129 replies to this topic

[Massa]

Texas is the United States of America's Québec; delightfully different from the rest of us, and not afraid of our judgments.

In that regard, Austin is Texas' Québec.  Young, high-tech, college town.  It's certainly a sensible place for F1 as far as American cities go.

But there's no F1 race in Austin, Texas.

The Circuit of the Americas is in a town called Elroy.  It has a population of 125, out-numbering the U.S. F1 fans by about a dozen.  After all, most American F1 fans "could care less (sic)" about F1.

People who live in Travis County don't even realize Elroy exists.  People who live in Elroy are hoping the track will generate enough economic benefits to open a Walmart in their town of a Wild Bubba's and an Exxon fueling station.

Formula One returns to a country it left after 2007, when the maligned Tony George told Bernie Ecclestone that he would only bleed money on the Indy Racing League, not on a Grand Prix.  The end began in 2005, when Charlie Whiting rejected a proposal of a chicane at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and rejected a proposal to have new Michelin tires sent and let the teams race for no points.  Fears of safety, and of American courts, left the fans to be treated to a six-car race, something the attention-span-lacking 12-18s playing Gran Turismo 4 saw as perfectly normal.

In returning, Sergio Pérez is reunited with the nation where he made history as one of the only drivers to ever lose anything to the incompetent Marco of Nazareth.  Marco went on to join Charlie Sheen's ex in rehab, referred to the woman by his close friend Paris Hilton.  His grandfather endorses this circuit (as does Patrick Dempsey), a haunting reminder of a championship that Pérez probably forgets he ever even raced in.

Paul di Resta gets to see his family.  His cousin lives in Kentucky, where I assume cousins can actually get married, but that seemingly wasn't for Paul and Dario, the latter of whom is married to renowned IndyCar racing analyst Ashley Judd, who supplied engines to Formula One teams like Williams in 1988.

Michael Schumacher stores his Harley-Davidson motorcycles in Indiana, while his wife participates in horse-related events there.  Schumacher and Mercedes were disappointed to have an issue with a DRS opening at the rear of their car this season; when you have issues with openings at the rear of a horse, it's even less pleasant.

Kimi Räikkönen and Narain Karthikeyan have both raced in Texas before, driving stock cars.  Karthikeyan still drives one today, generating 200 lbs of downforce in his HRT-Cosworth.

Sebastian Vettel can clinch the title by winning the race and seeing Alonso finish fifth or worse, finishing second and seeing Alonso finish ninth or worse, or finishing third and seeing Alonso finish eleventh or worse.  Don't ask any of the people at the track (apparently 100,000 tickets sold), though.  Americans love statistics but hate numbers.

[Quiet One]

You fail to mention Elroy's long-time relationship with speed and transportation since its very beginnings, when none other than Antonio López de Santa Anna gave the land to one of his officers, who in time exchanged it for a horse and a saddle to ran away from there as quick as possible. (Source: http://www.tshaonlin.../articles/hle15) Although the land's value must have increased exponentially in the past year due to the CotA project mainly, teh horse and saddle probably has not increased his value at the same rate and, as of now, I would advise not to invest on any of them.

Hypothetical welcome from the local people to the F1 circus:

Elroy's Major (EM): "Howdy y'all! My name is Billy Bob Conroy! In the name of Elroy's community I give you the warmest welcome to...hey...what are those red cars? Communists???"

Button: "No, my dear man, they are Ferraris!"

EM: Oh, I see...*mutters* Damn wops I knew their mob was a facefronot of those soviet b#####ds!. Ahem...welcome, Mr.Button, such a pleasure! Oh, and you brought your buttler with you??

JB: Errr...no...that would be Lewis.

EM: *confused* Oh, I thought....nevermind! Ok *awkwardly* Let's move on! And you, sir are...

Perez: I am Sergio Pérez, Señor!

EM: Arghhh! Bring me my winchester! The Mexicans are back! Remember El Alamein!!!

