There, having experienced excellent vibes by The Nice and their prog-tastic version of "America" you are now suitably prepared for the:
2015 FORMULA 1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX
Fri 23 – Sun 25 Oct 2015
So, the US Grand Prix eh? I remember that, it's at Indianapolis, right?
No! F1 has never raced there.
Really? Because I'm sure I remember how back in 2005 wh...
Oh okay, yes. Despite Bernie's apparent unceasing wish to Make F1 Happen in America, the USA has seen some pretty strange races in its recent past. It's seen races around road that was visibly crumbling, it's seen Our Nige collapsing in the Detroit Dallas! heat after bravely, or foolishly, depending on your point of view, trying to push his car over the line*. It's played host in 2007 to the deepening rivalry between Alonso and Hamilton when Fernando asked for the vaudeville hook to be put around Lewis's neck to get him out of the way and the Macca pitwalll were like, nah, and yes, back in 2005, it was at Indianapolis that everyone was treated to this spectacle:
That looks like total shit. Were all of F1 run out of town on a rail?
More or less. Grim times. Michelin left the sport soon afterwards (or were driven out, again, depending on your point of view**)
Okay, SophieB, I didn't want to hear about all the bad shit that once happened, I want to hear something good!
Well then the good news, cats and kittens, is that since 2012, the US GP has been hosted by the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas and it's delivered some fun races. It's at this point, I'm going to hit up wikipedia and get out stuff like maps and this and that but before that, I'm going to just bring you my impression of the track. It's got an interesting start - massive uphill turn. Exciting stuff. It was especially exciting back in 2012 when everyone decided that one side of the track was so much more advantageous to start from that Ferrari decided to aid Alonso in his WDC quest, by deliberately opening the seals of Massa's gearbox to 'earn' a penalty. it didn't set loose all the evils of the world but it did move (in effect) Alonso up a place and gave everyone something to get very excited about. The F1 website says much the same thing about turn one, calling it the tracks 'signature corner'. It goes on:
Turns Three through Six look not dissimilar to Silverstone's high-speed Maggotts/Becketts; Turns 12 through 15 give a nod to Hockenheim's stadium section; and Turns 16 through 18 mirror the famous, multi-apex Turn Eight at Istanbul Park.
If you say so, FOM! I confess I've never zoned out watching this track and thought "surely this is Northamptonshire" but you be the judge.
You said there's be maps and that..:
source: https://en.wikipedia...of_the_Americas
Anything else?
Well, Lewis Hamilton has won at this circuit twice, 2012 and 2014, Sebastian Vettel won in 2013 and holds the lap record: 1.39.347, set in 2012. More information can be found at the FOM site here
Anything else?
There's this:
COTA @circuitamericas 7h7 hours ago
They're back. #F1 #USGP #COTA
Yes, it looks like maybe the novelty stetsons are back. See here for much more detail than is necessary on Pirelli's recent novelty podium headgear
I'm bored now, when's it on?
Local times:
Fri 23 – Sun 25 Oct 2015
Practice 1
Fri 10:00 – 11:30
Practice 2
Fri 14:00 – 15:30
Practice 3
Sat 10:00 – 11:00
Qualifying
Sat 13:00 – 14:00
Race
Sun 14:00 – 16:00
Beware Daylight Savings time! In past years, this has caused confusion. If it applies this year, I'll update this OP.
Race time info updated 21 Oct 2015, thanks to Gareth, bolding mine:
I believe that Texas doesn't change out of DST until the weekend after the race.
The UK does change that Sunday morning. So for local times UK, add 6 hours for the sessions on Friday and Saturday but only 5 hours on the Sunday (so race is 7pm).
I think the autosport "convert to your timezone" schedule doesn't take this into account, so says the race will be at 8pm UK time whereas it's actually 7pm.
This is all helpful to me, though, as I have a Detroit Lions game and the grand prix to fit in Sunday evening and now have an extra hour to do it.
Handy links for people to check:
http://www.timeandda...zone/usa/austin
Here are your TV times for #USGP on @NBC, @NBCSN @LiveExtra: http://motorsports.nbcsports.com/2015/10/22/here-are-your-tv-times-for-united-states-grand-prix-on-nbc-nbcsn-live-extra/ … #F1onNBC #USGP
Weather forecast so far:
#F1 #BBCF1 #USGP Wet weather set to dominate Thurs/Fri/Sat: a few inches of rain poss in #Austin area. Expected cleared by Sunday; dry/drier
I'm tired now too. Let us play out counting the cars on the New Jersey*** Turnpike with "America" by Simon & Garfunkel.
* Heroic
** Driven out
*** A place where, alas, it looks like we won't be seeing a US GP
Edited by SophieB, 22 October 2015 - 14:26.
