2014 USA GP Thread

[truefan72]

I like how all the sky pundits are now singing a different song. they all predicted rosberg to win.
now hill and blundell are talking like they knew hamilton was going to win.

Its all good. It was a clean race, the only shame for today was the missing teams

[steveaki13]

Amazing. Hamilton 10 wins now to Rosberg's 4 and still the title is close. Thats a weird thing to consider, considering Hamilton only has 3 v 2 retirements.

[jens]

Amazing. Hamilton 10 wins now to Rosberg's 4 and still the title is close. Thats a weird thing to consider, considering Hamilton only has 3 v 2 retirements.

Also it is worth considering that second place is worth 72% of winner's points. So it is not that bad - or like the previous system, where second place was worth 80%. Though it is not quite 60% (10-6) or 66 2/3 (9-6) either, somewhere inbetween.

Simply shows that if you can finish second absolutely consistently, you can hang within striking distance of the leader. The issue is that this season is odd. Because Mercedes dominates so badly. That's why Rosberg can be second all the time. In most seasons however the competition is more diverse and if you have a significant amount of wins, you usually pull out a big gap, because your rival is unlikely to finish right behind you all the time. Although Räikkönen with only a single win took it down to the wire in 2003, when Schumacher won 6 races.

[jens]

I also remember WRC 2008. Loeb won how many rallies? I lost count, it must have been over 10. Hirvonen won just 2 or 3. But the Finn almost took it down to the wire by consistently finishing on the podium and capitalizing on an odd Loeb retirement.

[dj_bytedisaster]

No. Because if he was left out and passed by anyone, you'd be whining that they screwed him by leaving him out. No matter what happens you are always on the same crap, and this is just..
You have a lot of good to say, but man the fanaticism is just...

I mainly react to what was a constant throughout the season and that was RB trying extreme strategies on him and it rarely worked out.

[The Black Knight]

Awesome awesome race.

Absolutely great driving by both Mercedes drivers but yet again the better driver won. Two second places is all that is needed now for Hammy to win the WDC.

Great racing throughout the pack. I love the US Grand Prix - has given us great races out front two out of three years. Pity all new circuits aren't like Austin!

[airshifter]

As usual for the USGP some good racing through the field. I really like that drivers can make so many areas passing zones, as it livens things up quite a bit.

Good drives by all up front. Shame that Williams don't get their strategy and pit stops down a little better, but at least they have a car to fight with. Mercedes seemed to not have all that much pace in hand until near the end, then showed their hand some when Rosberg was chasing Lewis.

Some good wheel to wheel battles between Alonso and Button, as well as a couple of others. It made up for a few stupid punts such as the move by Checo.

I'm starting to think Sebastian is much like Lewis, and his head gets in the way of a good drive sometimes. Whining about the car while coming from the back of the pack to 7th does no good at all, other than to show how easy some are defeated when everything doesn't go their way. Just shut up and drive!


IIRC I think two or three drivers beat the old lap record.

[Duncan]

Amazing. Hamilton 10 wins now to Rosberg's 4 and still the title is close. Thats a weird thing to consider, considering Hamilton only has 3 v 2 retirements.

Interesting to note that even if Hamilton wins at Interlagos and Rosberg has a DNF at that race, the points gap would still be exactly one point shy of making Hamilton the world champ because of the double points at Abu Dhabi.

Anyway, whatever. A great race, and particularly for me personally since it was the first time I actually got to see a race at the track. I've been an F1 fan my entire life (literally - from the youngest age I used to sit in front of the TV with my dad at weekends and watch F1) but I've never made it to a race until this weekend. Definitely puts a whole new perspective on everything.

Lewis really never looked troubled at all. Even when he was behind Rosberg I just got the sense that he was only waiting for the right moment to make his move. Once he did, he immediately pulled out a gap - there was a meaningful gap even as they went round turn 15 after making the pass at turn 12 - and then looked like he was managing a gap of about 2 - 2.5 seconds and pretty much just winding down the laps to the end of the race. Nico's morale must be a little destroyed at this point, and I kind of think that's intentional on Lewis' part.

Apart from that, I noticed again that both of the Lotus's had brightly glowing brake discs as they came into turn 12, consistently. Almost nobody else did, and certainly not consistently. I was half expecting to see one of them go straight on into the turn 12 gravel trap in a cloud of black dust. Anybody know what that's about?

[Tazio]

Dunc' I haven't read anything specifically about the subject of Lotus' glowing brakes, but I would hazard a guess that it could be something like trying to reduce drag by using smaller brake ducts to lessen their straight line speed deficit.

[journeyman racer]

Race starts 7am here. I was watching it. I see Rosberg is leading Hamilton by 1+ secs. Coverage goes to a commercial break. I switch over to see the nfl. It has the last couple of minutes of the Vikings/Redskins game. I watch the end of that. Switch it back over. I see the Hamilton is now leading by 1+secs, and that how it is for the rest of the race. I'm left miffed.