I had a dream last night that Alonso took the win in Brazil and Vettel was no where to be found on the podium.
Noooo.
Anyways, I'm still recovering from my trip to CotA. They did a great job and my seating was pretty stellar. Plus, Hammy took a victory. <3
Here's a few pictures I took: (note: they're not post processed because im super lazy @_@) + Show Spoiler +
This is a view from the tower. It cost $35 just go up the tower and you only get 10 minutes to enjoy the view! @_@ It was a 45 minute wait in line too.
Super blurry, but I got it. :D Hammy waving on his cool down lap!
ferrari once again proving that when it comes to cheating, nobody does it better than the italian
congratulations for consistently being the least sportsmanlike team in the circus while still somehow having devoted idiot fans, i suggest from now on to call ferrari "the apple of F1" or "iFerrari" for that reason
On November 21 2012 02:14 Pandemona wrote: Super jelly of those photo's!! Thanks for sharing.
Hammy waved at u :O!
Yes. AND ONLY AT ME <3 <3 (just kidding he waved to everyone of course, but I totally felt special getting that picture!)
On November 21 2012 02:27 lilwisper wrote: That tower has an amazing view. Wow. How close were you to get those track level pics?
You can basically see everything! There's even an area in the front of the tower where the floor is clear, so you can look directly below you.
Ahh, I was pretty far from the actual track itself. People* weren't allowed walk up to the fenced areas, so the best view you could get was from the grandstand. I would say I was at least 75ft from the actual track, and 150ft+ from the actual corner. I used a 500mm lens to get those shots -- they're a little blurry because I didn't have anything to stabilize my wrist ):
If anyone plans on going to next year's US GP, I suggest getting Turn 9 seats. You can see the front straight from those seats too! You can even see the beginning of the DRS zone too. The only problems though is that Turn 9 is pretty far from the entrance (they do have shuttles that will drive you directly from the entrance of the track to the turn 9 stands) and the podium. I didnt get to see the podium ceremony like I did in Montreal. T_T
*edit: aside from staff and photographers, of course.
double edit: A few more pictures (taken via phone) + Show Spoiler +
The girl volunteering for the store had no idea who either of the drivers were...so she kept getting confused and was giving me the wrong die casts T_T;
some of the city buses had advertisements for the fanfest in downtown Austin. There was a Button bus too!
The entrance! SO CLOSE and so much walking!
this guy.
The collector's glasses! You get them by ordering a $12 "Circuit of the Americas's Signature Tea" (basically a long island ice tea).
or you can just have them substitute any $12 cocktail you want. We just ordered the tea. The opposite side of the glass shows the track (including elevation changes). It's pretty neat!
I crappily painted my nails in team colors prior to leaving :'D The orange/red is a bit off, but hey, close enough, right?
Nice one kierpanda I am also jealous of your weekend. It was reported over here that the major newspapers in the US didn't report about the race, is that true? Shame if it is the case because that was a great advert for F1. Especially so with Bernie saying the US will have three races within three years (California and New Jersey).
As we are heading to the final race, I thought I would give my thoughts on this thoroughly entertaining year.
After last year being a no contest, the start to the season was a very welcome change to the pecking order. McLaren, Red Bull, Lotus, Williams, Ferrari and Sauber all had very similar race pace from the off. Lotus in my eyes had the car I would have wanted to drive over this period as they had the pace with better tyre wear. Qualifying proved an issue for Lotus, Red Bull and in particular Ferrari though and for that reason didn't maximise their performance. Slowly the big three teams improved their cars and normality was somewhat resumed. McLaren had slipped away showing very poor pace at the GB and German GP, however they brough a heavily revised package to Hungary which transformed into the best on the grid. This led to wins in Hungary, Spa and Monza before the circus headed out to Singapore. This was a key weekend in the title race, Hamilton had won three of the last four races and was hunting down Alonso in the championship. Red Bull had other plans, they had brought a massive upgrade to their DRS system to help their qualifying issues, this allowed them to show how fast on race day they really are. Much like last weekend it turned out to be a duel between Lewis and Seb, but unfortunately for Lewis and perhaps the title race, his gearbox failed with him leading. Alonso had seen his supposed biggest rival for the title take a huge blow but also saw Red Bull really look strong. This continued for Red Bull and led to Alonso having his lead eroded completely as Vettel won four races on the trot. As we head into Brazil he looks as if his third world title is there for the taking, he has the fastest car and a large lead. Even without him finishing Alonso would need a podium, it is long odds but a certain Finn was even longer odds a few years back. I hope for rain and whoever wins, they have to earn it with a great drive. A couple of things I want to add also, this year Williams have had an amazing car. The drivers have not achieved anywhere near enough in it. Pastor won in Spain and I am delighted with that but he has scored points in 4 races, it isn't good enough. Senna has proved to race better but qualify woefully. They lie in eighth position in the WCC with no real hope of finishing higher, this is a huge shame in my eyes. It might not mean much to a newer F1 fan but Williams were an amazing team, and since their partnership with BMW ended they have been in decline. I hope they can turn it around as this year they have excelled. I would say it has been good enough to have finished fifth in the WCC, a great start to the renewed Williams-Renault partnership. Good job to Marussia too, a shitty engine with no KERS and a lower budget yet they still pushed Caterham hard. Well done to those guys. McLaren rant below + Show Spoiler +
It should have been a three-way title battle which is my big disappointment with the year. I think Hamilton has driven amazingly well this year and factors outside his control have gone against him. Interestingly enough Ron Dennis gave Hamilton the McLaren F1 he promised him if he could deliver the team three titles when his Mercedes deal was announced. He said Lewis would have won those if the team hadn't let him down. Top bloke that Ron. This year has been riddled with errors from McLaren, pit-stop problems in Aus and Malaysia cost 13 points. Onto a gear-box problem in China(3), more pit-stop issues in Bahrain cost 8 minimum. He would have won in Spain but only managed eighth due to his penalty, that's 21 lost. Pit-stop issues again in Monaco (these are all consecutive races) cost him points, until finally a flawless weekend from McLaren in Canada where Lewis wins. Then he had pit-stop issues again in Valencia which caused Maldonado to be near him, who punted him off for a loss of 15 points. Retirement in Germany followed a poor British GP, and that retirement would be the first of many. He then played the "Game of Thrones" (win or retire and interesting enough a game he plays in North America through his entire career) in Hungary, Belgium, Italy and Singapore which cost around 35 points. Rear roll-bar failures in Japan and Korea caused poor finishes, hard to know what was lost here, but certainly 10. That just leaves his Abu Dhabi retirement which cost another 25. That is 132 points lost without looking at the German GP, he is 83 points behind Vettel. Taking into account Vettel's problems over the season and taking away the points he gained from Hamilton it would be very close between the two. It isn't too hard to see why Lewis has looked for pastures new
That McLaren rant was nothing but truth. We all know that stuff happens in racing and luck can play a huge factor, but to have so much happen in consecutive races as if McLaren was a budget F1 team is simply inexcusable.
