F1 Grand Prix Austin Texas

[Blarg]

National Anthem sung by black naval petty officer. No one kneeled.

[Blarg]

Hamilton's Mercedes passed Vettel's Ferrari on the 7th lap and now it's a race to see who takes third.

16 laps in and Hamilton has over a 5 second lead on the second place Ferrari that just can't match the Mercedes for power. It doesn't help Vettel is chasing a three five time world champion.

Meanwhile Hamilton's brother, Nicholas, who was born with cerebral palsey, watches in the stands. He races in the British production car circuit in a specially modified car. 

Edited October 23, 2017 by Blarg

[Tank]

i only watch two car races each year - the indy 500 and the daytona 500. 

[Blarg]

I can't get excited about race cars that only make left turns. 

[Tank]

fair enough. none of it really appeals to me.

[Blarg]

There is something about watching GP cars going through chicanes like slot cars that is facinating to me. First it seems almost impossible they have so little body roll and then being able to keep contact on the course at that speed without spinning out is a mixture of science and balls.

It really did come down to who took third place. After lap 6 it was Hamilton 1 and Vettel 2 for the rest of the race. Now Hamilton needs only to place 5th in the Grand Prix of Mexico to secure his 6th world championship.

 

[Blarg]

The third place finisher Verstappen was denied his podium because of a passing violation in the final turn.

Verstappen's Red Bull car was on the tail of Raikkonen's Ferrari and managed to squeeze by on the inside on turn 17, much to Raikkonen's surprise. After the race was over Raikkonen was pissed at himself for letting Verstappen by, thinking he had successfully blocked the inner angle and it turned out he was right. 

Replays showed Verstappen's car didn't have enough room and used the infield to make the manuever, at one point even riding on the grass. The judges determined it was an illegal pass and penalized the Red Bull car five seconds. 

That was enough to put Raikkonen's Ferrari on the third place podium by one second. Verstappen was was furious with the decision and even called on fans not to come back to the US Grand Prix next year as a form of protest. 

NikiLauda even chimed in "This decision is the worst I've ever seen, he did nothing wrong," said Lauda."We're racing drivers, we're not on a normal road, it's ridiculous to destroy the sport with this kind of decision."

These words will fall on deaf ears, the infield is not part of the track and is supposed to only be used for emergency manuevers to avoid accidents, not exploited for passing. Most of the time encroaching on the infield is ignored but that is usually because the car will only have two wheels inside the line and caused by avoiding the outside car's angle into a turn. 

But Verstappen's Red Bull car not only had all four wheels inside the line, he even more dangerously ran across part of the grass. It wasn't a matter if reaching the turn first then avoiding Raikkonen's angle, he forced his car inside using the infield the entire way. 

These races are about tactics but also safety. Raikkonen picked his line knowing that Red Bull car could not pass on the inside without either causing a collision or traveling on the infield and the rules are clear about this. Raikkonen was driving agressive to block a pass but also safely. Verstappen took a reckless approach endangering both drivers and got the penalty he deserved.

It made for an interesting finish since position 1 and 2 were determined after 6 laps. Also to note this was a British broadcast in Austin Texas aired on NBC. It shows how little interest there is in GP racing in the states where we host the event but don't even use a shared feed with US announcers. That could change if the major auto makers would put their interest into the sport.

Edited October 23, 2017 by Blarg

[Tank]

@nate, where are you? this thread has your name all over it.

[nate]

I am a big fan of Kimi so I was pleased with the decision.

I like F1, but a lot of the tracks seem a bit boring now.  Abu Dhabi is by far the worst.

I enjoy watching LM and Rally a lot more.  I am hoping with drone tech improving so much that we get better aerial views of live rally races.  Right now it is just helicopter footage which is too zoomed out and cameras at a few different parts of the track.  We get drone footage but after the race is over.

Niki Lauda has always seemed like a bitter asshole, especially when Senna was kicking his ass all over the track.

[HaloCory22]

I was able to catch qualifying and practice on Saturday. I'll check out the race later this week. Biggest takeaway though is I'm so glad they got away from Indy. That "road course" was a POS.

[Angel Oracle]

On ‎10‎/‎23‎/‎2017 at 8:22 AM, Blarg said:

The third place finisher Verstappen was denied his podium because of a passing violation in the final turn.

Verstappen's Red Bull car was on the tail of Raikkonen's Ferrari and managed to squeeze by on the inside on turn 17, much to Raikkonen's surprise. After the race was over Raikkonen was pissed at himself for letting Verstappen by, thinking he had successfully blocked the inner angle and it turned out he was right. 

Replays showed Verstappen's car didn't have enough room and used the infield to make the manuever, at one point even riding on the grass. The judges determined it was an illegal pass and penalized the Red Bull car five seconds. 

That was enough to put Raikkonen's Ferrari on the third place podium by one second. Verstappen was was furious with the decision and even called on fans not to come back to the US Grand Prix next year as a form of protest. 

NikiLauda even chimed in "This decision is the worst I've ever seen, he did nothing wrong," said Lauda."We're racing drivers, we're not on a normal road, it's ridiculous to destroy the sport with this kind of decision."

These words will fall on deaf ears, the infield is not part of the track and is supposed to only be used for emergency manuevers to avoid accidents, not exploited for passing. Most of the time encroaching on the infield is ignored but that is usually because the car will only have two wheels inside the line and caused by avoiding the outside car's angle into a turn. 

But Verstappen's Red Bull car not only had all four wheels inside the line, he even more dangerously ran across part of the grass. It wasn't a matter if reaching the turn first then avoiding Raikkonen's angle, he forced his car inside using the infield the entire way. 

These races are about tactics but also safety. Raikkonen picked his line knowing that Red Bull car could not pass on the inside without either causing a collision or traveling on the infield and the rules are clear about this. Raikkonen was driving agressive to block a pass but also safely. Verstappen took a reckless approach endangering both drivers and got the penalty he deserved.

It made for an interesting finish since position 1 and 2 were determined after 6 laps. Also to note this was a British broadcast in Austin Texas aired on NBC. It shows how little interest there is in GP racing in the states where we host the event but don't even use a shared feed with US announcers. That could change if the major auto makers would put their interest into the sport.

Verstappen listened to too much Jim Rome.   "If you're not cheating, you're not trying."