Kamui: Sorry, but you surely mean, "El Alamo"? El Alamein was a WW2 battle in North Africa.

EM: Well wouldn't you know! I warn you, jap, we defeated you at Midway, we can do it again! You and all those damn krauts...

Rosberg, Hulkenberg, Schumacher, Glock: Somebody called us?

EM: *exasperated* What's going on here??? You, sir, you seem like a nice person! What's with all this madness?

Petrov: Tovarich, Amerikansky Comissar!

EM: A Godless communist!!! I knew it!!! Where's my rifle??? I'm gonna hang you! I'm gonna hang you all!!! All our enemies have united against us!!! This can't get any worse!!! You mother****ers! Come on, bring the indians with you as well!!

Narain: Speaking of which...

[Massa]

What's interesting is that Billy Bob Conroy's initials would be BBC, who employed a noted Texan for quite some time to do their broadcasts:

[brambilla]

Quiet One, on 04 November 2012 - 06:09 PM, said:

You fail to mention Elroy's long-time relationship with speed and transportation since its very beginnings, when none other than Antonio López de Santa Anna gave the land to one of his officers, who in time exchanged it for a horse and a saddle to ran away from there as quick as possible. (Source: http://www.tshaonlin.../articles/hle15) Although the land's value must have increased exponentially in the past year due to the CotA project mainly, teh horse and saddle probably has not increased his value at the same rate and, as of now, I would advise not to invest on any of them.

Hypothetical welcome from the local people to the F1 circus:

Elroy's Major (EM): "Howdy y'all! My name is Billy Bob Conroy! In the name of Elroy's community I give you the warmest welcome to...hey...what are those red cars? Communists???"

Button: "No, my dear man, they are Ferraris!"

EM: Oh, I see...*mutters* Damn wops I knew their mob was a facefronot of those soviet b#####ds!. Ahem...welcome, Mr.Button, such a pleasure! Oh, and you brought your buttler with you??

JB: Errr...no...that would be Lewis.

EM: *confused* Oh, I thought....nevermind! Ok *awkwardly* Let's move on! And you, sir are...

Perez: I am Sergio Pérez, Señor!

EM: Arghhh! Bring me my winchester! The Mexicans are back! Remember El Alamein!!!

Kamui: Sorry, but you surely mean, "El Alamo"? El Alamein was a WW2 battle in North Africa.

EM: Well wouldn't you know! I warn you, jap, we defeated you at Midway, we can do it again! You and all those damn krauts...

Rosberg, Hulkenberg, Schumacher, Glock: Somebody called us?

EM: *exasperated* What's going on here??? You, sir, you seem like a nice person! What's with all this madness?

Petrov: Tovarich, Amerikansky Comissar!

EM: A Godless communist!!! I knew it!!! Where's my rifle??? I'm gonna hang you! I'm gonna hang you all!!! All our enemies have united against us!!! This can't get any worse!!! You mother****ers! Come on, bring the indians with you as well!!

Narain: Speaking of which...

Nice, though the brazilians and the Finns are wondering what they did to escape your creativity

[Insider]

Quiet One, on 04 November 2012 - 06:09 PM, said:

You fail to mention Elroy's long-time relationship with speed and transportation since its very beginnings, when none other than Antonio López de Santa Anna gave the land to one of his officers, who in time exchanged it for a horse and a saddle to ran away from there as quick as possible. (Source: http://www.tshaonlin.../articles/hle15) Although the land's value must have increased exponentially in the past year due to the CotA project mainly, teh horse and saddle probably has not increased his value at the same rate and, as of now, I would advise not to invest on any of them.

Hypothetical welcome from the local people to the F1 circus:

Elroy's Major (EM): "Howdy y'all! My name is Billy Bob Conroy! In the name of Elroy's community I give you the warmest welcome to...hey...what are those red cars? Communists???"

Button: "No, my dear man, they are Ferraris!"

