US GP - Report and Photos
Discussion
Chaps,
More drivel from me as I attempt to attend and document all of the world's great motor racing events. This time it's our little jaunt to Texas for the US GP. Sorry the photos are from the wrong side of the fence, but they give a flavour. Hope you enjoy.
Chev.
“Downtown Elroy, Travis County.” This is how the area immediately to the south east of Circuit of the Americas is described by our RV site host. The shabby collection of ramshackle buildings, dusty fields, rusting farm vehicles and constant stream of beaten up pick-up trucks paints rather a different picture. This is redneck territory – cowboy land - and the adjacent circuit casts a powerful and incongruous shadow across an area which appears to have changed imperceptibly for generations.
This corner of Texas has no history of top-level motor sport but the area has positively embraced this brazen new world since COTA landed like an alien space craft in the desert late in 2012. MotoGP, World Endurance Championship and F1 all now carry a legion of proud fans and the city of Austin, much like Montreal in Canada, has devoted itself to the US GP for the weekend.
Back to Downtown Elroy and a small RV docked on a lumpen field is our home for the weekend. Next door is boarded up, populated by litter (trash), broken utility vehicles and a small army of playful cats. A mile away, the enormous 360 Tower looms over the area, a reminder of the sheer financial clout of F1, bringing its unique and apparently restraint-free visual to rural Texas. This feels weird.
The only thing for it is to throw oneself into the Elroy way of life. Wild Bubba’s serves rare game burgers in an environment devoted to racing. Bubba himself is a fervent F1 supporter and his gloriously eccentric little diner serves incredible yak burgers; but only between 11am and 3pm. Next door is a tired old petrol (gas) station and accompanying general store. Bud Light flows like water and seems to do the trick for evening session lager drinking.
A short walk away is Sagitario. This tiny trailer serves incredible Mexican food and provides an articulate reminder of Texas’ history as the rope in a tug of war between Mexico and the USA. Order your burrito in Spanish and dash with hot sauce: perfect after a long day at the races.
So, with all the sights, sounds and flavours of Downtown Elroy explored, it’s Friday morning and time to hit the track.
COTA occupies a huge plot apparently once ear-marked for 3,000 dwellings. That plan foundered; purportedly due to the construction difficulties inherent in an area suffering particularly with ground heave resulting from rain and frost. What that means for the future of the remarkable facilities at COTA is anybody’s guess but let us hope that Herman Tilke has some decent structural engineers working among his team.
Unlike so many of Tilke’s recent creations, this is a circuit which has earned itself universal praise from drivers, teams, journalists and fans. Not only is Austin the perfect host city, but the track shows an unusual degree of architectural restraint, allied to a fiercely challenging layout all drivers seem to adore. It’s become an instant classic.
The cars flood out of the pitlane for FP1 and the lack of entries is immediately apparent. F1 misses Caterham and Marussia. What the future holds for these teams remains finely held in the balance but 18 cars is not enough to make a track of this size look anything other than sparsely populated. It’s sad and one can only hope that the powers-that-be grasp the impact of this sorry state of affairs and put in place a framework which permits a 24 car grid once again. F1 needs a balance of manufacture powerhouses and agile minnows. Let’s see what 2015 brings.
The other notability from FP1 is the appearance of Max Verstappen. The Dutch teenager is getting into the full swing of (impending) life as a grand prix driver and he passes the session aboard Jean-Eric Vergne’s usual mount. He wastes no time in getting down into competitive lap times and looks utterly composed.
The circuit’s signature corner is Turn One (no proper corner names in evidence just yet, sadly), a tight left hander approached at great speed and with the drivers gazing up to the gods. Akin to the ludicrous gradient of Spa-Francorchamps’ Eau Rouge, this approach to T1 presents drivers with the perfect overtaking opportunity, with multiple lines available.
From the ludicrously elevated T1, the drivers plunge flat out downhill and right at considerable speed into a sequence of sweepers which evoke Silverstone’s Maggotts/Becketts complex and the Suzuka Esses: high praise indeed. The sweepers are entered with throttles wide open before slowing down as the track rises again at Turn Nine before opening out and plunging downhill once more.
From behind the safety of the catch fencing, it looks a wild rollercoaster of a ride; and none more so than from behind the wheel of a Lotus. Grosjean and Maldonado both look to have their hands full of a car which looks frighteningly wayward at these speeds. How on earth Maldonado hauls this recalcitrant beast to a top-ten grid spot is anybody’s guess. Both drivers spin during the practice sessions and it’s no surprise. His podium at COTA in 2013 must seem a very distant memory for Grosjean. The team uses FP1 as an opportunity to try out a new nose. In place of the controversial, ugly and unsuccessful twin tusk is a low-slung effort similar to those from Ferrari and Mercedes. That should prove to be the template for 2015.
While the Lotus looks wayward, the Sauber looks plain slow. Unwilling to change direction and simply lacking downforce, Sutil and Gutierrez are stroking the cars through the fastest part of the esses, reluctant to lean too hard and straightening the corners as precisely as possible.
