F1- Formula One Fans!

[MetroBass]

Originally Posted by bassbrad

I can certainly understand some of the confusion about F1 in Austin but hey it's been an interesting story. If you follow local Austin and Texas politics it has been a hot/cold reception to say the least, but hopefully having a world class track will bring other racing events and a top driving school to town.

Circuit of The Americas - Home of the F1 US Grand Prix | Nov. 16-18, 2012 | Austin TX

We have been watching F1 for about 10 years now we got into F1 and WRC at the time we got our '02 Ford SVT Focus and first went to racing school. We do watch some other racing, especially the NASCAR & Indy clowns on a road course.

Do you think they'll be ready in 6 months? I guess it can't be any worse than the inaugural Korea race. The paint was still running from the rain.

Got my tickets - hopefully it's a go. (it was this or SXSW)

[bassbrad]

Originally Posted by MetroBass

Do you think they'll be ready in 6 months? I guess it can't be any worse than the inaugural Korea race. The paint was still running from the rain.

Got my tickets - hopefully it's a go. (it was this or SXSW)

I expect so they had the topping out ceremony on the tallest building recently and work has been underway for months on the track, it has already had several celebrity circuits in the dirt.
Don't really expect any more construction delays from weather as it looks to be a long hot summer and the funding seems to be in place.

Not sure what to think of the politics of racing in Bahrain, but it should be interesting.

[Angus]

That circuit is looks amazing- I'm betting it's going to be one of Tilke's good ones (ie, more Malaysia/Shanghai/Turkey than Valencia). The elevation change is killer. We'll finally have a top grade track here.

[bassbrad]

Race starts into turn 1 are going to be challenging and interesting to watch with the serious elevation change.

[Kirk Bryant]

Serious racing junky here. I have been following F1 since the 60's. I am happy to see Micheal and Kimi back.
Quick story:
When I was about 13-14 I had a neighbor who was a multiple SCCA west coast winner. He raced in 3 different classes. I used to hang out in his garage and "help" (read watch), him work on his cars. The only one that had 2 seats was an Alfa Romero sedan. Sometimes he would say "wanna go for a ride" duho..hell yea. He would strap me into the 5 point restraint system and off we'ed go. Around Albany Oregon are tons of country roads and he would just 4 wheel drift around corner after corner. I have yet to get the nerve up to really go there in my BMW Z3 or Miata. Though I do hang the rear end out on occasion. haha
I record every race and usually save a couple of three for watching in the off season to prevent withdrawls. LOL

Peace Kirk

[bassbrad]

Bahrain is on looks like Red Bull got things together and Vettel is pole and Weber 3rd with Hamilton, Button and Rosberg finishing the Top 5 starters. Top 8 are all withing 1 second so this should be another interesting race.

[Angus]

One "s" in Rosberg.

I hope Ricciardo can keep up the pace.

It'll be interesting to watch Raikkonen and Schumacher push through the field.

[Square]

I'm a huge F1 fan. I watched my first race in 69 or 70. Remember the 6 wheeled Elf sponsored cars from 76 and 77? The sound of the engines from that era were captivating to me as a young boy.

I DVR every race, every practice, and every qualifying round. I love the tire degradation that the teams must cope with this (and last) season and to watch the teams scramble for any 100th of a second gain by rule manipulation is fascinating. I don't have a favorite team or driver. Oddly enough if I had to choose it would be Button for favorite driver. The oddity is that Hamilton is probably my least favorite. Though his attitude seems improved this year and for some reason I really don't care for Kimi much at all... Maybe Hamilton will move up in the (my) standings...

And last point: Politics should not play a part in sports. God knows you could find a ton of people to accuse the US or China or England of many many atrocities. I'd still like to see races in each of those countries. Enough said.

[EASonBass]

Got to see F1 back in the day when the Long Beach Grand Prix was a proper race.

Thought the China race last week was a pretty exciting race. Lots of juggling of positions behind 1st.

[Tituscrow]

Originally Posted by Square

I'm a huge F1 fan. I watched my first race in 69 or 70. Remember the 6 wheeled Elf sponsored cars from 76 and 77? The sound of the engines from that era were captivating to me as a young boy.