EM: Oh, I see...*mutters* Damn wops I knew their mob was a facefronot of those soviet b#####ds!. Ahem...welcome, Mr.Button, such a pleasure! Oh, and you brought your buttler with you??

JB: Errr...no...that would be Lewis.

EM: *confused* Oh, I thought....nevermind! Ok *awkwardly* Let's move on! And you, sir are...

Perez: I am Sergio Pérez, Señor!

EM: Arghhh! Bring me my winchester! The Mexicans are back! Remember El Alamein!!!

Kamui: Sorry, but you surely mean, "El Alamo"? El Alamein was a WW2 battle in North Africa.

EM: Well wouldn't you know! I warn you, jap, we defeated you at Midway, we can do it again! You and all those damn krauts...

Rosberg, Hulkenberg, Schumacher, Glock: Somebody called us?

EM: *exasperated* What's going on here??? You, sir, you seem like a nice person! What's with all this madness?

Petrov: Tovarich, Amerikansky Comissar!

EM: A Godless communist!!! I knew it!!! Where's my rifle??? I'm gonna hang you! I'm gonna hang you all!!! All our enemies have united against us!!! This can't get any worse!!! You mother****ers! Come on, bring the indians with you as well!!

Narain: Speaking of which...

Priceless

[Massa]

As expected, Pirelli go with the medium- and hard-compound tires to play it safe on a new track.  That should benefit whoever qualifies well, I'd feel, because tire strategy isn't going to play a role.

Here's the track, for those yet to see it.  It looks to me like it starts off pretty cool and then the rest is very much Tilke-in-the-desert.



Lotus upgraded the exhaust to not hurt power as much as it did in Korea and Abu Dhabi.  They expect about 6 horsepower more for COTA.

[LabradoRacer]

Only Texas & death are certain in life.

What?

Hoping Hamilton wins at least now.

Somehow it seems Vettel's will suffer a mech failure or something. A pity if it happens.

Will be nice if Kimi gets another podium, but it won't happen.

[BradSpeedMan]

LabradoRacer, on 12 November 2012 - 05:53 PM, said:

Will be nice if Kimi gets another podium, but it won't happen.

I expect them (Lotus) to be even faster (see Eric's post above yours). With Vettel in front as per usual, and the Mclarens and Lotus sandwiched between him and Alonso, it's game over. So wish for mechanical failures for Vettel, thats the only thing that will stop him winning this year's WDC

[Quiet One]

BradSpeedMan, on 13 November 2012 - 06:52 AM, said:

I expect them (Lotus) to be even faster (see Eric's post above yours). With Vettel in front as per usual, and the Mclarens and Lotus sandwiched between him and Alonso, it's game over. So wish for mechanical failures for Vettel, thats the only thing that will stop him winning this year's WDC

Oddly enough, those are exactly my thoughts.

[Massa]

I agree.

Two Red Bulls, two McLarens, and two Loti can all beat Alonso.  As long as Vettel wins and three of those remaining five do, Alonso's eliminated (25 out with no chance at the tie-breaker).

Of course, that's what's supposed to happen, and if I could only say one thing about Alonso this year, he's been very good at avoiding the inevitable.

[Rainmaster]

New track; mistakes are all there waiting to be made. 10 points is not much of an advantage so they both need perfect weekends. Granted, Alonso's perfect weekend will probably involve avoiding contact at the start and moving through the field a lot more than Vettel's will.

I don't know that the Lotus is a Ferrari beater here. On race pace, I still think Ferrari are faster than Lotus especially with the tyres Pirelli are bringing here (seems true to say that the Lotus prefers the softer compounds). In truth, I would not be surprised to see Alonso on the podium again, considering Webber's general not quite there-ness, Mclaren's remarkable ability to shoot themselves in the foot and the Lotus being a sensitive sort of car.