In stark contrast comes Lewis Hamilton. As he turns right into this awesome sequence, the revs are high, right foot unerring and the car is dancing to his tune. Absolutely smothered in downforce, it’s clear – even to the ill-educated spectator – that this is a car he adores. It’s absolutely mesmeric watching the car lean on its outer rear tyres, darting from right to left with ferocious conviction. It’s not hard to see why the W05 has set the gold standard at absolutely every race this season. In Hamilton’s hands it’s a guided missile; target set for the chequered flag.
Following the circuit on the outfield allows one to savour the full sequence of sweepers. Ignore the vast run-off areas and vivid painted macadam and this could be a classic North American road course, such is the flow and gradient of the layout through here. Finally the drivers have chance to breathe as they chute down to Turn 11 – a tight hairpin leading out onto the back straight which preludes the best available overtaking spot.
Turn 12 is another tight switchback, immediately following a DRS zone and leading into the stadium section which carries the drivers through a trio of tortuous, technical turns. This awkward sequence would provide most of the race’s finest action.
The track then opens into the magnificent Turn 16. A vast 180deg triple-apex right-hander, perhaps Tilke had studied Mallory Park’s iconic Gerrards; or even his own Turn 8 at Istanbul. Either way it’s magnificent and never less than awesome listening to engine notes actually rising as the best of the best power through under full throttle, outside rear squatting under load, tortured Pirellis deflecting from the outrageous requests made of them. Make no mistake, in spite of 2014’s quieter engines, an F1 car in full flight through a quick corner will still leave one wide-eyed in awe.
Which brings us to noise: had Bernie not cunningly distracted everyone with his farcical double points system, we’d still be whinging about the lack of noise. Wouldn’t we? This is my first opportunity to hear the latest cars in action and I’ve purposefully chosen not to pass any kind of judgement on the sound until I’ve had chance to listen to them in person. Nobody’s going to pretend they are a match for the old naturally aspirated V8s for sheer ear abuse. And the little V6s will not make the hair rise on the back of one’s neck as they hammer down the Kemmel Straight, plumes of spray in their wake.
That is not to say that they are not fascinating in their own way, however. They rev very quickly but sound constantly to be short-shifting, such is the fuel flow limit constraining high engine speeds. Gruff and purposeful, they’re at least as interesting to listen to as the four cylinder engines from the last F1 turbo era, though lacking the barrel chest of the Renault EF15B V6 aboard Ducarouge’s finest JPS Lotuses.
What the engines do offer, though, is an intriguing new science fiction soundtrack. Much like the incredible new breed of LMP1 racers, it’s now possible to hear a huge variety of chuffs, whistles, whooshes and all manner of other onomatopoeic sonics which haven’t previously featured in the F1 fan’s aural lexicon. Quite apart from that, once the flag falls and the racing begins, you can hear the commentary, the locked brakes and allow yourself to become fully immersed in the race. The old V8s were incredible engines, blessed with a spooky, hollow timbre unique in the racing world. They allowed one to savour an F1 car in isolation but could actually limit one’s enjoyment in the racing environment. The future has arrived and I really quite like it.
Quite apart from the F1 action, Friday permits an opportunity to explore as much as possible of the facility at COTA. It’s evidently still a very new circuit but it’s been designed to encourage use – and citizen pride. The area inside Turn 16 contains a raft of grandstands, a host of eateries, a multitude of merchandise vendors, a permanent live music venue, manicured lawns, a large pond and the iconic 360 tower. That perhaps offers some idea of the scale of Turn 16, as well as the scale of the event.
Friday wraps up with practice sessions for the North American Ferrari Challenge and the Porsche Supercup. Sadly that’s the full support card and it’s a real shame that an historic F1 field couldn’t have been arranged, as the inaugural race at COTA in 2012.
Downtown it’s Halloween and the whole of central Austin is going wild, with live bands and half the streets closed to traffic for one massive booze and F1 fuelled party. For us, though, it’s back to downtown Elroy: one spicy burrito and a few bottles of Bud Light prelude an early night as we need to rise early on Saturday.
Earlier in the week we’d found ourselves suffering a punctured tyre on our hire (rental) car way out in the hills at a ranch south west of Austin. Via bizarre coincidence, the resultant delay to our plans meant we had found ourselves in the company of a couple of charming representatives of McLaren for half an hour. Before we parted company they kindly – and to our considerable surprise – offered pit passes for Saturday morning at the grand prix.
I’ve been immensely fortunate to enjoy great access to the sport I love but an F1 pit pass doesn’t often fall into one’s lap. As a result we find ourselves in full blag mode to access the facility before the public gates had open and are greeted by McLaren’s finest at 7.30am on the dot. The 360 tower is our illuminated backdrop and the place is starting to stir with team personnel readying themselves for qualifying.
For the next 90 minutes we are privileged to enjoy free access throughout the pit lane. We inspect Jenson’s latest ride, admire the prat perches and gaze in wonder at pit stop practice as cars are serviced in two and a half seconds. Forget journo nonchalance – this is an F1 pit lane and it’s freaking awesome.
