2023 - Race 19 Austin

[F1nKS]

It all over except the battle for mid-field battle. Another sprint race.

FIA on the Andretti-Cadilla

"We are not a service provider. We own the championship. We leased it, we are the landlord. So that has to be respected also," Ben Sulayam told the news agency. So in other words, if, according to the FIA, Andretti-Cadillac meets all the criteria for participation in Formula 1, the team will get a spot.

[F1nKS]

Last year I attended my first F1 race at Austin. Here is some of my photos.

I was there for Practice 1, 2, 3, qualifying and the race. Here is picture from the observation platform.



Another view



This was I think in practice 1, Stroll crashes on his outlap.

[

View of where I was at for the race



Race start at corner 1

[F1nKS]

Overall it was good time for bucket list item. For the practices we just wandered around and took in the racing with different views. We did the observation deck. But it took 2 attempts to get up there. The first day, we about to get up and VIP group shut it down before we got to go. We got in line earlier on Saturday and got up there.

For watching the race - it like watching through a soda straw. Had there been reliable cell service at the time of race this would have been mitigated.

My takeaway is if you want to really enjoy the F1 experience with ability to actually know what really going on - you need to know somebody who has access.

My main issue was they do not know how to do cell service for large crowds. As we went from P1 to P3 to Qualifying to the racing, the service available got less and less reliable. On race day it was almost impossible to get service. There was not reason not to be able to handle the crowd size except they didn't want to upgrade the infrastructure.

Overall it was fun. They ran it well. Getting in and out was not that hard (we did have a parking pass, which helped).

Good food choices, but expensive.

Sprint races are good thing for those attending the races. Because the biggest downer is dead time in between the practice and qualifying. Sprint races would have made the weekend more fun.

We got there 30 minutes before gates opened on race day - we thought we were early. We weren't. But it was all good, we still got in good spot mainly due to the people who in front of who had some friends who went in a alternate gate with no line, they held places for us at turn 1.

If you are claustrophobic, then you won't like general admission. Everybody was packed in tight. It was like New Years in Times Square packed in.

[airshifter]

Interesting qually sessions and Sprint really. For race qually the gaps are a little bigger, but considering several of the top drivers made mistakes not a lot of really clean laps and there was still only 3/4 of a second among the top 10. Max falters with the RB and falls to 6th on the race grid, with both Mercs, both Ferraris, and Lando with the McLaren slotting into 2nd at the start. The Sprint Shootout was closer at the top, with the top 4 covering just barely over a tenth of a second between them. Considering the mix of corners on the track and that it has a bit of everything, pretty amazing to see 4 cars from different manufacturers within that small a margin. Well done by Albon and Pierre to put their cars in the top 10 on merit as well, and Danny Ric started top 10 due to George pulling his penalty.

Sainz and Ferrari rolled the dice with starting the Spring on the softs, but in the end it didn't really hurt them. Well done by Lewis, Charles, and Lando, but the race pace obviously swayed towards RB enough to make it easy at the front for Max. It could be a different story tomorrow though, as it seems that with the heat on Max is somewhat over driving for the conditions, it bit him in race qually and kept Lewis within DRS range at the start of the Sprint today. If he can't keep a cool head for the race tomorrow he might eat through some tires.... or maybe do another 360 on track. He does seem to be a master of those 360's though, and usually drives right through them. And with the Ferrari at the front, we might see how dirty air is impacting the performance in race pace with them, the Merc, and the McLaren.

Hard to say how the Merc upgrades have worked. Though they seem to be comfortably 2nd in pace, Lewis has always done well at COTA, and his ability at this track might make it hard to tell where the car improved, if it did. None of the cars really looked well planted on the entire track, but George seemed to have his hands full compared to Lewis, and quite a few cars were hit with some fairly bad snaps here and there. With Oscar down in the order for the race it will be interesting to see where Lando can land the McLaren. I think on race pace he might be able to put it in front of the Ferrari of Leclerc, but I'm not sure if he can get Lewis. I expect Max on the podium, but it might not be the top step this weekend.



Aston Martin are nowhere this race. It must be because RB are suffering from the flexi wing TD?

[Nitrodaze]

That was a brilliant US GP, l have to say What a great drive from Verstappen, Hamilton, and Norris. Somehow the Mercedes strategist always finds a way to mess up a promising race. I fail to understand why Mercedes cannot seem to find a consistently good strategist. This is another race they had a great chance of winning, with the right strategy calls.

[Nitrodaze]

Last year I attended my first F1 race at Austin. Here is some of my photos.

I was there for Practice 1, 2, 3, qualifying and the race. Here is picture from the observation platform.



Another view



This was I think in practice 1, Stroll crashes on his outlap.

[

View of where I was at for the race



Race start at corner 1

Wow great pics. I plan to visit one of the US races next season. Great atmosphere and excellent tracks.

[airshifter]

Interesting race, but it might fall apart and have a new podium.

** Leclerc and Hamilton cars failed the plank wear test, sent to the stewards**

This is usually a slam dunk and everyone knew Austin was a bumpy track.

ETA: Now confirmed, both Leclerc and Hamilton disqualified from the race.



Overall the strategy calls made it at least interesting, with Max unhappy with his brakes it even made it look like he might not be in control. But I don't think he pushed the issue, nor do I think he really got pushed hard. Being on the back foot in qually, he still had the best car under him, and they covered strategy with McLaren just to play it safe.

As was not unexpected, Lando played his hand at the start and made it stick. The Ferrari's struggled with deg as expected, though overall did fairly well all things considered. I haven't found it on replay yet but Oscar might have got a blinder of a start of really made up time on the start somehow, he moved up 4 spots. A few good passes though the race, some of the mid field runners were getting dicey here and there. Both AMR cars made up places pretty well, but then Fred somehow hurt the floor and DNF'd.

Great track that usually gives us some good racing. I like the variety of low and high speed stuff, and the drivers seem to love it. And as cheesy as it was, I was waiting for Shaq to show up in the longhorn car to deliver the trophy to the podium! I also thought the Perez fans chanting through the anthem was lame. You can support a driver without disrespecting a countries anthem, and though I think it's kind of a caught in the past tradition, it's not the time to do that kind of crap.



I've already seen the conspiracy theories started about the plank inspections. Never change blind rabid fans, never change.

[N. Jones]

REVISED USA Grand Prix Results:

https://sites.google.com/view/fgp2021/results/19usa

1 Loco Americano F1* 112
2 Muttley Laughing Stock of an F “He! He! He!” Team* 52
2 Слава России! 52
2 ZRT-Castrol* 52

[N. Jones]

REVISED Overall Standings:

https://sites.google.com/view/fgp202...s/00-standings

1 Team Wise Guy* 975
2 Muttley Laughing Stock of an F “He! He! He!” Team* 951
3 Слава России! 948
4 ZRT-Castrol* 947
5 Dżejms Błąd Ef Łan* 945
6 Loco Americano F1* 939
7 Martin McMafia!* 937
8 Team Z* 925
9 Dick Dastardly ‘Double Drat’ Formula 1 Team* 894
10 hungarianboy* 850

[Nitrodaze]

Unfortunate for Hamilton and Leclerc, but the rules are the rules. Great news for Williams and Logan Sargeant who gets his first F1 point as a result. Interesting how the wear was found in only one car in each team affected. The other beneficiary is Perez who extends his lead in second place in the driver's championship.

Whatever the case, the million euro fine introduced in a more bizarre fashion, and disqualifications for plank wear are not going to make the season any less dull, l think.


Mercedes is not looking like being capable of winning a championship at the moment. Poor strategists, poor pit crew; they look frayed and out of sorts.