Yahoo Autos Where to Watch F1, IndyCar, and NASCAR This Weekend (July 31st, 2022)
Formula 1 - Hungarian GP
Sunday, July 31st - 9:00 a.m. ET - ESPN
Going into the weekend, the major storyline in Formula 1 was how poorly Ferrari has capitalized on a slim advantage over Red Bull in the past month. Races like last weekend's French GP, where recently-crowned Ferrari lead driver Charles Leclerc spun out of a race lead and handed 25 points to Max Verstappen in what is slowly turning into less and less of a championship race, have been unfortunately common for Formula 1's oldest continuous team. All of that should still be relevant in tomorrow's race, with the Ferraris starting second and third and Verstappen mired in tenth in the final race before a month-long Summer break, but it was overshadowed in the session by one driver.
George Russell, seemingly out of nowhere, strung together an exceptional lap in Q3. Yes, Russell is starting on his first career pole in a Mercedes that had not been a factor in qualifying at any point this season. He did it while his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who had generally outperformed him in qualifying the past two months and who holds the all-time record for poles in Formula 1, qualified just seventh.
Needless to say, a first career win tomorrow would overshadow any championship implications, too.
IndyCar - Indianapolis Road Course
Saturday, July 30th - 12:00 a.m. ET - NBC
IndyCar is back at what has become its home base since the pandemic-stricken 2020 season, the Indianapolis r0ad course. This second race of the year at the IMS infield is the companion event to a NASCAR race on the same layout tomorrow, a unique pairing that allows fans to see both cars on track on the same day on Fridays and Saturdays.
Last weekend at Iowa, the championship race seemed to narrow down to a still-large group of six drivers. While Felix Rosenqvist and Alex Rossi start on the front row, contenders Pato O'Ward and Will Power control the second row. Josef Newgarden start a respectable fifth and seventh. Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson, meanwhile, start 20th and 25th after a disastrous qualifying on inconsistent tires. Both will have substantial work to do today.
NASCAR - Indianapolis Road Course
Sunday, July 31st - 2:30 p.m. ET - NBC
NASCAR's new-for-2021 schedule balance has included a substantial amount of new road courses, but all of them are run before the playoffs and the only postseason event with right turns takes place at the temporary infield road course at Charlotte Motor Speedway. That makes this and an upcoming event at Watkins Glen the last best chances of the year for drivers who excel on traditional road courses to fight for the wins they need to either qualify for those playoffs or improve their position within them.
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