The latest breed of car is impossibly complicated. Never before have aero and mechanical departments fought one another so hard. The quantity of pipes, hoses and cables is just on another level. Radiators abound and the mechanical components faithfully follow the bodywork without a cubic millimetre to spare. Trying to trace the passage of any individual system is impossible and one can only gaze in wonder at the fiendish mechanical engineering on display. How on earth the teams can be limited to five powertrains this complicated per season is beyond comprehension.
Having selfied ourselves in every conceivable pit lane location, it is with heavy heart that our passes are returned and we resumed our positions on the poor side of the track. No wonder the F1 VIP experience is so sought after; I’ll never see the paddock at an Oulton Park clubbie in the same light again.
Qualifying takes a mildly revised format as a result of the loss of Marussia and Caterham: four drop out in Q1 and another four in Q2, leaving ten to fight it out in Q3 as usual. Hamilton, who looked so composed and expressive through the sweepers on Friday, has been at his imperious best all weekend: fastest in every session. Suddenly, though, Rosberg pulls a lap out of the bag which amazes the entire field, including his illustrious team mate. Trailing in the points he might be but his speed in qualifying has been remarkable all season. While Hamilton has the reputation for unparalleled speed over a single lap, the German (Finn / Monegasque / whatever) has proven himself to be the master of Saturdays. It’s so close, though, that it’s hard to believe either driver will have an easy time when the lights go out on Sunday afternoon.
Behind the warring Mercedes drivers, it’s anybody’s race. Ricciardo continues to astound in his first season aboard a top-line ride, while the Williams looks mega all weekend, Massa looking comfortable once again. He’s historically been one of the most exciting drivers to watch from the trackside and his sublime car control through the fast stuff is a joy to behold. His young team mate, Valtteri Bottas, is the darling of the crowds and he’s rapidly risen to become a real cult hero on the spectator banks.
With the curtain falling on Saturday’s track activity, attention turns to the 360 amphitheatre – the circuit’s purpose-built, permanent live music venue. Somehow the organisers have managed – brace yourselves – to initiate some genuine fan interaction into the elitist world of F1. A huge crowd has gathered to hear a Q&A with most of the field, with a lucky few having arrived early enough to gain the opportunity for an autograph from their heroes.
While the Q&A sessions are brief and conducted by chap whose lack of knowledge is fairly apparent, the fans and drivers all seem to be relishing the opportunity to engage with one another. Following his booing at the hands of Belgian and Italian crowds, Rosberg looks like a man on a PR mission and he leaps down to the throngs in front of the stage for more impromptu autographs: a nice touch.
Hamilton, though, is the master at this kind of occasion and he spends even longer at the front posing for selfies and signing anything that’s put in front of him. No other driver stays so long, nor seems so natural doing so.
All the drivers are asked to wear branded cowboy hats and pull this off with varying degrees of silliness. Kimi Raikkonen, of course, won’t play ball and his face is a picture of discontent throughout. Still, given the season he’s suffering, it’s hard not to understand why. Some of the drivers are offered the chance to hoop a rope over head of a Texas Longhorn effigy; with predictably little success.
The best moment is provided, though, by Danil Kvyat. The young Russian is prodigiously capable behind the wheel of a grand prix car but his lack of experience in public speaking and slightly limited vocabulary leave him sounding more like Borat than Button. He’ll learn pretty quickly at Red Bull next season.
Track action on both Saturday and Sunday for the support categories is mostly pretty good. The regional Ferrari Challenge provided incredible racing at Montreal back in 2011 and I anticipate more of the same. Saturday afternoon’s encounter is extremely close but the ominous portent up until then is the pace of champion-elect Ricardo Perez, a second clear of the field in qualifying.
Come the race, though, local man Mark McKenzie hounds the Mexican throughout, eventually pulling off an audacious pass into Turn One. Perez, with one eye on the title, leaves just enough room and settles for a good haul of points to bolster his championship ambitions. Frantic action down the field is generally pretty clean for a big grid of amateur drivers and the race is well called by Shea Adams, who seems to be becoming something of an authority in sports car circles.
Race two, on Sunday morning, is a little less composed. In fact there are only two competitive laps, the balance of the race taking place behind the safety car, including its conclusion. It’s a pretty limp end and a disappointment for all concerned.
The Porsche Supercup sits atop the Porsche championship hierarchy – the most global and senior of 18 separate similar championships worldwide. The races on both Saturday and Sunday were thrillers. On Saturday evening, reigning champion and occasional 2014 competitor, Nicki Thiim leads from lights to flag. Behind him though is organised (and occasionally disorganised) chaos. A brace of safety car periods and a lot of damaged cars tell their own story. Thiim handles race-long pressure from Michael Ammermuller with aplomb but a baying pack clamouring for the bottom step of the podium.
Young Kiwi Earl Bamber has one hand on the title and has to balance defence delicately against attack. He emerges 4th but not without some fierce battling with Klaus Bachler and Kuba Giermaziak. Bachler loses places early on and does a terrific job to snatch the bottom step of the podium.
