IRL: Sato coming to IndyCar

Former F1 driver Takuma Sato will race for KV Racing Technologies as a teammate to Hideki Mutoh, according to ESPN.com.

Our View It's kind of nice to see an open wheel guy stay with open wheel after the sudden influx of F1 drivers into NASCAR. Expect Sato to run better on road courses than ovals as he starts his learning curve in this type of racing.

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F1: USF1 announces first driver in lineup

Argentine Jose Marie Lopez has been named as the first driver in the USF1 lineup for 2010, according to ESPN.com.

Our View Eventually, the team wants to hire American drivers and give them an opportunity to race, but until then they are creating opportunities nonetheless: Lopez has logged 6,000 test miles with Renault.

Lopez will become the 24th Argentine in Formula 1and the first since Gaston Mazzacane ran in April 2001.

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F1: Schumacher ready for return

Michael Schumacher feels "great emotion" while preparing for his return to Formula 1, according to ESPN.com. He will return in a Mercedes in 2010 to end a three-year retirement.

Our View Don't expect Schumacher to have any rust after three years, however; he will be one of the strongest drivers in F1 fantasy racing.

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Trucks: Piquet, Meira test went well

Monday's Craftsman Truck Series test for Nelson Piquet Jr. and Vitor Meira was delayed until Tuesday, but once on track both drivers performed well, according to team owner Tom DeLoach (at the Official Fan Club Nelson Piquet Web site).

Our View "I was really impressed with both drivers," DeLoach said. I anticipated that it would take a lot longer for them to get accustomed to the trucks once they started."

"We made some changes to the trucks in hopes to give each driver certain feelings in the truck, and they both explained exactly what feedback we were expecting. Both drivers have very impressive skill sets, and they really exceeded my expectations for the first time in a Camping World Truck Series Tundra."

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Trulli NASCAR?

Add Jarno Trulli to the list of potential Formula 1/NASCAR crossovers. He will reportedly test a Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota at Lakeland this winter along side Mika Salo.

Our View Trulli could potentially join Nelson Piquet Jr. and IndyCar stars Vitor Meira and Danica Patrick in part= or full-time schedules in 2010. If these stars are capable of bringing any kind of sponsorship to the table, the field is wide open for them with up to 14 percent of the field being taken by "start and park" teams this year.

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Piquet Jr. coming to NASCAR?

With the success that Juan Montoya has finally achieved this year, another former F1 driver is eyeing a career in NASCAR. Nelson Piquet Jr. is scheduled to test a Red Horse Racing truck at Rockingham (N.C. that is – not England, y'all) on October 12th, according to SPEEDTv.com.

Our View Earlier in the week, it was announced Mika Salo would test a MWR Toyota this winter.

Diversity is great for the sport, so long as NASCAR doesn't also lose its connection to their roots. Piquet is young enough to be able to make the transition to the heavier stock cars—if he is actually talented enough to control it.

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Salo coming to NASCAR?

According to Autosport.com, Mika Salo will test a Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota this November. "It will be great to get to test a NASCAR at last," Salo told AUTOSPORT magazine, "After two years of trying, I finally met the person who could make it happen. Racing sportscars in the US has definitely helped.

"My hope next year is that I can do some races in Nationwide, maybe even a full season - but I understand that I may have to raise some money to make it happen."

Our View This time is right to try and make a move with Juan Montoya currently running so well. This has to increase recognition for former F1 drivers.

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Hamilton wins Singapore GP

Lewis Hamilton posted his second victory of the season by winning the Singapore Grand Prix after starting from the pole.

Our View Hamilton's first win this season didn't come until race 10 and the Hungarian Grand Prix and previous to that his best result was fourth in the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix. Since Hungary, however, Hamilton has three poles and two wins in five races plus another runner-up result in Spain.

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F1: Sutil paces Italy GP practice 2

Adrian Sutil posted the fastest lap in the second practice for the Italian Grand Prix with less than five minutes remaining in the session.

Our View As impressive as that was, it was more notable that the driver he kicked off the top spot was Romain Grosjean, the rookie driver in the second Renault entry.

