Month: October 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hamilton secured his third crown after finishing 1st in the US GP having Rosberg finish 2nd and Vettel 3rd.  It wasn’t a conventional race though, all the way from Practice 1 with the difficult weather conditions that threatened every single session compromising even the qualifying that had to be delayed for this morning before the race itself.  Rosberg led away from the grid but lost out immediately at turn 1 to a fast launching Hamilton, they touched and Rosberg was forced out of the track momentarily to re join in 4th behind the Red Bulls of Kvyat and Ricciardo. Hamilton then dropped to 4th place in a hard battle with his teammate and the Red Bulls that seemed really comfortable with the semi wet conditions. Once they got in their slick tires the battle continued but 2 saftety car periods ensured the group stayed packed together.  In the end it was Hamilton who managed the right moves at the right times to consolidate himself on the lead followed by Rosberg and a charging Vettel that came from a 14 place on the grid to take the last step of the podium.

A full race report will follow, the positions though are the following:

 

All images subject to Copyright @ Wise Racing World

Nico Rosberg put his Mercedes in the top spot after a beautiful show of driving skills on a drenched track and with an old set of wet tires after he flat spotted the set he had yesterday in his off at turn 3 in Practice 3.  He said in the conference after qualifying that due to changing conditions they had to use all of their abilities to keep control of their cars while Hamilton did not seem so happy since he said he had more to come but qualifying 3 had to be cancelled since rain and wind showed up again making the conditions worse. Ricciardo managed to put his Red Bull in the third slot showing how rain works as an equalizer when there is such a difference in power between the cars.

Qualifying results:

It has been confirmed that due to the weather conditions, the qualifying session will take place on Sunday morning at 9am local time…. See you tomorrow!

There’s been 5 announcements of a 30 minute delay each so far, making it a 2 and a half hours total.  The rain is constant, not so heavy but the wind is blowing hard at Circuit Of The Americas making it really difficult for qualifying to take place in a safe environment.  Many fans are gathered in the main grandstand an looking for anywhere possible to get cover from the weather but they are NOT leaving showing real loyalty to the sport.  Pit crews from different teams and the drivers themselves have found different ways to entertain the cheering crowd, simulating rowing, bob sledding, break dancing and even bowling and playing soccer.

So far classification from Practice 3 would determine the order for tomorrow’s grid being it as follows:

1. L. Hamilton

2. S. Vettel*

3. N. Hulkenberg

4. V. Bottas

5. C. Sainz

6. D. Kvyat

7. K. Raikkonen*

8. D. Ricciardo

9. N. Rosberg

10. F. Massa

11. S. Perez

12. R. Grosjean

13. P. Maldonado

14. F. Alonso

15. M. Ericsson

16. J. Button

17. W. Stevens**

18. A. Rossi

19. F. Nasr

20. M. Verstappen

*Both Ferrari drivers must comply with a 10 place penalty on the grid for changing Engines

**Manor driver must comply with a 20 place penalty on the grid for changing Engine and Turbocharger

It really doesn’t seem likely the qualifying session will take place and some people discuss ideas of it being run tomorrow morning before the race…? A new announcement has just been made that if the weather conditions do not improve by 4pm local time, qualifying will take place tomorrow morning at 9am local time.

 

Lewis Hamilton was the only man to go below the 2 minute barrier in the difficult rainy conditions in Austin, Texas. Vettel managed to achieve the 2nd place while Hulkenberg set the 3rd fastest time in the Force India.  Several “moments” were survived by most drivers including the top three and we could say the only really unlucky one to be affected was Rosberg when he lost control going into the S after turn 3 hitting the barrier destroying his front wing. Nevertheless he had set a time good enough for 9th place which could turn up important due to the fact that if Race Control decided not to go through the qualifying session because of the serious weather conditions, the times set in Practice 3 would be taken as the times for qualifying for tomorrow’s race.

Qualifying is to take place within the next two hours and at this moment the track is totally damped and constant heavy rain and wind have managed to make it impossible to develop other series’ qualifying sessions such as the Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup, so the possibility of cancelling the qualifying session is high.

A rather intense Press Conference from various team principals point out the main issues that keep haunting F1 for several years now.  Team principals don’t take anything for granted nor give in in many subjects, difficult to expect a friendly gathering when there are so many variables in play and so difficult subjects unresolved, not to mention the on track rivalry of course.

Money seems to be the center of the issues, they revolve around it, including Testing which incurs in spending which some teams can afford and some others simply don’t want to even if they could. Regulation changes conflict with testing, which conflicts with money and so on.  Equality is a word that can often be misrepresented in Formula 1, Sergio Perez said yesterday in an interview that it was not possible to pick a best driver in Formula 1 because the car one as a driver is given is the stepping stone on the results you could get.  That was echoed today on Vijay Mallya’s words since he is fighting for equality in the contracts towards the sport itself that are different for each team meaning some receive way less than others…. money again.

It’s difficult, it is really hard I guess for the teams to find solutions, but it is not impossible. It means asking for fairness in a sport that balances being the tip of the motorsports technological development and the difficult financial situation that we live in today.

On the other hand, one other main subject discussed by Franz Tost (Toro Rosso) and Christian Horner (Red Bull) was the issue of their engine partners for 2016 on. The broken relationship due to poor results two years in a row provoked mainly on lack of power from their Renault power unit has meant that these Team Managers have been looking elsewhere for an engine supplier and apparently they got a clear No from Mercedes and it seems rather unlikely that Ferrari will launch in, specially in the case of Red Bull for obvious reasons. Red Bull’s disappearance from the sport is at risk if they do not find the right partner to guarantee success in F1. Honda is rather unlikely as well, all we can do as fans is wait and see where this road goes.  More to come on this…

Second prectice at Ccircuit Of The Americas was delayed at first and then cancelled due to lightning and seriously heavy rain that hit the racetrack nonstop for several minutes along with strong winds as well.

A Press Conference is scheduled for 4pm local time with team managers and third practice os schedulled for tomorrow at 10

Nico Rosberg dominated the first Practice Session at Circuit Of The Americas in Austin, TX. Rosberg had over a second difference towards 2nd place of Daniel Kvyat, the russian showing good form for Red Bull as did Daniel Ricciardo with the third fastest time.

The session was run with a pretty much damp track all the way of the 1 and a half hour beginning a t 10am local time. Teams used the time to check different components on the car specially the likes of McLaren who worked with a new engine.  Second practice will start soon and the weather had more rain right before so it´ll be another wet session.

The weather is expected to show damp conditions all the way through sunday morning, so everyone is basically expecting a dry race but the practices and qualifying will be very interesting in these conditions.  Vettel of Ferrari will incur in a 10 position penalty since the engine of his Ferrari was replaced as scheduled by his team from the start of the season.  All in all we expect a very interesting race in Austin that would be the crowning place for Lewis Hamilton should he add enough points to grab his 3rd title.