[Official] United States Grand Prix 2016: Grand Prix Weekend Thread

[Born Racer]

One of the great curiosities about the Formula 1 World Championship has for a long time been the sport’s failure to make a dent in the American sporting conscience. Perhaps this should not be a surprise, as the United States is an enormous and fascinating country in itself which lives in its own world and on its own terms where typical sports are American football, basketball and baseball.

In terms of motorsport, ovals dominate, from the roots of grasstrack and racing on dirt through to NASCAR stock car racing. A parallel exists among many of these sports – stop-start events, with a blow of the whistle or a wave of the yellow breaking the action for a while, during which time strategies are re-assessed: these are high-energy bursts of sporting action with the onus on entertainment and “the show” too.

Formula 1 meanwhile, lived its own bubble for so long that despite protestations that the US was an essential market commercially-speaking and more importantly, was vital to its interests of claiming to be a true world championship, it simply never generated a following. This oddity came in spite of the fact that the country has produced two world champions, Phil Hill (1961) and Mario Andretti (1978) and prior to the latest incarnation of the race, ran Formula 1 races at nine circuits across eight different states – Sebring, Riverside, Watkins Glen, Long Beach, Las Vegas, Detroit, Dallas, Phoenix and Indianapolis. In fact, from 1959 in Sebring until the last race at Indianapolis in 2007, there was at least one Formula 1 Grand Prix in 41 of the 56 seasons in the USA. Many times, there were two Grands Prix (Long Beach, a popular street track, was always run as US Grand Prix West, for example) and in 1982 there were even three races on US soil (Detroit, Las Vegas and Long Beach).

If you look at the Formula 1 winners lists you will see some unfamiliar names arise. Strangely perhaps, points scored in the Indy 500 from 1950 until 1960 counted towards the Formula 1 world championship despite the race not being a Grand Prix. This didn’t, however, give Formula 1 a foothold in America. For that it needed to do its own thing and some of the circuits were good (e.g. Watkins Glen) and some bad – there was a combination of excellent races and ill-thought-out messes.

1980 to 1982 in Las Vegas springs to mind. Las Vegas should bring a certain razzmatazz to the sport, but the decision to hold the Grand Prix in an uninspiring car park round the back of the Caesar’s Palace hotel and casino doomed it to failure, despite being a championship decider. Dallas held a one-off Grand Prix on a street track in 1984 but like Spa a year later, the track surface broke apart in the heat before the race. Unlike Spa, the race never returned. Between 1989 and 1991 the race took place in Phoenix. It did not garner much attention. In 1990 with attendance figures low (reported at 10,000 to 15,000), a local ostrich race pulled in more spectators - a bit more than three times as much. This was not a positive sign.

And then there was Indianapolis. This was after the biggest break in the US Grand Prix's history and despite taking place eight times, it never seemed to make much sense. Going all the way to the hallowed temple of speed which is host venue of the Indy 500, only to see quick cars scramble round an awkward infield course and drive one fast corner of the oval backwards didn’t capture the imagination or gel as a concept. In 2006 after the Michelin runners (the majority of the field) did not have tyres considered safe enough to last the race, an infamous boycott occurred, leaving just four Bridgestone-shod Jordans and Minardis trailing in the wake of the winning Ferrari pair. This was a fine refutation of the concept that there is no such thing as bad publicity and was just the wrong country in which to happen. That said, Formula 1 hardly generated any publicity anyway and so there was always the hope that some day, Formula 1 would return to the United States with a track and event of which to be proud.

In 2012, that day arrived and it came in the Texan state capital, Austin. The enthusiastic and forward-thinking city welcomed Formula 1 with fervour and open arms. I was pleased to attend the inaugural event there that year and thoroughly enjoyed the race and exciting layout. It immediately leapt up to be well up the list as one of the driver' favourite tracks. It is one of four anticlockwise circuits, all near the end of the season, along with Marina Bay in Singapore and the forthcoming Interlagos and Abu Dhabi. From a clean sheet of paper, the track developers created one of the most undulating tracks on the calendar, with a big variation in gradient. The race forms an American double-header, with the Mexican Grand Prix next weekend.

The track is fantastic. The run up to Turn 1 is steeply uphill with a blind apex into the left-hand Turn 1. Turns 3 to 6 are a relentless thrill, like Maggotts and Becketts at Silverstone, but perhaps even more dramatic with the elevation change. The drivers chuck the cars in and keep flicking in opposing directions. Turns 16 to 18 is a multi-apex delight, rather like the one in Istanbul Park.

