pray for the 90% … makes for a much more interesting race 
pray for the 90% … makes for a much more interesting race
Not a good day for the prancing horse..
Interesting to see Bottas muscle Raikkonen off the track like that. Really- given what happened in Russia, I'm ok with that. 
Nice and composed race for Nico- won from out front. Controlled the race quite well- Lewis could not get within 1 second ever. Even after the safety car.
Perez gets points again, made the fans happy.
Interesting podium position- parking in the grand-stand area. Thousands of people to watch this podium from their seats.
Y'know, when there is someone inside of you, you can't just drive into a corner like noones's there. I see this over and over in F1. I know those guys have mirrors. I like Kimi and all but based only on what I've seen in 2015, I'd never hire the guy to drive one of my cars. Definitely an uncharacteristic day for Vettel as well. Nico did what he needed to do. I thought Hamilton might make a run at him, but it never materialized. Just wish it had rained at least a little bit.
Oh yeah, way to go Alonso. The McHonda didn't even make 1 lap. Just when I've been thinking the team had turned a corner. Is it my imagination or has Alonso DNFed a bunch more than Button?
The aero must have been awful today. Over and over, Lewis would work up to about 1.1 seconds behind Nico, and next time through the tight stuff, he'd be 1.8 seconds back.
One thing I wonder about is team priorities and team orders. Hamilton has his championship, the manufacturers cup is over, so now all they need to focus on is Nico securing #2 and keeping things from becoming another Prost/Senna scenario. I don't believe Hamilton would just let Nico go without a fight, but it would be easy enough to turn the power level down in one car or up in the other, and it wouldn't take much.
Hamilton wasn't happy with his last stop tires.
alfadriver wrote: Interesting to see Bottas muscle Raikkonen off the track like that. Really- given what happened in Russia, I'm ok with that.
I don't think Bottas muscled him anywhere....he was clearly up the inside and Kimi chose to crowd him over the curb.
Bottas locked the brakes to avoid but Kimi kept coming,the right guy ended up at the side of the track IMHO.
In reply to kevlarcorolla:
It's all how you interpret it- I saw it as Bottas getting some payback. It was great.
Since Kimi stuck his nose in the same spot, taking Valteri out, Valteri knew he would not move- which ended up just fine. And the glue factory didn't get a car to finish.
Streetwiseguy wrote: The aero must have been awful today. Over and over, Lewis would work up to about 1.1 seconds behind Nico, and next time through the tight stuff, he'd be 1.8 seconds back.
Altitude is a bitch. Hamilton did mention over the radio that he just couldn't grip in the dirty air.
COTA just fired their CEO after a "financially disastrous" F1 weekend, some terrible transportation missteps in the wake of the storm, and four years of declining attendance.
I think they did do the right thing by the Saturday ticket holders this year - it wouldn't have been cheap, but it was a good pr move to honor them on Sunday as well.
There's a lot of anger in Austin about COTA. It's a cranky town.
Basil Exposition wrote: COTA just fired their CEO after a "financially disastrous" F1 weekend, some terrible transportation missteps in the wake of the storm, and four years of declining attendance.
I just hope they replace him with someone who loves motorsports instead of concerts.
I'm sure they know better than me, but it just baffles me that one of the nicest tracks in the United States has less than 5 motorsports races on it a year. Every since Tavo was shoved out and the new guys came in, they've concentrated on everything but motorsports. Concerts, X-Games, marathons, festivals, etc.
All the things they talked about that was motorsports related (garages, kart track, etc) never materialized.
Let's hope the new CEO like racing......
-Rob
rob_lewis wrote: I'm sure they know better than me, but it just baffles me that one of the nicest tracks in the United States has less than 5 motorsports races on it a year.
I tend to agree, but apparently there's a line of thought that says that if the track is too available then it loses its appeal. Seems to work for Indy, but COTA doesn't have 100 years of history behind it...