Race two, on Sunday morning ahead of the grand prix, is perhaps even better – and certainly significantly cleaner. This time Thiim is spun at the first corner and the Dane ends lap one in 26th place. His fight back through the field is one of the highlights of the weekend. Ahead of Thiim’s squabbles is a terrific scrap for the lead. German Philip Eng has the freshest tyres of anybody and he quickly annexes himself a strong lead. As his tyres slowly wilt, so Michael Ammermuller eases himself onto Eng’s bumper before snatching a lead he would hold to the flag. The scrap for the minor placings is fierce, with Brit Ben Barker so nearly landing the bottom step of the podium. Instead that falls to Eng, who is mugged by Bamber, with anything up to half a dozen drivers contending the same position at various times during the race. That was enough for Bamber to take the 2014 championship, by a healthy 22 point margin.
The Supercup sets a high standard for F1 to match in terms of pure excitement. The race is preceded by some traditional American pageanty. A huge marching band occupies most of the straight between turns 15 and 16. They play a variety of songs with incredible skill and the kind of natural flair the Americans are so adapt at. F1 may yet be a little way from the pomp and ceremony of the Indy 500 but it’s learning to adopt some of the USA’s crowd-pleasing secrets.
It’s time, though, to go racing and the tiny performance margin between Hamilton and Rosberg promises another unpredictable encounter at the front, while behind, it’s anybody’s guess.
From the start, Rosberg holds a slim lead over Hamilton but it’s in the mid-field where the action is about to kick off. Perez tries a ludicrously ambitious move on Raikkonen as the field streams into Turn 15 for the first time. He clatters the Ferrari before ploughing into the innocent Adrian Sutil, tearing wheels from both cars among a shower of carbon fibre. The German can only raise his hand in despair. They’re both out on the spot.
After a few laps under the safety car, racing resumes and it’s Rosberg ahead once more, while the Williams duo attempt to out-perform one another in a contest for biggest lock-up from the front left into T15.
Hamilton loses time during his first pit stop and the small gap to Rosberg enables him to show his true pace. In a stalking manoeuvre very similar to the one he used to such devastating effect on Sebastian Vettel in 2012, he passes the Finn into Turn 12. The crowd rises as one in applause. From there it’s job done for Hamilton and he retains a crucial gap to his team mate for the balance of the race. Somehow, this season Hamilton has found a way of using less fuel, better conserving his tyres and yet still being fractionally quicker than Rosberg. It’s a mighty trick to perform as he gallops away to his fifth win on the bounce and a 24 point margin atop the championship table.
If the battle at the front is tense, but straightforward, the minor placings are contested ferociously. Daniel Ricciardo, wearing an especially silly beard (nice to find myself in such exalted company) uses his usual blend of stealth and guile to leapfrog the Williams boys for third place. Behind these guys it’s anybody’s race.
There are moves for position for every driver. Vettel pits under the safety car at the start of the race, having occupied a lowly grid slot courtesy of a powertrain change. He rises and falls up the order according to his strategy (out of synch with the rest) but initially looks plain slow as he struggles to scrabble into the top ten. Perhaps the loss of Caterham and Marussia has harmed the effectiveness of a fight from the back. Whatever, it’s almost a surprise to find him hounding Alonso through the stadium on the final lap to take seventh – so nearly sixth.
Jenson Button has a similarly eventful race and his battle with Alonso is one of the race’s absolute highlights. If he is lost to F1 next year, it will be the sport’s loss more than it will be his; he’s on a fantastic run of form and the public adores him.
It’s hard to track all the mid-field battles but if you’re aboard a Toro Rosso, Red Bull, Ferrari or Force India then the chances are at any given moment you’re fighting either in defence or attack. It’s breathless, thrilling stuff and not once do I worry about a lack of noise.
With a race which showcases everything that’s good about modern F1 (yes, there is still much to love), the Texan fans are able to choose either a very orderly fan invasion or a free Kid Rock concert. The idea of a carefully-orchestrated and sign-posted ‘invasion’ seems a little synthetic so it’s time to settle on the grass with a can of the local beer and watch an old man with long hair sing obscene songs. OK, it’s not quite to my taste but, with the sun setting and the vibes buoyant, this is a pretty good way to close out a grand prix weekend.
Visit Spa or Monza and it’s impossible not to become wrapped up in the atmosphere and splendour of them both. To stand and spectate where the greats Nuvolari, Rosemeyer, Ascari, Fangio, et al did their best work is never less than utterly moving. COTA doesn’t have that history yet, but it does have an identity and it most certainly has soul. As an event, it feels every inch a Texan Grand Prix – a cohesive and expressive phenomenon played out over a wonderful circuit. It’s a bona fide classic already and once a couple of generations of truly great drivers have done their best work here, it will become a legend – like Spa and Monza. As a grand prix and as a facility, it’s that good. Now, F1, please don’t mess it up.
More drivel from me as I attempt to attend and document all of the world's great motor racing events. This time it's our little jaunt to Texas for the US GP. Sorry the photos are from the wrong side of the fence, but they give a flavour. Hope you enjoy.
Chev.
