Texas

[Quiet One 15]

How many times I have to tell you, guys? It's decaf or nothing for Brad!!! FFS!

[BradSpeedMan 6]

How many times I have to tell you, guys? It's decaf or nothing for Brad!!! FFS!

I thought it was abit too strong...!!! bloody hell!!!!

[HandyNZL 1]

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so excited, I fell asleep after lap 20 or so of FP2.

[HandyNZL 1]

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

Oh, come ON!

You got a lot of humble pie to eat, ye of the "it'll never happen" brigade....and you hit us with an "Hmmm"?!?!?!?

She's a purdy little track, with a more than decent crowd, and with a very nice platform to jump off with a bungee cord

[BradSpeedMan 6]

I'm so excited, I fell asleep after lap 20 or so of FP2.

I was hoping my display of great energy would be contagious, clearly you demonstrated it was'nt!

What a disappointment!!

FFS!!!!

[BradSpeedMan 6]

ok, so RB does look fast, but quite fragile does'nt it. MW leaking oil? in FP1 and Vettel with a water leak problem in FP2. Lotus abit disappointing .yeah I know Craig...it's only practise....

[HandyNZL 1]

I was hoping my display of great energy would be contagious, clearly you demonstrated it was'nt!

What a disappointment!!

FFS!!!!

Yeah, nah, well if they put the racing on at a decent time...FP1 was 4am and FP2 8am, and I was up working till just after midnight...when will Bernie ever listen to his most important market place? (That would be my house of course)

[HandyNZL 1]

ok, so RB does look fast, but quite fragile does'nt it. MW leaking oil? in FP1 and Vettel with a water leak problem in FP2. Lotus abit disappointing .yeah I know Craig...it's only practise....

Rather a leak in FP than a DNF in the race...and my car is perfectly happy leaking a bit of oil out of the oil pump relief valve (but then the pump is nearly 40-years old, so the RB failures are a display of complete incompetence on their part in comparison )

[Rainmaster 7]

Now I know why our American friends respect Bob Varsha so much.

[Quiet One 15]

Now I know why our American friends respect Bob Varsha so much.

Basically because he does not look as creepy as Peter WIndsor, and laughs a lot when commenting races, and says the same BS than any other commentator, except he never tries to sound like a specialist, more like another spectator watching the race and having fun. He is actually one of my favorites from all I've seen. Well...the Poles were funny too, except I never understood a word except Kubica, which they seemed to repear after every 1.5 seconds, even when Kubica was no longer in F1

[Massa 0]

I'm impressed with Vettel. New track, even playing field, slick surface, that fast...wow. I don't know what program everyone's on or whatever, but still, cool.

Cooler?

Varsha and Windsor talking about Chris Economacki. This is good stuff. Thanks, George.

[Rainmaster 7]

The word after practice is that we're not likely to see much overtaking around here, which sounds right to me given the track layout. In terms of strategy, apparently there won't be much variation because Pirelli admit they have been conservative in tyre choice (who can blame them ) - one stoppers all round perhaps? I imagine Ferrari are hoping those things are not the case, whereas Red Bull probably wouldn't mind.

It'll be a shame if F1's return to America produces a really boring race. I don't say that in a stereotypical way. I don't think the Americans need lots of passing, crashes and drama to hold their attention to the race; I think lack of overtaking and lack of strategy variation is a recipe for a dull race, by most people's standards. In any case I'm sure most of the people going are F1 connoisseurs anyway, and can accept that. But for the wider American (TV) audience, it'd be nice to see a more interesting race than say, Korea. If only because Korea just wasn't reflective of how interesting and entertaining this season has been, so if somebody only tuned in for that race they just wouldn't know how good F1 has been this season.

Then again, maybe nobody will be tuning in considering they scheduled this race to coincide with the Nascar finale

[Massa 0]

Yeah.

I guess I don't expect a significantly larger TV audience. I don't consume tons of news media, but there wasn't much national promotion for this event as far as I saw. The race is still on SPEED, a well-distributed cable network, but still a cable network that has a (large) niche and not much else. So, I don't know how many non-F1 fans will be watching.

The only promotion I've seen for F1 in the U.S. on a national level (there were ads in the papers all over Texas; I kept one in my desk for no reason other than I found it odd) has been on NBC, promoting the 2013 season as they take over the TV rights then. It's been pretty weird to see ads for "F1: starting in March" when there are still rounds to be run this year.

[freaky2 1]

Oh, interesting, no one here. I just realised qualy was on (yay for me xD) and my first reaction has been "WHAT?".

Alonso 9th in Q2 while Massa 3rd, hope Q3 gets that reversed. On the same note, Grosjean is 5th and Kimi 10th... argh XD

Vettel half a second clear of the rest of the field, how many times will he lap them if it's the same difference in the race?

[freaky2 1]

OK, I must bow low to whoever said 6 cars would be between Vettel and Alonso, he was even being generous. Let's see what the race has to show us xDD

[HandyNZL 1]

Webber will be pleased that Hamilton got P2...puts him (Webber) onto the sticky side of the grid...expect Hamilton to be in about fifth place by turn one...

[BradSpeedMan 6]

sssooo King Vettel triumphs!!!!!!!!!!!

All hail the king!!!!!!!!

Alonso down in 9th, has to start praying for a miracle or mechanical failure for Vettel...otherwise......

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Webber will be pleased that Hamilton got P2...puts him (Webber) onto the sticky side of the grid...expect Hamilton to be in about fifth place by turn one...

lol, yeah, he was really complaining about that

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Alonso has Grosjean and Maldo behind him... should be fun 2morrow!!!

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Schumacher starts fifth.. good show for the old man

[LabradoRacer 2]

Exceedingly happy with Schumi's quali show.

Not a surprise to see Vettel on pole, but props to Hamilton for wringing the neck out of that car. Meanwhile, Macca continue to flounder. Anyway, even if they hadn't Button would have qualified 4th at best. He simply doesn't have the pace that Hamilton does.

Strong quali by Lotus. Seems I was wrong about Kimi not getting a podium.

Alonso's starting 8th. Didn't Webber say even side of track will be difficult?

No idea why Grosjean's being penalized.

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Alonso's starting 8th. Didn't Webber say even side of track will be difficult?

YEP

No idea why Grosjean's being penalized.

gearbox penalty

[BradSpeedMan 6]

So..100th race for Vettel, topped all of FP, took pole, if he makes it another win 2morrow what an achievement...he is the guy for statistics anyway...brilliant stuff!!!!

lovely lovely

[LabradoRacer 2]

Wow, Hamilton lost out in the final sector by 0.2. He was faster in the first two. Interesting.

[Massa 0]

82,710 spectators attended qualifying today. That's very impressive, though I think we all know year two attendance will be the telling figures.

One of those 82,710? Governor Rick Perry, who ran for a presidential nomination last year but ultimately lost. According to Adam Cooper on Twitter, Governor Perry saw the "Pepe Jeans" logo on Christian Horner's shirt and said, "nice to meet you, Pepe."

Vettel and Red Bull do it again, great job from them. Alonso's really done a lot from down the field, but you can only produce so much magic, especially with these tire compounds. If Alonso survives turn one, I guess anything can happen, but I think we'll be looking at a very deserving three-time champion tomorrow as Alonso comes home fifth or worse.