Constructors’ championship standings: http://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2016/team.html

Drivers’ championship standings: http://www.formula1.com/en/results.h...6/drivers.html

United States Grand Prix tyre selections: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/h...e-choices.html

Circuit length: 5.513km
Number of laps: 56
Race distance: 308.405km
Dry weather tyre compounds: Supersoft, Soft and Medium
DRS Detection Zone 1: between Turns 10 and 11
DRS Activation Zone 1: between Turns 11 and 12
DRS Detection Zone 2: between Turns 18 and 19
DRS Activation Zone 2: on start-finish straight
Speed trap: just before Turn 12

Lap Record: 1:39.247 (2012 - Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull-Renault)
First Grand Prix: 1908 (as American Grand Prix)
First Grand Prix: 1958 (as United States Grand Prix)
First World Championship Grand Prix: 1959
First Grand Prix at this circuit: 2012

[chillibowl]

Dan Ric having fun with his Texan accent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a91BNc-WXb0

[JHamilton]

This is a good one to watch on TV, although I hope they can continue to draw great crowds to the track. Weather looks to be warm for this time of year, but very nice. Looking forward to it.

[canamman]

Both Haas cars are struggling a bit. FP1 has them
14th and 15th. Be a dream to get some ,or even, a point
this weekend. A few cars have lost parts taken from the
built up curbing in some turns. David Hobbs called them
"real tooth looseners" .

[Richard C]

I love Hobbs commentary.

Richard

[JeremySmith]

I was there yesterday the cars look and sound great, it's a great circuit and lots of fun to attend ...

[BSchneiderFan]

How are the crowds looking? Better than last year, I hope.

[JeremySmith]

Yes they exspect near to record attendance ....
Both the Renault's looked and sounded slow at times ...

The McLaren Honda's sound really rather good I thought and the chassis
looked very neutral, but I am far from being an expert of course ..😳

[BSchneiderFan]

Red Bulls quickest in FP3. Let's hope they can make a race of it with Mercedes.

[JeremySmith]

They looked very good yesterday ...

[bjohnsonsmith]

Great intro as ever.

Looking forward to this one, especially as the RBs have done so well in FP and broadcasting is at a reasonable time, so I won't miss Qualifying or the race.

Qualifying is about to start.

[Lancsbreaker]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

Dan Ric having fun with his Texan accent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a91BNc-WXb0

Great clip - thanks for that! A sense of humour tells you a lot about a bloke.......and Dan's a good 'un

[JeremySmith]

Red Bull I am not surprised 😊

[bjohnsonsmith]

It's Lewis on pole, followed by Nico, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Raikkonen and Vettel, in the top 6. Can Lewis get a good start tomorrow?

[Mr Pink]

Very pleasantly surprised by Ericsson in Q1!

[JeremySmith]

What a great effort by Lewis I am proud of him ..

[chillibowl]

Just me or does Kimi really have the measure of his team mate this season?

[Beryl]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

Just me or does Kimi really have the measure of his team mate this season?

It's probably just you and Kimi fans.

Though the last few qualifying sessions have been poor from Vettel. He's definitely had more dips this year than last.

[JeremySmith]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

Just me or does Kimi really have the measure of his team mate this season?

No your right when Kimi has a car that's to his liking there are very few drivers that are faster ..

[Tja]

Originally Posted by Beryl

It's probably just you and Kimi fans.

Though the last few qualifying sessions have been poor from Vettel. He's definitely had more dips this year than last.

Vettel seems really unhappy in the car this year, always busy moaning about blue flags, other drivers and what not.
RedBull not too far off Mercedes in Quali today and good long runs could make it interesting tomorrow, so that's a positive. Toto sounded slightly worried about them also because of the split strategy making it harder to manage for his team.

The crowd looked good too and apparently they've sold lots of tickets for tomorrow as well.
If only they'd replace that red stripe at the side of the road with some grass to stop the drivers making up their own circuit all the time.

[JeremySmith]

I agree and I am going to talk to them about that concept

[S griffin]

This race always produces excitement and this is the great thing, there's no telling what could happen in the race. Lewis has done what he needed too, can he do the start properly this time?

[bjohnsonsmith]

A very clean start, with Hamilton taking the lead. Ricciardo got the better of Nico and is 2nd.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Raikkonen retires but what a strange way to retire from a race. Rolling backwards down the pit lane after a botched pitstop, which left the right rear wheel nut loose.

[dyewat808]

any reason as to why track limits aren't being enforced?