both shows get right that the WWE hasn’t figured out on Raw or SmackDown is how to make the female talent matter. On both NXT and Lucha Underground, women are an important part of the show with their own interesting characters and stories rather than filler to get through five-plus hours of television each week.
The WWE have tried to fix that with their #DivasRevolution™ on Raw and SmackDown. After only a month and a half, it seems to have run out of steam. The crowd at Raw on Monday night turned on the Divas™ match that was part of 20+ minutes of talking and match segments. The wrestlers blamed the fans for not being behind the WWE’s #DivasRevolution but the problem is that the revolution has been doomed to failure, intentionally or unintentionally, from the start.
The Lowdown 