“Downtown Elroy, Travis County.” This is how the area immediately to the south east of Circuit of the Americas is described by our RV site host. The shabby collection of ramshackle buildings, dusty fields, rusting farm vehicles and constant stream of beaten up pick-up trucks paints rather a different picture. This is redneck territory – cowboy land - and the adjacent circuit casts a powerful and incongruous shadow across an area which appears to have changed imperceptibly for generations.
This corner of Texas has no history of top-level motor sport but the area has positively embraced this brazen new world since COTA landed like an alien space craft in the desert late in 2012. MotoGP, World Endurance Championship and F1 all now carry a legion of proud fans and the city of Austin, much like Montreal in Canada, has devoted itself to the US GP for the weekend.
Back to Downtown Elroy and a small RV docked on a lumpen field is our home for the weekend. Next door is boarded up, populated by litter (trash), broken utility vehicles and a small army of playful cats. A mile away, the enormous 360 Tower looms over the area, a reminder of the sheer financial clout of F1, bringing its unique and apparently restraint-free visual to rural Texas. This feels weird.
The only thing for it is to throw oneself into the Elroy way of life. Wild Bubba’s serves rare game burgers in an environment devoted to racing. Bubba himself is a fervent F1 supporter and his gloriously eccentric little diner serves incredible yak burgers; but only between 11am and 3pm. Next door is a tired old petrol (gas) station and accompanying general store. Bud Light flows like water and seems to do the trick for evening session lager drinking.
A short walk away is Sagitario. This tiny trailer serves incredible Mexican food and provides an articulate reminder of Texas’ history as the rope in a tug of war between Mexico and the USA. Order your burrito in Spanish and dash with hot sauce: perfect after a long day at the races.
So, with all the sights, sounds and flavours of Downtown Elroy explored, it’s Friday morning and time to hit the track.
COTA occupies a huge plot apparently once ear-marked for 3,000 dwellings. That plan foundered; purportedly due to the construction difficulties inherent in an area suffering particularly with ground heave resulting from rain and frost. What that means for the future of the remarkable facilities at COTA is anybody’s guess but let us hope that Herman Tilke has some decent structural engineers working among his team.
Unlike so many of Tilke’s recent creations, this is a circuit which has earned itself universal praise from drivers, teams, journalists and fans. Not only is Austin the perfect host city, but the track shows an unusual degree of architectural restraint, allied to a fiercely challenging layout all drivers seem to adore. It’s become an instant classic.
The cars flood out of the pitlane for FP1 and the lack of entries is immediately apparent. F1 misses Caterham and Marussia. What the future holds for these teams remains finely held in the balance but 18 cars is not enough to make a track of this size look anything other than sparsely populated. It’s sad and one can only hope that the powers-that-be grasp the impact of this sorry state of affairs and put in place a framework which permits a 24 car grid once again. F1 needs a balance of manufacture powerhouses and agile minnows. Let’s see what 2015 brings.
The other notability from FP1 is the appearance of Max Verstappen. The Dutch teenager is getting into the full swing of (impending) life as a grand prix driver and he passes the session aboard Jean-Eric Vergne’s usual mount. He wastes no time in getting down into competitive lap times and looks utterly composed.
The circuit’s signature corner is Turn One (no proper corner names in evidence just yet, sadly), a tight left hander approached at great speed and with the drivers gazing up to the gods. Akin to the ludicrous gradient of Spa-Francorchamps’ Eau Rouge, this approach to T1 presents drivers with the perfect overtaking opportunity, with multiple lines available.
From the ludicrously elevated T1, the drivers plunge flat out downhill and right at considerable speed into a sequence of sweepers which evoke Silverstone’s Maggotts/Becketts complex and the Suzuka Esses: high praise indeed. The sweepers are entered with throttles wide open before slowing down as the track rises again at Turn Nine before opening out and plunging downhill once more.
From behind the safety of the catch fencing, it looks a wild rollercoaster of a ride; and none more so than from behind the wheel of a Lotus. Grosjean and Maldonado both look to have their hands full of a car which looks frighteningly wayward at these speeds. How on earth Maldonado hauls this recalcitrant beast to a top-ten grid spot is anybody’s guess. Both drivers spin during the practice sessions and it’s no surprise. His podium at COTA in 2013 must seem a very distant memory for Grosjean. The team uses FP1 as an opportunity to try out a new nose. In place of the controversial, ugly and unsuccessful twin tusk is a low-slung effort similar to those from Ferrari and Mercedes. That should prove to be the template for 2015.
While the Lotus looks wayward, the Sauber looks plain slow. Unwilling to change direction and simply lacking downforce, Sutil and Gutierrez are stroking the cars through the fastest part of the esses, reluctant to lean too hard and straightening the corners as precisely as possible.
In stark contrast comes Lewis Hamilton. As he turns right into this awesome sequence, the revs are high, right foot unerring and the car is dancing to his tune. Absolutely smothered in downforce, it’s clear – even to the ill-educated spectator – that this is a car he adores. It’s absolutely mesmeric watching the car lean on its outer rear tyres, darting from right to left with ferocious conviction. It’s not hard to see why the W05 has set the gold standard at absolutely every race this season. In Hamilton’s hands it’s a guided missile; target set for the chequered flag.