[JHS18]

Massa, on 13 November 2012 - 05:06 PM, said:

Two Red Bulls, two McLarens, and two Loti can all beat Alonso.  As long as Vettel wins and three of those remaining five do, Alonso's eliminated (25 out with no chance at the tie-breaker).

Grosjean may well beat Alonso to the second corner, but given what has happened this season, I doubt it will remain that way for long...

...In fact, starting behind Grosjean may be Alonso's safest option given Grosjean's said he thinks the first corner will be interesting.

"Interesting"?

Stand well back.

Edited by JHS18, 13 November 2012 - 10:51 PM.

[freaky2]

Of those six you can count Grosjean out and that also applies to at least another random car (Webber or an unlucky Macca). And THEN is when you factor in Alonso's skills. If nothing goes horribly wrong he can take this championship to the wire. And then you won't get everybody calling Interlagos an RBR circuit because Interlagos is just about the best place for mayhem ever

Let's be optimistic

[Quiet One]

freaky2, on 13 November 2012 - 05:59 PM, said:

Of those six you can count Grosjean out and that also applies to at least another random car (Webber or an unlucky Macca). And THEN is when you factor in Alonso's skills. If nothing goes horribly wrong he can take this championship to the wire. And then you won't get everybody calling Interlagos an RBR circuit because Interlagos is just about the best place for mayhem ever

Let's be optimistic

Oh, yes, I think that Alonso might as well again do the implausible seem rutinary like he has done so many times before and get a podium.
But as opportunities disappear, the battle between Señor "Damage Limitation" and Herr "That's what I'm talking about" feels more like postponing the inevitable more like "everything can happen".
Thanks George the last race is good old unpredictable Brazil! May it never fall off the F1 calendar!

[Massa]

Weather's flawless this weekend in Elroy for the spectators if the reports are accurate.  70°F/21°C, sunny.

On the flip side, nice weather and harder tires on a very Tilke-ish track makes me wonder where the excitement comes in for those of us watching on TV.

[KoolMonkey]

I'm super stoked about this track. Hope the weathers good and the stands are full. As for the race, well fingers crossed we get a good one. If this GP comes off without a hitch I think it'll be a hit, but we'll have to wait and see.

[JHS18]

Do think it'll be all but won by Vettel this weekend.

If Vettel wins and Alonso fails to score/finish, it is over.

If Alonso fails to finish ahead of Vettel, it is pretty much over unless there's an Interlagos '08 style race. It'll be a 2006 moment, Alonso will still be mathematically in with a shot come Brazil, but with a very, very slim possibility of winning the title.

Flip side is if Vettel fails to finish and Alonso scores heavily, it is game on.

Edited by JHS18, 13 November 2012 - 10:56 PM.

[Massa]

Vettel can fail to win, and Alonso can score points, and Vettel can still clinch (Vettel would need to be P2, and Alonso would need to be P9 at best).

I'd find it much more likely to see Vettel win and Alonso take fifth, which would also clinch the title for Vettel, though.  It wouldn't be hard to have Vettel, Webber, one of Hamilton/Button, and Räikkönen ahead of Alonso at the finish...

...but with Alonso, we can only know at the race's end.  Even qualifying has told us little about where he'd end up.  It's perhaps the first time since I've started watching F1 where I've really seen a driver make so much of a difference, which makes the small parts of DOF blood boil in me...

[Argento Reloaded]

Massa, on 04 November 2012 - 05:39 PM, said:

Texas is the United States of America's Québec; delightfully different from the rest of us, and not afraid of our judgments.

We say something like that " a button is enough as a sample" so from Texas came the Bush Family... yes Texas is different of the rest of the world -indeed!

[Quiet One]

Argento Reloaded, on 13 November 2012 - 11:23 PM, said:

We say something like that " a button is enough as a sample" so from Texas came the Bush Family... yes Texas is different of the rest of the world -indeed!

