Juan Pablo Montoya has been denied the IndyCar 2015 championship because of the series' controversial double points final race in Sonoma. Montoya collided with teammate Will Power during a restart, sending him to the back of the field. He recovered strongly, finishing sixth - but this only left him tied on 556 points with Scott Dixon, who won the title on countback. "Dixon had a s**t season all year and had one good race, and we paid the penalty," said Montoya.
Controversial win to say the least!
Without double points, he would have won the series he's led all year with ease, despite the collision with Power. He did benefit from double points by winning the Indy 500 - but would still have won even if double points were removed from that race too.
The double points rule arguably taints Dixon's series title and leaves Montoya as the moral victor in the eyes of most race fans: it created a very exciting final race, with a headline-grabbing effect, but this is likely to prove fleeting and not sit well with genuine racers.
Montoya did admit they went into the last race knowing it was a double-points event. "Is it fair for a normal championship?", he said, "No, it's not fair, but it's the rules they want to play with, and if you don't like the rules, don't race."
As Formula 1 undoubtedly breathes a sigh of relief that it dodged such controversy before rescinding the silly rule, IndyCar seems unlikely to change it for 2016. Over to the fans: what do you think?
Gone but certainly never to be forgotten
Justin Wilson wins IndyCar 2015 title
The late Justin Wilson has won the Verizon IndyCar Series Fan Favourite Driver 2015 title, a week after suffering injuries in the Pocono 500 to which he would succumb the following day. The award was accepted by his brother Stefan Wilson on the seventh anniversary of the seven-time IndyCar race-winner's victory at Belle Isle.
"The outpouring of support that has occurred for Justin and his family creates at least a small window for us to peer into and see the impact this man has had on those around him and people all over the world," said Wilson's former teammate and training partner JR Hildebrand said. "I spoke with (Wilson's wife) Julia this morning. She simply said how overwhelmed she is by how big the IndyCar and racing community is and that she doesn't have enough words to truly say thank you.
"She wants everyone to know that they're going to be OK, and that Justin will be there and try to guide them."
A fund for Justin's children has now been established. Want to contribute and mark the rightly popular British racer? Find out how here.
So is it a chassis or an engine problem Honda?
Honda F1: the saga continues
Honda motorsport boss Yasuhisa Arai has continued his buoyant views of the firm's updated F1 engine by stating to Autosport that it's 25hp more powerful than Renault's motor and just 30hp shy of Ferrari's race-winning 2015 engine.
Before the Spa race, Arai had said the revised motor was "much better than Renault" and on a similar level to Ferrari, and a planned winter development will give the 2016 car Mercedes-matching power; he's since slightly revised these bold claims but insisted the engine is still, well, "much better than the Renault team". The engine's not the problem, he said: as in Hungary, McLaren's chassis is hiding the gains.
This all may be news to Jenson Button, who called the Belgian Grand Prix "embarrassing" and called for Honda to forget engine reliability and focus on performance. "Reliability is second because we'd like to see ourselves quicker and less reliable. I wouldn't have an issue with that." All of which should make this weekend's power-hungry Italian Grand Prix at Monza an interesting watch for McLaren followers. Will the real Honda F1 please stand up?
No stopping the Porsches now!
Mark Webber, along with teammates Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley, has at last scooped his first World Endurance Championship victory in the Six Hours of Nurburgring - fittingly, the place where he also won his first Formula 1 race. Just as fittingly, it was Webber who took the chequered flag in the #17 Porsche 919, finishing a lap ahead of the sister #18 car. The #7 Audi of Lotterer, Treluyer and Fassler was third: Toyota, a distant fifth and sixth, three and four laps down.
Quick Brit Nick Tandy was also again a winner: with team-mates Richard Bradley and Matt Howson, he won the LMP2 class with a dominant drive in the ORECA-Nissan 05, while Porsche won GTE Pro with the Team Manthey outfit scooping a one-two.
"Achieving the second one-two after Le Mans is great for our team," said Webber. This is my first Porsche victory and, of course, it is a big day for Brendon, Timo and myself, and it is always a team effort. The two of them were awesome, we had no technical issues and took an important step by improving our performance on shorter tracks. Traffic was sometimes brutal today, but we made it."