I suppose this is old news already, but NBC has announced Leigh Diffey, David Hobbs and Steve Matchett for the F1 coverage. Will miss Bob Varsha though. http://www.f1pulse.com/news/20121116...broadcast-team

And, you guys should be on the Speed F1 forum. Good discussion there about F1. http://formula-one.speedtv.com/

 

OK, guys. What kind of mechanical trickery is RBR using to be able to make it through Turn 19 so cleanly? Everyone else is all over the freaking place going through there, and usually having the front wash completely out, but Vettel is just blasting through there in such a controlled manner at this point that it's almost unbelievable. WAR Vettel claiming his third driver championship tomorrow.

 

^ Yeah, the RB chassis is firmly planted while the others are washing out. Amazingly, the RB's are 9 mph slower than the other teams on the straightaway, yet their grip is tenacious through the turns, which is yielding better lap times. The Ferraris look somewhat clumsy in turns 12 to 20. I still have to pinch myself that I am watching a GP at a world class facility in the US. Having been to US GP's in the past, this is so much nicer, although the ambiance at tracks like Watkins Glen and Mosport [Canada] in the fall were spectacular, no doubt due to the fall foliage. Should be fun tomorrow.

 

^ I gotta say that COTA is now probably one of my favourite tracks on the F1 calendar

Thats good news! David Hobbs and Steve Matchett are my favourites of the Speed TV commentary team, I don't mind Bob Varsha but he was my least favourite out of the three.

I didn't even know Speed had a forum! Gonna get on that lol

Yeah no kidding!! After watching all 3 practices and quali I think I've seen just about every car wash out through there except for the Red Bulls. Since Singapore the Red Bulls updates have increased their performance by at least a second, I just wonder what that upgrade was...

Theres a very good chance we'll see Vettel get his 3rd world championship tomorrow with Alonso starting back in 9th, very good chance Alonso will get taken out as well being in the middle of the pack into the first corner

 

^ I have to say that Bob Varsha is my favorite guy on the Speed dream team. I learned to love his broadcasting skills waaaay back when he did IMSA racing and F1 on ESPN. He called the race where Senna was killed at San Marino. He is concise, has a soothing voice, is very informed about racing and is a good team leader. I will be sad if Leigh Diffey, who is a nice guy with a grating voice, runs the NBC show.

 

quali was much closer than i thought, considering how vettle dominated practice while doing much less laps. hope everyone can make it through turn 1 cleanly.

 

Pirelli really effed this one up... I understand going conservative, but come on, the two hardest compounds? Way to go... I fear this race is gonna be a parade due to the tires. Hopefully, I'm wrong.

 

^ Agreed, they should've brought the supersofts and the softs. Gotta admit I liked it way more when the tires were unpredictable, screw not being able to push for the whole stint, tire management made it more exciting, only one stop strategies are getting boring

 

Wow, Massa took a 5 place grid penalty just to promote Alonso. Ferrari only broke the seal, but did not change the gearbox. Does anybody here think that Ferrari has ever represented sportsmanship? This is so odiously,typical Ferrari, it stinks even here in Minnesota.

 

^ ferrari gots no shame.

love how vettle was b*tching even though hami made a clean pass. i guess he's just not used to people passing him. it's clear that RB was faster than McLaren all weekend. it all came down to the driver. does all the hami hater still thinks that he can only win because he was in a faster car. he out drove vettle even though he's in a lesser car, that's all there is to it.

 

They seemed pretty even all weekend. Great drive from Lewis and Seb both. I take back what I said about the tires, that put on a hell of a race. Great passing and battles the entire time. Fantastic first showing for CoTA.

 

Absolutely glorious to see the cars battling it out. All the worries about turn one turned out to be nothing at all. I too was surprised by the tire situation as they really worked well today. Lewis drove a superb race. I thought Seb might be able to pull off a win, but Lewis' shadowing him was too much. I loved it when Seb was moaning about the DRS and how much he hated it. Fred drove a great race too. He had another amazing start.

As for Schumi, what happened to him? And, Webber was quickly disposed of by Lewis and Fred drove right around him. Too bad about the KERS/transmission issue though. Overall, this race scores 5 stars with me. I had thought that running a race in Texas might not pan out, but really, everybody seemed to get into the Texas spirit with cowboy hats and boots and an appreciation for the area by the personnel outside the US. Well, on to Brazil for the real showdown. Somehow, we didn't get the gunfight at the OK corral like I thought we might today.

 

Grats to Lewis, hell of a race. I guess Vettel's crowning will have to wait another week.

On a side note - really want to drive that track

 

NARRA was voting to do an event there next year but DE or TT event would cost twice as much as other track, around $850 for two day weekend.

 

Vettle b*tching about DRS when Hami was behind but then Vettle couldn't take advantage of if when he was behind Hami. Hami is master of new tracks, he won a couple races during his rookie season on tracks that he has never driven on. being in the right car helps