But Austin is the birthplace of Renée Zellweger, Farrah Fawcett, Janis Joplin...and Lyndon B.Johnson

Also, it's the 4th best city to find a date in USA (Eric, take note...) and the 5th best BBQ city in USA. Those are impressive achievements that would undoubtedly attract millions of people around the world to watch Grosjean crash and burn, and while eating a finger-licking BBQ with a finger-licking new date.

:Eric, you lucky dawg!

Source: http://www.realtyaus...nkings-2012.php

[HandyNZL]

Yeah, nah, and their fathers have big guns strapped to their hips, and even bigger ones in the back of the pick up truck.  Eric might want to keep the finger licking to the BBQ ribs....

[KoolMonkey]

Massa, on 13 November 2012 - 11:15 PM, said:

Vettel can fail to win, and Alonso can score points, and Vettel can still clinch (Vettel would need to be P2, and Alonso would need to be P9 at best).

I'd find it much more likely to see Vettel win and Alonso take fifth, which would also clinch the title for Vettel, though.  It wouldn't be hard to have Vettel, Webber, one of Hamilton/Button, and Räikkönen ahead of Alonso at the finish...

...but with Alonso, we can only know at the race's end.  Even qualifying has told us little about where he'd end up.  It's perhaps the first time since I've started watching F1 where I've really seen a driver make so much of a difference, which makes the small parts of DOF blood boil in me...

I've seen this referenced over and over this year how bad a car Ferrari have, how epic Alonso has been in getting any kind of results in it. Yet it was clear in India and other races just how fast a car (at least in a straightline) they have. Thus I have to wonder is it simply selective thinking, that Alonso is great, his car is crap, but he's done so well in it, or that the Ferrari isn't such a dog afterall, and Alsono is getting the maximum out of it.

This isn't a criticism of you Massa, rather openly wondering why there has been so much ink printed on how bad the Ferrari car is, yet from my couch it's looked to be the 2-3 best car of the year. As for team mate comparisons, Massa has until recently been way under performing. Thus I feel Alonso trouncing him isn't necessarily an indication that any other driver would be doing the same as Massa results wise, but because it's Alonso he's somehow or other managed to take a HRT to the front of the grid because he's you know... Alonso. I don't rate Massa, I never have. I did wish he's won the 2008 WDC but that was more so Hamilton wouldn't get it. I'm happy he's doing better however. I don't think though even though I know there's that tried and supposedly tested argument that the only way you can rate a driver is against his team mate. In this example I don't think it's accurate. Alonso is clearly better than Massa, there's no question about that. But not only is Massa under performining, who knows maybe the car is horrible for his style and more tuned towards Alonso. At any rate, I would love to see some ideas from people as to why this keeps getting bandied about, in that Ferrari have a horrible car. I havn't seen that at all.

Edited by KoolMonkey, 14 November 2012 - 04:38 AM.

[BradSpeedMan]

KoolMonkey, on 14 November 2012 - 04:31 AM, said:

I've seen this referenced over and over this year how bad a car Ferrari have, how epic Alonso has been in getting any kind of results in it. Yet it was clear in India and other races just how fast a car (at least in a straightline) they have. Thus I have to wonder is it simply selective thinking, that Alonso is great, his car is crap, but he's done so well in it, or that the Ferrari isn't such a dog afterall, and Alsono is getting the maximum out of it.

This isn't a criticism of you Massa, rather openly wondering why there has been so much ink printed on how bad the Ferrari car is, yet from my couch it's looked to be the 2-3 best car of the year. As for team mate comparisons, Massa has until recently been way under performing. Thus I feel Alonso trouncing him isn't necessarily an indication that any other driver would be doing the same as Massa results wise, but because it's Alonso he's somehow or other managed to take a HRT to the front of the grid because he's you know... Alonso. I don't rate Massa, I never have. I did wish he's won the 2008 WDC but that was more so Hamilton wouldn't get it. I'm happy he's doing better however. I don't think though even though I know there's that tried and supposedly tested argument that the only way you can rate a driver is against his team mate. In this example I don't think it's accurate. Alonso is clearly better than Massa, there's no question about that. But not only is Massa under performining, who knows maybe the car is horrible for his style and more tuned towards Alonso. At any rate, I would love to see some ideas from people as to why this keeps getting bandied about, in that Ferrari have a horrible car. I havn't seen that at all.

