Formula 1 Circuit: May

By Erick Santiago

Staff Writer

This is it. The final article of the school year. As the school year draws to a close, I wanted to take a brief moment to reflect on this year in The Circuit—and what a year it's been. I could not have asked for a warmer welcome from newspaper sponsors Mrs. Brady and Mrs. Scott and Circuit staff members and (now) new friends like James, Shelby, and Gracie. That was only the beginning, though. There were many great memories made throughout the year, like going to the SWSC Newspaper Conference and meeting one of my personal idols, Demetrius Ivory. Even though, at times, writing these articles could be a lot of work, it was all well worth it, especially because of how much I felt like I belonged here. For that, I wanted to thank everyone here at The Circuit, and of course all of you, our readers, for giving our articles purpose. That being said, I wanted to congratulate all of our readers for making it through another school year, and seniors for making it through high school and graduating. Congratulations! Although, just because the school year is over, doesn’t mean that the Formula 1 season is over! There is plenty of action to be had on track, so allow me to guide you through the rest of May’s races, my personal favorite summer races, and more! 

Miami Race Recap & Breaking News! Following an exciting Miami Grand Prix with Max Verstappen qualifying on pole (1st) battling with the two McLarens on the opening laps, a few retirements from the race being Bearman, Bortoleto, Lawson, and Doohan, Safety Car action, and a McLaren 1-2 masterclass, the Formula 1 world was shocked once more after the news of Alpine F1 Team’s reorganization was announced, including a driver swap from Jack Doohan being a main driver for the team to Franco Colapinto being one. Jack Doohan is now the reserve (back-up) driver for the team, after only six races to prove himself. Doohan had been an academy and development driver for the team for years, already, awaiting his opportunity to prove himself as the team’s prodigy. However, the team did not sufficiently support him, despite them having trained him for years, they opted for a slightly more experienced, younger driver seen in Franco Colapinto. Many fans expected this to happen but were simply waiting for when it would happen. Many are, reasonably, critical of Alpine’s actions. The question now is; will Colapinto perform well enough for Alpine’s liking, or will he exhaust his contract length of five races before he, too, is replaced? Find out, in the coming…

May Races Just this weekend is the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola, Italy. The circuit is notorious for its tricky layout, with many chicanes (left-right or right-left corners followed in quick succession) making it hard to pass. It also has a very distinct corner, called Acque Minerali, which is a medium-speed right hand corner with elevated banking. The race is on Sunday, May 18th at 8:00 AM. The following week is the EXTREMELY prestigious and historic Monaco Grand Prix. The Monaco Grand Prix has been on the Formula 1 calendar ever since the sport’s founding in 1950. It is a very tight street circuit, rendering it virtually IMPOSSIBLE to pass during the race, making qualifying the most important session of the weekend. Since the circuit is so tight (and historic), the race is as prestigious as some other races you may have heard of like the Indy 500, or the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Qualifying is on May, 24th at 9:00 AM and the race is the following day May, 25th at 8:00 AM. You surely wouldn’t want to miss such a prestigious event! 

