Quote Originally Posted by Storm View Post
Just goes to show how silly the double point thing is
Yes, it does. I understand the whole thing of making the last race not a lame duck, but it also means that a DNF turns into an effective double-DNF and greatly increases the chance of the championship being decided on a freak mechanical malfunction. Really hoping that doesn't happen.

As for getting to your 1st race, congrats! I have been meaning to go ever since I started earning money - more than a decade and still haven't managed to inspite of having had a GP in my country. I don't know when I will watch a race live though I hope it is in the next 5 years or so.

Thanks! And you should definitely make the trip to a race. It's a blast, and really gives you a whole new perspective on both the race and the track (whichever track it happens to be). Although I've never been to a race before, I did make it to a pre-season test at Barcelona a couple of years back, and that was great too, but nothing like watching a race. Watching the cars fighting for position is much crazier when you see it for real.

Also, one big surprise for me was that I find you don't look at the track in quite the same way again after you've been there; from the TV the track is much more a disjointed set of corners and you don't get a sense of how everything fits together. Austin has much more elevation changes than is apparent from TV. It's more than just the turn 1 hill; there's a significant climb through the esses and then a big drop as you go down to turn 11. Definitely worth taking the time to walk around the whole of the track while one of the practice sessions is going on. Barcelona likewise - big elevation changes and the whole thing is incredibly compact because of the way it's folded in on itself.