Following the circuit on the outfield allows one to savour the full sequence of sweepers. Ignore the vast run-off areas and vivid painted macadam and this could be a classic North American road course, such is the flow and gradient of the layout through here. Finally the drivers have chance to breathe as they chute down to Turn 11 – a tight hairpin leading out onto the back straight which preludes the best available overtaking spot.
Turn 12 is another tight switchback, immediately following a DRS zone and leading into the stadium section which carries the drivers through a trio of tortuous, technical turns. This awkward sequence would provide most of the race’s finest action.
The track then opens into the magnificent Turn 16. A vast 180deg triple-apex right-hander, perhaps Tilke had studied Mallory Park’s iconic Gerrards; or even his own Turn 8 at Istanbul. Either way it’s magnificent and never less than awesome listening to engine notes actually rising as the best of the best power through under full throttle, outside rear squatting under load, tortured Pirellis deflecting from the outrageous requests made of them. Make no mistake, in spite of 2014’s quieter engines, an F1 car in full flight through a quick corner will still leave one wide-eyed in awe.
Which brings us to noise: had Bernie not cunningly distracted everyone with his farcical double points system, we’d still be whinging about the lack of noise. Wouldn’t we? This is my first opportunity to hear the latest cars in action and I’ve purposefully chosen not to pass any kind of judgement on the sound until I’ve had chance to listen to them in person. Nobody’s going to pretend they are a match for the old naturally aspirated V8s for sheer ear abuse. And the little V6s will not make the hair rise on the back of one’s neck as they hammer down the Kemmel Straight, plumes of spray in their wake.
That is not to say that they are not fascinating in their own way, however. They rev very quickly but sound constantly to be short-shifting, such is the fuel flow limit constraining high engine speeds. Gruff and purposeful, they’re at least as interesting to listen to as the four cylinder engines from the last F1 turbo era, though lacking the barrel chest of the Renault EF15B V6 aboard Ducarouge’s finest JPS Lotuses.
What the engines do offer, though, is an intriguing new science fiction soundtrack. Much like the incredible new breed of LMP1 racers, it’s now possible to hear a huge variety of chuffs, whistles, whooshes and all manner of other onomatopoeic sonics which haven’t previously featured in the F1 fan’s aural lexicon. Quite apart from that, once the flag falls and the racing begins, you can hear the commentary, the locked brakes and allow yourself to become fully immersed in the race. The old V8s were incredible engines, blessed with a spooky, hollow timbre unique in the racing world. They allowed one to savour an F1 car in isolation but could actually limit one’s enjoyment in the racing environment. The future has arrived and I really quite like it.
Quite apart from the F1 action, Friday permits an opportunity to explore as much as possible of the facility at COTA. It’s evidently still a very new circuit but it’s been designed to encourage use – and citizen pride. The area inside Turn 16 contains a raft of grandstands, a host of eateries, a multitude of merchandise vendors, a permanent live music venue, manicured lawns, a large pond and the iconic 360 tower. That perhaps offers some idea of the scale of Turn 16, as well as the scale of the event.
Friday wraps up with practice sessions for the North American Ferrari Challenge and the Porsche Supercup. Sadly that’s the full support card and it’s a real shame that an historic F1 field couldn’t have been arranged, as the inaugural race at COTA in 2012.
Downtown it’s Halloween and the whole of central Austin is going wild, with live bands and half the streets closed to traffic for one massive booze and F1 fuelled party. For us, though, it’s back to downtown Elroy: one spicy burrito and a few bottles of Bud Light prelude an early night as we need to rise early on Saturday.
Earlier in the week we’d found ourselves suffering a punctured tyre on our hire (rental) car way out in the hills at a ranch south west of Austin. Via bizarre coincidence, the resultant delay to our plans meant we had found ourselves in the company of a couple of charming representatives of McLaren for half an hour. Before we parted company they kindly – and to our considerable surprise – offered pit passes for Saturday morning at the grand prix.
I’ve been immensely fortunate to enjoy great access to the sport I love but an F1 pit pass doesn’t often fall into one’s lap. As a result we find ourselves in full blag mode to access the facility before the public gates had open and are greeted by McLaren’s finest at 7.30am on the dot. The 360 tower is our illuminated backdrop and the place is starting to stir with team personnel readying themselves for qualifying.
For the next 90 minutes we are privileged to enjoy free access throughout the pit lane. We inspect Jenson’s latest ride, admire the prat perches and gaze in wonder at pit stop practice as cars are serviced in two and a half seconds. Forget journo nonchalance – this is an F1 pit lane and it’s freaking awesome.
The latest breed of car is impossibly complicated. Never before have aero and mechanical departments fought one another so hard. The quantity of pipes, hoses and cables is just on another level. Radiators abound and the mechanical components faithfully follow the bodywork without a cubic millimetre to spare. Trying to trace the passage of any individual system is impossible and one can only gaze in wonder at the fiendish mechanical engineering on display. How on earth the teams can be limited to five powertrains this complicated per season is beyond comprehension.