I DVR every race, every practice, and every qualifying round. I love the tire degradation that the teams must cope with this (and last) season and to watch the teams scramble for any 100th of a second gain by rule manipulation is fascinating. I don't have a favorite team or driver. Oddly enough if I had to choose it would be Button for favorite driver. The oddity is that Hamilton is probably my least favorite. Though his attitude seems improved this year and for some reason I really don't care for Kimi much at all... Maybe Hamilton will move up in the (my) standings...

And last point: Politics should not play a part in sports. God knows you could find a ton of people to accuse the US or China or England of many many atrocities. I'd still like to see races in each of those countries. Enough said.

"I don't think it's that bad. There is a lot of hype. It is not a big problem and I am happy once we start because then we can start worrying about things that REALLY matter like tyre temperatures"

It seems Sebastian Vettel agrees with you.

[bassbrad]

Another great race for 2012, another new winner Vettel/RedBull and a historic 2-3 finish for Lotus Raikkonen & great podium for Grosjean.

Glad to see Massa in the points.

Sorry to see technical issues for Hamilton/McLaren.

What will happen in Spain?

[Angus]

Originally Posted by bassbrad

Another great race for 2012, another new winner Vettel/RedBull and a historic 2-3 finish for Lotus Raikkonen & great podium for Grosjean.

I always thought that the "naming" issue with regards to F1 is silly. The team, as Toleman/Benetton/Renault/Group Lotus-Renault/now LotusF1-Renault has had tons of wins, 1-2s, multiple championships, and even podiums last year as "Group Lotus", but the fact that it is called "Lotus F1" means that the podium is "historic". Silly. It's the same team, just a different sponsor.

That said, I'd like to see Raikkonen winning again.

[AnchorHoy]

Originally Posted by tplyons

Here you go, some info on the Grand Prix of America. Will be held in West New York and Weehawken NJ...

Grand Prix of America bringing F1 to New Jersey in 2013

Preliminary layout of the track and grounds here

FWIW the idea was floated back in the 80's (IIRC) to do pretty much the same thing in Trenton, mostly using a section of the Fitchway (Route 29) where it went past the State House and under the three bridges. As I recall, the idea was eventually nixed by the FIA because the long straightaway (southbound) feeding into the relatively tight left-hander under the train bridge was felt to have been too hazardous

[jbaird]

Just started watching F1 last year, pretty fascinating, been mostly rooting for the McLaren drivers although its hard to do much but shake your head at Hamilton last season. Montreal last year was a crazy race if you managed to sit around for the 5h it took.

Disappointing last race with McLaren's mechnical issues.
China and the rest of the season has been really interesting though. Top 1/2 of the grid or so within almost half a second of each other, lots of different teams looking strong on different weekends, looks like its going to be a fight until the end.

Did Nico end up getting a penalty for 'forcing' Hamilton or Alonso off or was it just a racing incident?

[Angus]

Nico didn't get a penalty for running Hamilton OR Alonso off the road in the same spot, within a few laps of each other. Insane. They also should've been able to handle that during the race rather than after. I half wondered if they were going to penalize Hamilton for making the pass on Rosberg off the track.

The stewarding all weekend was just nuts. They gave one of the most bizarre penalties I've ever seen in GP2's feature race, then another unnecessary one in the sprint.

[Atoz]

I'll be happier once Vettel starts losing again.

[Angus]

Aww, why?

[Atoz]

Because he's a whiner. I like Webber. He doesn't whine.

[bassbrad]

Originally Posted by jbaird

Montreal last year was a crazy race if you managed to sit around for the 5h it took.

Certainly the best race of the last few years races.

[Angus]

Originally Posted by Atoz

Because he's a whiner. I like Webber. He doesn't whine.

You must not have been following F1 or Webber for very long! He's cut down on it significantly at Red Bull, but he was famous for it at Jaguar and and at Williams in particular.

All of the guys do it, but Vettel is relatively infrequent. Hamilton and Alonso are the guys who are way up on the whining scale.

Although nobody is worse than Casey Stoner in MotoGP.