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F1: Raikkonen wins Belgian GP

Kimi Raikkonen became the sixth different winner in the last six races, according to Formula1.com. This snapped a 25-race winless streak and was Ferrari's first win of the season.

Our View After Jenson Button won six of the first seven races, it is wonderful to see this kind of parity.

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F1: Fisichella wins Spa pole

Giancarlo Fisichella shocked the Formula 1 field by winning the pole for the Belgian Grand Prix in the Force India entry.

Our View As surprising as this is, Fisichella should not be on your roster. His best finish so far in 2009 was ninth in the Monaco Grand Prix.

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IRL: Patrick is too big for USF1

The American owned and run US Formula 1 team has several drivers on their radar screen, but Danica Patrick is not one of them, according to AutoRacingDaily.com.

Our View A lot of people are saying to us ‘are you interested in Danica Patrick?’ and my reply is in some respects, Danica is too big for us now,” US F1 boss Peter Windsor said.

Patrick is certainly a hot commodity, but she needs to announce where she will run next year or risk getting distracted by all this noise.

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F1: Ecclestone expect to return to Montreal

Despite the fact that no agreement is signed, Bernie Ecclestone expects the Formula 1 Series to return to Montreal in 2010, according to Auto Racing Daily.

Our View With the US Grand Prix off the schedule as well, North American fans have not had anything to look forward to. Let's hope they can come to an agreement.

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F1: Concorde agreement signed

It appears the Formula 1 crisis is finally over. Max Mosley and the Formula 1 Team Association have signed an agreement that will extend into 2012, according to SpeedTV.com.

Our View A breakaway league would have been devastating for Formula 1 style racing—the same as it was for the Indy Racing League and CART—so this is good news for fantasy players.

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F1: Massa heading home

Felipe Massa is expected to be released from a Hungarian hospital and will return to Brazil after this weekend, according to Crash.net.

Our View That is great news. His incident in the Hungarian Grand Prix was extremely scary.

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F1: Hamilton looks forward to racing Schumacher

Fresh off victory last week in Hungary, Lewis Hamilton is looking forward to finally getting a chance to race against Michael Schumacher in Spain, according to Crash.net.

Our View Hopefully the early season struggles are behind him and Hamilton in his McLaren and Schumacher in the Ferrari will get a chance to contend.

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F1: Schumacher to sub for Massa

Michael Schumacher will come out of retirement and substitute for the injured Felipe Massa at Valencia, Spain, according to Autosport.com.

Our View Only 24 hours before the announcement, his manager Willi Webber had this to say: "Whoever sits in the car at the next race in Valencia, it will not be Michael Schumacher. I am not 100 per cent sure; I am 200 per cent sure."

Guess you can't trust PR people in any sport.

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F1: Hamilton finally wins

After suffering through an abysmal first part of the season, Lewis Hamilton finally earned his first victory of the season in the Hungarian Grand Prix. It was also only his second podium finish of 2009.

Our View This was a bizarre weekend that witnessed serious injury to Felipe Massa in qualification and a broken wheel for pole sitter Fernando Alonso during the race. Incidents like these make the race harder to handicap, but more interesting for fantasy owners.

Massa is listed in stable condition for now; keep sending up prayers for him and his family.

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F1: Massa injured in freak accident

Felipe Massa has undergone surgery for injuries sustained in the qualification session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, according to Autosport.com. A spring from Rubens Barrichello's car struck him in the head giving him a concussion and he is currently under observation in intensive care.

Our View Two stories here: Massa is unlikely to compete in the race and Barrichello's owner Ross Brawn is perplexed as to why a component came off his car, which could signal troubles for both teams.

Update: Massa will certainly not race; he is currently listed in serious condition with life-threatening injuries. Our prayers go out to him and his family.

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F1: Alonso on Hungarian pole

Fernando Alonso won the pole for the Hungarian Grand Prix—his first pole of the season.

Our View The field is closing in on Brawn Racing, so the second half of the season may just be competitive and fantasy owners will have options from here on.

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