Now, it’s time for my personal F1 Summer Race Favorites Where to start? I’d say the most recent. That would be the Austrian Grand Prix happening on the 29th of June at 8:00 AM in Spielburg, Austria. This is a fantastic track for racing and overtaking, as the track is host to three DRS zones and all types of corners! Whilst not very accident prone, if you’re a fan of fast, hard racing with nail-biting battles, this is most certainly the race to watch for you! The following week, F1 travels to another one of my favorite races; the British Grand Prix. The British Grand Prix happens in Silverstone, UK and it houses one of the most historic and high speed circuits; the Silverstone Circuit. This Grand Prix, like Monaco, has been on the Formula 1 calendar ever since the sport was founded in 1950. However, unlike Monaco, this circuit’s layout has evolved over the years to best suit the cars as they evolve. Now, like I said, the circuit has some of the most high speed corners on the calendar from Copse corner (turn 9) to the Maggots and Becketts corner complex (turns 10-14). With two DRS zones, and the way the circuit was designed, this track is another GREAT track for fast, hard racing with overtakes aplenty to come. The race is on July, 6th at 9:00 AM. Finally, this list concludes with another fast, historic track/race, the Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit. It’s located in Francorchamps, Belgium and has also been on the Formula 1 calendar since the sport’s founding in 1950. It is currently the longest track on the F1 calendar spanning 4.352 miles, however, back then, the track used to be 9.258 miles long which is over double the length it is today! For context, that is such a long track, that when public roadways were used to complete the track, it spanned the length of three different towns! Most of the circuit’s corners are high-speed, with the most notable eau rouge-raidillon corners, which include an ever-so-slight left corner (eau rouge) before a longer right-hand corner that skyrockets upward, in terms of elevation (raidillon). It’s also a sprint race (explained in October’s edition), which to credit the FIA, (the governing body of the sport) this was an excellent choice in making a sprint race, since the high-speed layout with two DRS zones provide for some more exhilarating racing action. The sprint race is on Saturday, July 26th at 5:00 AM and later, the same day, qualifying for the race is at 9:00 AM. The next day, Sunday, July 27th is when the race is, at 8:00 AM. 

My First Ever F1 Race That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, I thought this was an appropriate way to end the last article of the year by mentioning an exciting memory I am soon to have of…the first ever Formula 1 race I will be attending!!! This summer, I will be heading to CANADA for the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, Quebéc, Canada on a road trip!! First, we (my family and I) will make a one night pit stop in Niagara falls, on the way there to:

1. see Niagara Falls during the day
2. take a boat tour through the falls and to the Horseshoe falls (look up if you need to)
3. see the Niagara Falls at night, and 

4. visit the Skylon Observation Tower to see the falls from above. 

Following our stay at Niagara Falls we will be back on the road stopping in Ottawa, Canada; the country’s capital. Finally, of course, we will stay at a hotel by the F1 track to explore Montreal, and obviously, to enjoy some F1 racing action! We have tickets for all three days, so maybe you’ll be able to tune into the live feed and see my family and I at the track in a crowd shot! The race weekend is the 13th-15th of June and on Friday, June 13th are the free practice sessions, with Free Practice 1 happening at 12:30 PM-1:30 PM. A few hours later is Free Practice 2 happening at 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM. The next day, Saturday, June 14th is Free Practice 3 happening at 11:30 AM-12:30 PM. Following that, (on the same day) is qualifying at 4:00 PM. Finally, Sunday, June 15th is race day, with the race starting at 1:00 PM. As per usual, all time zones are in CDT (Central Daylight Time; Illinois and Mid-Western time), and I’ll be sure to take PLENTY of pictures from my trip to let you all know how my trip went in a bonus second article in September. You’ll just have to stay tuned until then! That’s all for this month. Thank you all, again, for an amazing year. See you all again in September! 

Girls Track and Field Conference 

By Elena Aviles

Staff Writer 

The girls track and field season came to a close on Thursday, May 8th. Conference was held at Lockport High School, and the girls team ran great races! 

The meet started with two strong races from both the JV and Varsity 4x800 teams. After, freshman Grace Mathis won her heat in the 3200 with an amazing time of 12:27! In the varsity heat, junior Sarah Escalona ran a new personal best of 12:46!

Great performances continued in the sprinting events when sophomore Ava Crotty ran a 100 meter dash time of 13.14. Later in the 200 meter dash, Crotty ran a time of 27.50!

 In the 800 meter run, senior Brooke Gallivan ran a great time of 2:33 in the varsity 800. 

 In the 1600 meter run, another personal best was run by Eva Krupka, who ran a 6:38! Grace Mathis also ran a very fast 6:04. 

After conference, the girls will head back to Lockport for sectionals on Wednesday, May 14. Stop by the meet to cheer on the athletes. Good luck ladies!