The first racing death I ever saw was at the little 1/4 mile dirt oval, Riverside Int'l Speedway, in West Memphis Arkansas. I was like 6 or 7, and afaik it was the first race my Dad ever took me to. He was stationed at Memphis NAS at the time. Sammy Swindell was racing that night. He was 15 or 16. Even then, I remember Sammy was already at least a local star. The legendary Hooker Hood was still racing & was there, too. There was another rising star in the field, a young guy in his 20s named Alvin Gatlin. I didn't really know it at that time, but he died in his super-mod, right in front of me on the front straight, maybe 50 feet away. I can remember sitting there looking at the car, with him not moving, and people speaking in hushed tones, but not really giving away the severity of what had just happened. And then they announced the racing was over for the night and we got up and left, back across the Mississippi into Memphis. Something broke on the front suspension and he took a hard right, right into the wall. Likely died of head or spinal trauma, in a crash that a HANS device would probably have allowed him to walk away from. Didn't put me off of racing though, esp dirt oval racing. You can see some of the best racing in the world any Friday or Saturday night at those tracks, esp when the sprints and/or modifieds are there
They tend to think it'll be someone else, like the way they pilots in the Right Stuff just dismissed it as the dead guy's carelessness, etc, and that they'd never fuck up like that. That, and many are generally ok with the idea of going out behind the wheel, doing what they love. like those test pilots.
I loved the bit they showed, with Fernando just telling everyone straight up that Max is the only guy that can do what he'd just done with that car. If Fernando says that, then I believe it.
Agree with most of this, but I disagree re: Alonso. He's still easily top 5 on the grid imho. If AM, Newey, and Honda can give him a good car next year, he'll show what he can still do, and this season's just starting, too. If they can't, then he's probably gone, but I've seen no reason to write him off yet, esp driving the current AM shitbox. He's still a freak. That battle with Gasly early on was amazing.
Re: Yuki, it's his first race weekend in a very difficult car, and he still did far better than Lawson has. Lawson did nothing but go backwards in this race, and got destroyed by Hadjar who was freaking out all weekend. Lawson's turrible.
What's this based on though? They're driving pretty much last year's car and are focused on next year. You won't see much development on that car, and the drivers can't do miracles with it. Stroll looked terrible all weekend, but I didn't see anything in any session that indicated the AM was going to be a points-scoring car at Suzuka this time. I think Alonso got everything the car had.