F1/Indy: Dusting off the crown jewels…

Monaco: delivered on its promise. (Force India)

Hype is easy to find in racing; delivery is another subject entirely.  On a weekend when motorsport packs two of its premiere events into a 12-hour period, the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 lived up to their lore.

Sebastian Vettel’s win at Monaco was copied from a textbook, and JR Hildebrand’s heartbreak at Indy echoed Marco Andretti’s last-lap tragedy in 2006, with Dan Wheldon playing spoiler this time.  Opposite ends of the emotional spectrum, but exhausting races each.

There are weekends when your friends stare at you and wonder why you spend Sunday afternoon watching cars go ’round in circles.  On weekends like these, persistence pays off.  Monaco represents all that is great and all that is wrong with F1 in the same breath.  In a fraught race, Vettel started from pole and never put a foot wrong.  Vettel’s mastery was stunning, nursing worn tires for too-many laps in front of a surging Alonso and Button.  Alonso pushed but couldn’t seal the deal; Vettel has now won five of six rounds and Red Bull seem unstoppable.

For three turns, we held our breath and wondered if a rookie could conquer Indy.  One turn later, we got our answer and felt Hildebrand’s heartbreak as he hit the wall at turn 4, allowing Dan Wheldon by for his second Indy 500 win.  He remains one of the best British drivers who couldn’t get mugged in London.

We need a Monday off just to recover.

Milk as a post-race beverage means one thing: Wheldon does the double. (Photo: IndyCar Series)

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