Nobody seems to feel that way about Laguna Seca, and it's booked pretty much solid. Let the track be appealing for being a good track.
Keith, I agree with you there is a lot of hate there about Cota. Sad thing is most of it is over actions done by people that are no longer there. I hate hearing it all of the time. It's always done fine by me other than the lack of qualified marshals for some of the bigger events. That is a whole other issue though.
Keith Tanner wrote: Nobody seems to feel that way about Laguna Seca, and it's booked pretty much solid. Let the track be appealing for being a good track.
Road Atlanta .. the same … booked solid, and really showing her age … VIR the same (except for the age thing) … booked solid … neither seem to be loosing their appeal
wbjones wrote:Keith Tanner wrote: Nobody seems to feel that way about Laguna Seca, and it's booked pretty much solid. Let the track be appealing for being a good track.Road Atlanta .. the same … booked solid, and really showing her age … VIR the same (except for the age thing) … booked solid … neither seem to be loosing their appeal
These are all tracks in very different positions. COTA is almost unique -- it's a modern F1 track, but it's something that a person who lives in the US can drive his street car to and on. It was basically unique in this way, because Montreal is a temporary circuit and Indy isn't open for track days. Perhaps the new Mexico City circuit is available? I dunno. COTA going for the "exclusive" business model, and for a while it appeared to be working because they were selling out track days that cost 3x what they do at Laguna (which is itself a pretty expensive track).
I'm not saying I agree with that model, or that I think it's sustainable in the long term, just that it's not obviously crazy from the perspective of how to best make money with the track.
In reply to codrus:
The problem with going the "exclusive" model- apparently it does not make much money. Otherwise we would not be talking about it.
All of the European F1 tracks are used all the time, too. The week after the F1 race at Monza, there is a track day. At least there was when we last went.
On the subject of COTA, I've come to the conclusion that turn 1 there is one of the most action-packed corners in F1. Anyone else agree?
alfadriver wrote: In reply to codrus: The problem with going the "exclusive" model- apparently it does not make much money. Otherwise we would not be talking about it. All of the European F1 tracks are used all the time, too. The week after the F1 race at Monza, there is a track day. At least there was when we last went.
Well, apparently it works for Indy because for 60+ years the only race they held was the Indy 500. I think they're up to 3 now, or maybe it's 4.
And yes, I've been agreeing with you for my last 3 posts that I don't think it will work for COTA. :)
OHMYGOD.....Suzie Wolff is retiring!
And here I thought silly season was over already.
codrus wrote:alfadriver wrote: In reply to codrus: The problem with going the "exclusive" model- apparently it does not make much money. Otherwise we would not be talking about it. All of the European F1 tracks are used all the time, too. The week after the F1 race at Monza, there is a track day. At least there was when we last went.Well, apparently it works for Indy because for 60+ years the only race they held was the Indy 500. I think they're up to 3 now, or maybe it's 4. And yes, I've been agreeing with you for my last 3 posts that I don't think it will work for COTA. :)
Based on the fact that they keep adding events to the IMS, it seems as if it's not working there, too.
Personally, I think the concert thing was an attempt to fully utilize the facility and it sounded like a brilliant move. The concerts aren't in lieu of racing. The problem is there isn't enough racing that draws sufficient spectators to pay for this monstrous facility. Entry fees for track days and even club races don't cut it. Even though fees are as high as they are.
The original plan hoped to draw corporate events and a lot more spectators than it has. For example, the abortive Australian V8 series. They thought the TV following would mean track attendance. Wrong. Big loser.
Like it or not, this track is a loooong way away from the racing fans that tend to concentrate on the coasts and Midwest. There just aren't enough of them in Texas and the surrounding states to support a Grand Am race (or whatever it is called now) or the like.
Supposedly the rumored incoming CEO is a racing guy, so maybe we'll get a chance to see if that works better than the exiting marketing wunderkind.
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