Having selfied ourselves in every conceivable pit lane location, it is with heavy heart that our passes are returned and we resumed our positions on the poor side of the track. No wonder the F1 VIP experience is so sought after; I’ll never see the paddock at an Oulton Park clubbie in the same light again.
Qualifying takes a mildly revised format as a result of the loss of Marussia and Caterham: four drop out in Q1 and another four in Q2, leaving ten to fight it out in Q3 as usual. Hamilton, who looked so composed and expressive through the sweepers on Friday, has been at his imperious best all weekend: fastest in every session. Suddenly, though, Rosberg pulls a lap out of the bag which amazes the entire field, including his illustrious team mate. Trailing in the points he might be but his speed in qualifying has been remarkable all season. While Hamilton has the reputation for unparalleled speed over a single lap, the German (Finn / Monegasque / whatever) has proven himself to be the master of Saturdays. It’s so close, though, that it’s hard to believe either driver will have an easy time when the lights go out on Sunday afternoon.
Behind the warring Mercedes drivers, it’s anybody’s race. Ricciardo continues to astound in his first season aboard a top-line ride, while the Williams looks mega all weekend, Massa looking comfortable once again. He’s historically been one of the most exciting drivers to watch from the trackside and his sublime car control through the fast stuff is a joy to behold. His young team mate, Valtteri Bottas, is the darling of the crowds and he’s rapidly risen to become a real cult hero on the spectator banks.
With the curtain falling on Saturday’s track activity, attention turns to the 360 amphitheatre – the circuit’s purpose-built, permanent live music venue. Somehow the organisers have managed – brace yourselves – to initiate some genuine fan interaction into the elitist world of F1. A huge crowd has gathered to hear a Q&A with most of the field, with a lucky few having arrived early enough to gain the opportunity for an autograph from their heroes.
While the Q&A sessions are brief and conducted by chap whose lack of knowledge is fairly apparent, the fans and drivers all seem to be relishing the opportunity to engage with one another. Following his booing at the hands of Belgian and Italian crowds, Rosberg looks like a man on a PR mission and he leaps down to the throngs in front of the stage for more impromptu autographs: a nice touch.
Hamilton, though, is the master at this kind of occasion and he spends even longer at the front posing for selfies and signing anything that’s put in front of him. No other driver stays so long, nor seems so natural doing so.
All the drivers are asked to wear branded cowboy hats and pull this off with varying degrees of silliness. Kimi Raikkonen, of course, won’t play ball and his face is a picture of discontent throughout. Still, given the season he’s suffering, it’s hard not to understand why. Some of the drivers are offered the chance to hoop a rope over head of a Texas Longhorn effigy; with predictably little success.
The best moment is provided, though, by Danil Kvyat. The young Russian is prodigiously capable behind the wheel of a grand prix car but his lack of experience in public speaking and slightly limited vocabulary leave him sounding more like Borat than Button. He’ll learn pretty quickly at Red Bull next season.
Track action on both Saturday and Sunday for the support categories is mostly pretty good. The regional Ferrari Challenge provided incredible racing at Montreal back in 2011 and I anticipate more of the same. Saturday afternoon’s encounter is extremely close but the ominous portent up until then is the pace of champion-elect Ricardo Perez, a second clear of the field in qualifying.
Come the race, though, local man Mark McKenzie hounds the Mexican throughout, eventually pulling off an audacious pass into Turn One. Perez, with one eye on the title, leaves just enough room and settles for a good haul of points to bolster his championship ambitions. Frantic action down the field is generally pretty clean for a big grid of amateur drivers and the race is well called by Shea Adams, who seems to be becoming something of an authority in sports car circles.
Race two, on Sunday morning, is a little less composed. In fact there are only two competitive laps, the balance of the race taking place behind the safety car, including its conclusion. It’s a pretty limp end and a disappointment for all concerned.
The Porsche Supercup sits atop the Porsche championship hierarchy – the most global and senior of 18 separate similar championships worldwide. The races on both Saturday and Sunday were thrillers. On Saturday evening, reigning champion and occasional 2014 competitor, Nicki Thiim leads from lights to flag. Behind him though is organised (and occasionally disorganised) chaos. A brace of safety car periods and a lot of damaged cars tell their own story. Thiim handles race-long pressure from Michael Ammermuller with aplomb but a baying pack clamouring for the bottom step of the podium.
Young Kiwi Earl Bamber has one hand on the title and has to balance defence delicately against attack. He emerges 4th but not without some fierce battling with Klaus Bachler and Kuba Giermaziak. Bachler loses places early on and does a terrific job to snatch the bottom step of the podium.
Race two, on Sunday morning ahead of the grand prix, is perhaps even better – and certainly significantly cleaner. This time Thiim is spun at the first corner and the Dane ends lap one in 26th place. His fight back through the field is one of the highlights of the weekend. Ahead of Thiim’s squabbles is a terrific scrap for the lead. German Philip Eng has the freshest tyres of anybody and he quickly annexes himself a strong lead. As his tyres slowly wilt, so Michael Ammermuller eases himself onto Eng’s bumper before snatching a lead he would hold to the flag. The scrap for the minor placings is fierce, with Brit Ben Barker so nearly landing the bottom step of the podium. Instead that falls to Eng, who is mugged by Bamber, with anything up to half a dozen drivers contending the same position at various times during the race. That was enough for Bamber to take the 2014 championship, by a healthy 22 point margin.
