Texas

[Kopite Girl 0]

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 0]

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 1]

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 0]

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 0]

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.

[JHS18 0]

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.

Funnily enough, now you mention it, Red Bull are replacing Vodafone as the main sponsors on the 888 V8 Supercars for next year.

Red Bull replacing Vodafone? Just imagine if something similar happened in F1...oh wait...

[HandyNZL 1]

Yeah, nah...awww blimin' 'eck, Sheila...those idjit Westboro Zealots are gonna picket the race this weekend...something about people idolising people or some such nonsense....apparently we shall be "turned into hell"...I wonder if that is a typo on their website. One would imagine that you would be burned in hell, but hey....

And they are also going to picket the Boss...Born in the USA and all that, and Aerosmith too.

Sigh...there was a time when Formula One was the only religion in town...

[Quiet One 15]

Yeah, nah...awww blimin' 'eck, Sheila...those idjit Westboro Zealots are gonna picket the race this weekend...something about people idolising people or some such nonsense....apparently we shall be "turned into hell"...I wonder if that is a typo on their website. One would imagine that you would be burned in hell, but hey....

And they are also going to picket the Boss...Born in the USA and all that, and Aerosmith too.

Sigh...there was a time when Formula One was the only religion in town...

You should check out their website: godhatesfags dot com (really) or something like that.

Compare this with "fundamentalist" "exotic" countries and tell me how Bahrein or Abu Dhabi can be worse than this...

Americans shall be so proud!

[Jean-Pierre 0]

Mario Andretti, WC 1978 on Lotus, and champion in many others series, said they did a great job at Austin.

What a great race champion. I always liked him. He is part of the North American Racing tradition, like Gilles and Jacques Villeneuve.

I'm sure the track in excellent and can't wait to experiment it this w.e.

[Massa 0]

I hope they have a camera angle on the front stretch that looks up at turn one, rather than down from it. I assume they'll show the start as they always do, with the cars coming head-on, but when they do their millions of replays of it on lap 6, as they also always do, I hope there's something from the a##-end of the cars. Something like this picture:

https://twitter.com/Ryan4Spaulding/status/269084862395346944/photo/1

I just wish the rest of the track was as exciting, though...

[freaky2 1]

Wow! That's... artificially amazing XDDDD

[HandyNZL 1]

Yeah, nah....not as if a race car hasn't gone up a hill before....perhaps some might remember a little Austrian race track called the A1?

[KoolMonkey 0]

Yeah I totally want a camera angle where we can see the elevation changes. I didn't realize until seeing some stuff on youtube that India had a bit of elevation happening. I'm not complaining about the coverage we do get, but I think it would be nice for it to be updated somewhat. New angles, more inventive onboard stuff. Heck the Gopro stuff I saw with RBR with their fish eye lenses and such was amazing. But then you have the tight camera angles for China/Turkey/Bahrain where they try and not show the empty stands etc. Feels really restrictive like you're looking through a hole in a box.

We need to be able to get a feel of a circuit, other than some dude 100ft in the air on a cherry picker. Variation would be nice, but I doubt it will happen. Probably the same stale vanilla cookie company that has been designing the tracks the past decade, that's doing the camera work.

[HandyNZL 1]

Actually it's Bernie doing the camera work (well his crew anyways), and they're under strict instruction to take all shots at no more than 4'5" off the ground so that he feels like he's looking down on everything.

[Quiet One 15]

Actually it's Bernie doing the camera work (well his crew anyways), and they're under strict instruction to take all shots at no more than 4'5" off the ground so that he feels like he's looking down on everything.

Ok, that made me laugh real hard!

[freaky2 1]

Craig, have I mentioned that it's great to have you back?

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Craig, have I mentioned that it's great to have you back?

and that lovely hot sexy thang Steph at the same time!!! Does it bear some relevance?? Makes one...ahem(cough cough) wonder

[BradSpeedMan 6]

WOW!!!! Vettel getting the hang of the track quickly...

"The German is some 1.418s clear of Hamilton, with Alonso more than two seconds back in third. Button is fourth with Webber fifth."

www.autosport.com

Lotus not looking to great here, but still experimenting with their exhaust

[HandyNZL 1]

Brad, FP1 results are pretty meaningless...the cars are slip sliding away everywhere as the track surface is "slippery as, bro", and it's been too cold (19-deg C track temp) to get any heat into the tyres. FP2 might have some more meaningful times as it will be run in the midday sun with the track temp higher. It would have paid Pirelli to have three compounds for FP1 so the teams could have a sacrificial soft tyre to aid in rubbering the track.

The hottest bit of FP1 was the fire on Schuies car before he even got out on track.

[Massa 0]

Hmmm. It's a track. Not sure I think much else of it.

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Brad, FP1 results are pretty meaningless...the cars are slip sliding away everywhere as the track surface is "slippery as, bro", and it's been too cold (19-deg C track temp) to get any heat into the tyres. FP2 might have some more meaningful times as it will be run in the midday sun with the track temp higher. It would have paid Pirelli to have three compounds for FP1 so the teams could have a sacrificial soft tyre to aid in rubbering the track.

The hottest bit of FP1 was the fire on Schuies car before he even got out on track.

get excited man!!! even if it's first practise!!! Come on where's the heart!!! Where is the love for anything F1!!!

Get excited ppl!!!

FFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Vettel is currently nursing a problem!!! Do I decide to give up and not follow!!!!

Never!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where is the love ppl??????????????????? WHERE?????????????????

FFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BradSpeedMan 6]

He's strapped back in, ready to go!!! This is what happens when you continue to follow and be excited!!! The championship leader is back!!!! His teammate is currently putting in faster and faster laps... This is GOOD. I'm glad!!! Domination is required...Let's see what Vettel does next!!!

I'm ssssoooooooooooo excited pl!!!!!!!!!!

FFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Tell u what, Mclarens also lok to be on the game...So Vettel for the win on Sunday, barring mechanical failures, Webber 2nd and the Mclarens to follow. Maybe have a Lotus in front of Alonso...game over!

[BradSpeedMan 6]

and Vettel is back on top after a six lap run...The guy is amazing!!!!!! It's really great to be excited and keep following, to keep the passion alive!!!

0.757s clear of team-mate Webber... it was worthwhile!!!

FFS!!!