On November 22 2012 00:27 Aristodemus wrote: Nice one kierpanda I am also jealous of your weekend. It was reported over here that the major newspapers in the US didn't report about the race, is that true? Shame if it is the case because that was a great advert for F1. Especially so with Bernie saying the US will have three races within three years (California and New Jersey).
Yeah, a lot of newspapers in the US didn't cover F1. Local news (including televised news) in Austin covered it -- there were news helicopters and reporters everywhere. I think it's mainly because racing really isn't that big in the US, even for NASCAR (yes, it's our country's most popular motorsport, but it's not as mainstream as something like our football or baseball), so any news coverage for motorsports events is usually limited to the sports section of the newspaper or the sports channel.
Also, I had no idea that Bernie was considering putting a race in California. This is amazingly good news to me! Woohoo!
On November 22 2012 00:27 Aristodemus wrote: Nice one kierpanda I am also jealous of your weekend. It was reported over here that the major newspapers in the US didn't report about the race, is that true? Shame if it is the case because that was a great advert for F1. Especially so with Bernie saying the US will have three races within three years (California and New Jersey).
Also, I had no idea that Bernie was considering putting a race in California. This is amazingly good news to me! Woohoo!
On November 22 2012 00:27 Aristodemus wrote: Nice one kierpanda I am also jealous of your weekend. It was reported over here that the major newspapers in the US didn't report about the race, is that true? Shame if it is the case because that was a great advert for F1. Especially so with Bernie saying the US will have three races within three years (California and New Jersey).
Also, I had no idea that Bernie was considering putting a race in California. This is amazingly good news to me! Woohoo!
haha, get ready for 10-11am races
Haha, it's a welcomed change of pace. If it's in California, I'll be sitting in the grand stands every race.
On November 22 2012 00:27 Aristodemus wrote: Nice one kierpanda I am also jealous of your weekend. It was reported over here that the major newspapers in the US didn't report about the race, is that true? Shame if it is the case because that was a great advert for F1. Especially so with Bernie saying the US will have three races within three years (California and New Jersey).
Also, I had no idea that Bernie was considering putting a race in California. This is amazingly good news to me! Woohoo!
haha, get ready for 10-11am races
Hearing race in Cali, I can only think of one place. Long Beach. There are probably other tracks, but I don't know any other than Long Beach. TT:;
On November 22 2012 00:27 Aristodemus wrote: Nice one kierpanda I am also jealous of your weekend. It was reported over here that the major newspapers in the US didn't report about the race, is that true? Shame if it is the case because that was a great advert for F1. Especially so with Bernie saying the US will have three races within three years (California and New Jersey).
Also, I had no idea that Bernie was considering putting a race in California. This is amazingly good news to me! Woohoo!
haha, get ready for 10-11am races
Hearing race in Cali, I can only think of one place. Long Beach. There are probably other tracks, but I don't know any other than Long Beach. TT:;
There's Laguna Seca and Infineon; those are probably the two bigger ones in NorCal at least. We also have Thunderhill, but that's pretty tiny too. :\
SoCal would probably be a better spot to put a brand new race track though. Land is much cheaper there and there's a bigger car culture down there.
On November 25 2012 04:10 Pandemona wrote: Great qualifying from Hammy as usual, well played Button too. Nice to see on the last race of the year he finally gets the car to his liking lol.
I miss Hammy so much. I know he's just moving over to Mercedes, but it won't be the same. T____T
I expect Mclaren to screw up tomorrow. Its too good to believe they have gone several races without fcking up. The have been good at messing up pole position this season too.
Looking forward to today, it looked as if Vettel was feeling the pressure in qualifying and now has Massa right behind him. He will be nervous today, it is supposedly 50/50 chance of rain at race time. I just hope it isn't started behind a safety car, NO FUCKING SC START CHARLIE!!!!! Hulkenberg again proved why he should have been given the Macca seat, the second half of this year he has been very good. Lucky for Alonso that Maldonado was sent back on the grid, getting past him in the dry is a risky business.