quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Practice 1.
Several other drivers getting a crack at an F-1 opportunity.
Less than ten minutes in and Giovinazzi's put it into the fence already and damaged the gearbox. Not likely to get back out.
A surprise but not really.

If it was a test for the open seat at Haas, I’d say he’s failed. MSC would probably last at least 20 minutes before binning it.

FP2 a bit of a waste. Only 3 representative times.
Love that shot back on T10 into the sunset with the TX flag & COTA tower, though.

quote:

Originally posted by Dwill104:
If it was a test for the open seat at Haas, I’d say he’s failed. MSC would probably last at least 20 minutes before binning it.

I'm not sure what I hate more: Someone who's family has enough money to buy a seat for their child or a company with so much influcence they can keep someone as a contender solely because he is an ____ (in this case Italian). Italian Jesus Antonio Giovinazzi was shit when he was a Haas and Ferrari test driver, he was shit driving for Alfa Romeo, he was shit in Formula E, and he was shit in FP1. Can Ferrari accept that Giovinazzi is shit and drop him for someone that's actually good instead of just being Italian?

I'm also impressed that Robert Schwartzman in the Ferrari needed to use the soft tires to get a lap time ahead of Alex Palou in the slower McLaren with the medium tires.

“I'm also impressed that Robert Schwartzman in the Ferrari needed to use the soft tires to get a lap time ahead of Alex Palou in the slower McLaren with the medium tires.”

Also Palou was only about .3 behind Norris for much of the session when they were on medium compound tires. Alex ran a lot of laps total but the later ones were pounding around while others bolted on the soft tires to set their times.
I’m kind of surprised they aren’t running O’Ward at home in Mexico FP1 and are waiting until later.

Sounds like Herta is out of the picture now.

Herta is the sexier option, but Palou is always right there where you don't expect him. With all of the drama out of the way, if he wins a 2nd title with Ganassi next year, F1 would look dumber than usual to pass this kid up.

While I can agree with the Fucking Incompetent Assholes that making exceptions is a bad precedent to start, the IndyCar SuperLicense points is flat fucked up. Scoring 40/30/20/10 for IndyCar while F2 is 40/40/40/30 is insulting when IndyCar is far more of a meat grinder while nobody wants an F2 Champion for a drive in either organization.

Red Bull founder Matesich passes at 78

https://www.formula1.com/en/la...ZBqwwfCZWYe3XwJ.html

Fun race to watch. Good track for racing.

Max tracking down Hamilton was great fun. And the actual pass for the lead was some great racing. Really a lot of fun.

Ready for more bullshit?

Alonso loses F1 points finish with penalty as Haas protest succeeds

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/...ty-protest/10389544/

Alpine to protest Alonso F1 penalty after losing US GP points

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/...-gp-points/10389585/

quote:

Originally posted by redstone:
Max tracking down Hamilton was great fun. And the actual pass for the lead was some great racing. Really a lot of fun.

I can't agree. The Red Bull car is so much faster than the Mercedes that it was a matter whether Verstappen had enough laps to get it done. He did, easily.

This has been a boring season for me.

Well at least jhe888, we were talking about more than just the midfield for a few laps there.

I went to all 3 days at Austin with a buddy of mine. We had seats in the Turn 9 stands (along the downhill approach to the long hairpin turn).

From where we were sitting, it was apparent that the Red Bulls were noticeably more stable coming out of the turns. The Mercedes and Williams cars bounced around quite a lot.

My buddy is a Ferrari fan and he was disappointed from the get go on race day. Sainz has something like 6 DNFs for the year.

Good crowd, a lot of Checo fans who were very vocal and good-natured for the entire event. I noticed a lot of Haas gear on fans, too. Talk about diehard fandom! 400,000+ in attendance I heard.

Prices for everything were insane. Logo baseball style hats started at $80. Some styles were $120. (Only memento I bought was an $80 MB hat.). Burgers were $16. Beer was $12 to $15 per 12 oz. can. (Except for a Veterans tent that had Busch cans or $5…. That’s where we bought.)

Next time, I would skip the Practice days. A lot of downtime between sessions made longer by temps in the mid 80s. I would also buy logoed gear before the event and eat a large lunch before arriving at the track.

My buddy wants to go to the Vegas race next year. Now THAT would be insanity.

We sat at T9 our first time, great spot & you can see a lot of the track from there.
The change of direction in T7-9 is insane & doesn't really translate to TV like it is to see it in person.

Gear is expensive, I usually wait until next year's model comes out & get the current year at a discount.
Our first year attending (2017), there were individual merch booths per team & they had a lot of prior year kit for lower prices. 2nd year, it was all commingled into 1 place & much more crowded.
Had to source a Bottas Williams/Martini cap online, as I didn't grab it when they had the 'vintage' gear in 2017.

I'm hoping to score some VIP tickets to Vegas next year, as I know someone that is involved with some of the construction projects.

Audi has officially announced that they'll be the works team in partnership with Sauber in 2026

https://www.formula1.com/en/la...lvshgpCXdCR9xJl.html

It will be interesting to see if Audi can get Sauber back towards the top like BMW did 15 years ago.

And if I was Michael Andretti, I’d be harassing everyone at Porsche to try and get a meeting to see if they’re really interested in this Formula 1 thing…

Hopefully they avoid the teething problems Honda had in the beginning.
Losing the MGU-H should help with out-the-gate reliability, since that seems to be the most difficult part of the current PU.

It'll be interesting to see where Porsche ends up. With an existing team, or as an 11th entry [Andretti]. I know Renault was looking for a customer team, read Williams as a possibility there, as well.

That Williams/Renault door was probably closed after the whole Oscar Piastri deal. I think Renault has also alienated every team in F1 with their management “philosophy” and abilities. It would be very difficult to trust any deal with them as Cyril Abiteboul and Laurent Rossi seems to be extremely French in the most negative connotations.

True.
Haas unlikely as well as they buy as much as they legally can from Ferrari.
Sauber going to Audi
RBR/AT deep with Honda
Aston or McLaren as the only others, could see McLaren before Aston going that way, but who knows.

If Porsche couldn’t get a Red Bull deal because they wanted a major ownership stake, then I doubt McLaren will partner up as they only want to be an engine partner.

As Williams was bought by an investment company looking to make a buck at some point, I'd guess they would be a strong possibility if the price is right.
I've never seen details of exactly how the cost cap works but being able to spend unlimited bucks on development on the new power unit for a while and then announcing later could also be an advantage.
You'd think the rules writers have thought about that, maybe they have and it's in those rules, but who knows?