This Weekend's Coverage Schedule (March 30th)

Not much going on this week. Plus, our first "fun" top 10 ranking.

It’s another quiet week this weekend. One that will become increasingly rare the deeper we go through the spring and summer.

Of course, that doesn’t mean there’s no racing this weekend at all. NASCAR will be busy at Martinsvile Speedway all weekend with its three national series.

I’ve covered races at Martinsville before, and even with the caveat that the Cup Series doesn’t roll in until early Saturday morning, it’s still wild to me to see so many series in one weekend at that itty bitty track.

After this weekend, though, we have some big things happening. Albeit there’s one thing I have to rant about.

Okay, so I know why F1 wanted the Japanese Grand Prix next weekend, so that it would allign with the cherry blossums blooming. I also understand why they wanted to start the season with five races in six weeks.

They started with Australia and then China. But then, instead of going to Japan to start the season with a triple header, they instead have the weekend off between China and Japan.

Now, the triple header is Japan, Bahrain, and then Saudi Arabia. That means there’s a 16 hour flight between Japan and Bahrain in the middle of said triple header. The distance between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia is basically nothing, so that’s all well and good at least, but a 16 hour flight is going to be such a pain in the ass for the crews that are already stressed during a triple header.

Just to compare, there is a two and a half hour flight from Shanghai to Suzuka. There’s a 10-12 hour flight from Melbourne to Shanghai the teams already did, but that’s not as bad as Japan to Bahrain because there’s only a three hour time difference. And having those three as the triple header removes a lot of stress of having that 16 hour flight between races irregardless.

And it’s not like the schedule falls apart if you move everything but Japan up a week in this five race span. All that would need to be changed is moving Miami and Imola up a weekend in May. That turns Imola-Monaco-Spain into a triple header, but that’s far more managable than Japan-Bahrain-Saudi Arabia.

Anyway, next weekend is Japan and we’ll also be covering the NASCAR Cup race at Darlington. Weekend after that is Bahrain and Long Beach. And finally, Easter weekend is just Saudi Arabia before another weekend off. The final one before June. The month of May is fast approaching, already.

This Week’s Top 10 Ranking

Best Current Car Brands

10. Hyundai
9. Porsche
8. Mazda
7. Mercedes-Benz
6. Volvo
5. Cadillac
4. Aston Martin
3. Volkswagen
2. Honda
1. Toyota