The Supercup sets a high standard for F1 to match in terms of pure excitement. The race is preceded by some traditional American pageanty. A huge marching band occupies most of the straight between turns 15 and 16. They play a variety of songs with incredible skill and the kind of natural flair the Americans are so adapt at. F1 may yet be a little way from the pomp and ceremony of the Indy 500 but it’s learning to adopt some of the USA’s crowd-pleasing secrets.
It’s time, though, to go racing and the tiny performance margin between Hamilton and Rosberg promises another unpredictable encounter at the front, while behind, it’s anybody’s guess.
From the start, Rosberg holds a slim lead over Hamilton but it’s in the mid-field where the action is about to kick off. Perez tries a ludicrously ambitious move on Raikkonen as the field streams into Turn 15 for the first time. He clatters the Ferrari before ploughing into the innocent Adrian Sutil, tearing wheels from both cars among a shower of carbon fibre. The German can only raise his hand in despair. They’re both out on the spot.
After a few laps under the safety car, racing resumes and it’s Rosberg ahead once more, while the Williams duo attempt to out-perform one another in a contest for biggest lock-up from the front left into T15.
Hamilton loses time during his first pit stop and the small gap to Rosberg enables him to show his true pace. In a stalking manoeuvre very similar to the one he used to such devastating effect on Sebastian Vettel in 2012, he passes the Finn into Turn 12. The crowd rises as one in applause. From there it’s job done for Hamilton and he retains a crucial gap to his team mate for the balance of the race. Somehow, this season Hamilton has found a way of using less fuel, better conserving his tyres and yet still being fractionally quicker than Rosberg. It’s a mighty trick to perform as he gallops away to his fifth win on the bounce and a 24 point margin atop the championship table.
If the battle at the front is tense, but straightforward, the minor placings are contested ferociously. Daniel Ricciardo, wearing an especially silly beard (nice to find myself in such exalted company) uses his usual blend of stealth and guile to leapfrog the Williams boys for third place. Behind these guys it’s anybody’s race.
There are moves for position for every driver. Vettel pits under the safety car at the start of the race, having occupied a lowly grid slot courtesy of a powertrain change. He rises and falls up the order according to his strategy (out of synch with the rest) but initially looks plain slow as he struggles to scrabble into the top ten. Perhaps the loss of Caterham and Marussia has harmed the effectiveness of a fight from the back. Whatever, it’s almost a surprise to find him hounding Alonso through the stadium on the final lap to take seventh – so nearly sixth.
Jenson Button has a similarly eventful race and his battle with Alonso is one of the race’s absolute highlights. If he is lost to F1 next year, it will be the sport’s loss more than it will be his; he’s on a fantastic run of form and the public adores him.
It’s hard to track all the mid-field battles but if you’re aboard a Toro Rosso, Red Bull, Ferrari or Force India then the chances are at any given moment you’re fighting either in defence or attack. It’s breathless, thrilling stuff and not once do I worry about a lack of noise.
With a race which showcases everything that’s good about modern F1 (yes, there is still much to love), the Texan fans are able to choose either a very orderly fan invasion or a free Kid Rock concert. The idea of a carefully-orchestrated and sign-posted ‘invasion’ seems a little synthetic so it’s time to settle on the grass with a can of the local beer and watch an old man with long hair sing obscene songs. OK, it’s not quite to my taste but, with the sun setting and the vibes buoyant, this is a pretty good way to close out a grand prix weekend.
Visit Spa or Monza and it’s impossible not to become wrapped up in the atmosphere and splendour of them both. To stand and spectate where the greats Nuvolari, Rosemeyer, Ascari, Fangio, et al did their best work is never less than utterly moving. COTA doesn’t have that history yet, but it does have an identity and it most certainly has soul. As an event, it feels every inch a Texan Grand Prix – a cohesive and expressive phenomenon played out over a wonderful circuit. It’s a bona fide classic already and once a couple of generations of truly great drivers have done their best work here, it will become a legend – like Spa and Monza. As a grand prix and as a facility, it’s that good. Now, F1, please don’t mess it up.
Edited by chevronb37 on Tuesday 11th November 06:45
BritishRacinGrin said:
Excellent! One question- are you Troy Queef? The writing style has a distinctive Queefy whif about it...
I've never been so insulted! 
Actually I've never read any Troy Queef, though I am aware of 'him'. Obviously my writing style is adjusted according to audience and subject matter. An in-depth technical feature for which I'm being paid will, necessarily, take a slightly more serious tone than a holiday jaunt to a grand prix. These trips are the ones I enjoy writing the most though.
Thanks so much, chaps, for reading and commenting - I really appreciate it. My next foreign jaunt is to the Rechberg Hillclimb in April 2015 so keep your eyes peeled for an account of a quick drive to Austria and back.
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