I have brought this up numorous times in the past months.... The ferrari is a very fast car, actually started on equal footing in terms of pace with Mclaren and RedBull from the start of the year, but it was more difficult to handling, due to the route that they took

[AleHop]

The F2012 performance has been poor most of the season. Alonso and the team at the track have done a nearly perfect job so they're still up there. Alonso never had a chance to win a race in normal circumstances. The only good thing where you could really see the car excelled is reliability, even though the anti-roll bar at Monza in Q3 happened at the only track where the F2012 looked really faster than the rest of the grid. Of course it wasn't an HRT but not a title contender either.

[Massa]

Oddly enough, I raised the point that the F2012 isn't as bad as people say it is a few months ago, but that doesn't mean I think it's a better car than the ones Red bull and McLaren have so, in theory, Alonso should be behind both Red Bull drivers and both McLaren drivers in the points.  Likewise, on full potential, I think the Lotus has a higher one than the Ferrari; the Lotus is just less consistently at that potential, whereas Alonso and his Ferrari have met potential more reliably (don't be fooled; a driver can never exceed potential, just meet more of it than another can).  The Ferrari is a car with good straight-line speed, though, so at least it's pretty immune to being DRS-ed.

Why the praise for Alonso, then?  He's had a lot of races where, admittedly with "luck" or whatever that is, he finished a lot better than he qualified.

Make no mistake, though, when I compliment Alonso: if Vettel scores more points, Vettel deserves the title.  Hell, I think Vettel deserves it simply by having more wins, assuming that holds.

I will never argue that someone who lost the championship deserved it...so with that in mind, I don't feel too bad about saying he's done a good job.

[Kopite Girl]

Dayum idjits goan braing they dayum foreign cars drivin' em n stuff. I be sittin mah bee-hind out on mah front poarch, spittin' this ye're terbaccuh in mah tin, polishin mah good ol' Winchestuh.

Just practicing the lingo. I'll be there on Sunday.

[Massa]

McLaren's livery for the weekend, featuring Verizon instead of Vodafone.  I assume Rexona becomes "Degree" on the Lotus.  I doubt anyone really cares, and part of me wonders why they're using logos to cater to the U.S. audience when there will be 80,000,000 TV viewers not in the U.S.

[HandyNZL]

Well they didn't change their pratt perch cover, or the post holding the air lines.  Vodafone doesn't exist in USA, does it?  I was under the impression that Verizon is Vodafone is Vodacom in South Africa.

[Massa]

You're correct, Vodafone isn't in the U.S.  They own 44.4% of Verizon.

Still, you advertise to the TV audience, not the people at the track.  More of the TV audience is reached with the Vodafone logo.

There's only one solution...

Whitmarsh has to go.

[KoolMonkey]

Oh I didn't know Vodafone wasn't in the US of A. I had worked out the Vodacom connection only this year after watching the Tri Nations Rugby. Still the McLaren doesn't look as sharp as it normally does.

Speaking of which, the V8 Supercars for the 888 racing team toss the silver and red design McLaren have had for years now. Not sure why, but they had some synergy happening for quite a few years, now it appears Vodafone could be leaving motorsport. Not sure how well it paid off for them though here in Australia as they are 3rd best out of 3 in terms of customer satisfaction and quality of service.

Good post too Massa. Though I tend to think 3rd is where Alonso probably should have been this year. Webber is a nothing driver to me, and Button has underwhelmed this year. That only leaves Vettel and Hamilton who if things went to plan would be ahead of him. Hmm on second thought he'd be equal 3rd with Kimi. Can't take away Kimi's awesomeness this year.