2012 Formula One United States Grand Prix

That apex on turn one is a blinder because of the crest. One has to almost feel the apex before the leap over the crest. The 'real' apex will turn up as the familiar line of rubber builds up.

P2 over in a minute or so.. . .
 
So Vettel's first race in F1 was in the United states and his 100th start will be in the united states. Some neat synergy going on there as well as a crazy progression from being just a stand-in substitute driver to a two time champ.
 
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RACECAR
So Vettel's first race in F1 was in the United states and his 100th start will be in the united states. Some neat synergy going on there as well as a crazy progession from being just a stand-in substitute driver to a two time champ.
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Even more weird his first race was the last USGP before this year.:lol:
 
I think the advantage is too big to be the real difference between Vettel and the rest, we'll see tomorrow. My guess is he's trying to demoralise the other drivers a bit by driving almost as if it's qualifying.
 
dhandeh
Turn 19 looks like an ice rink, a lot of cars are sliding sideways through it. You don't often see a F1 car do that!

Also with the amount of cars spinning on turn 1, it makes cars heading for that hard to see where they are as it is over the crest.
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Schumacher said you get a lot of understeer heading into turn 19, then like half way through the corner you start to get a lot of oversteer. Definitely an interesting corner.
 
RACECAR
So Vettel's first race in F1 was in the United states and his 100th start will be in the united states. Some neat synergy going on there as well as a crazy progession from being just a stand-in substitute driver to a two time champ.
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Justin
Even more weird his first race was the last USGP before this year.:lol:
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That's pretty cool facts. I set the dvr to record and I'm watching through p2 now. This is exciting to see F1 here again!!

On a side note when I watched the p1 broadcast earlier they did a lap of the circuit on codemasters f1 2012 and it was obviously a controller, I would have expected better representation. I'm not trying stir the pot, it's just something I picked up on.
 
First day at an F1 race taught me one very important thing.

F1 cars are freakin loud!!!!!!!

But man it was awesome to see in person!!!!
 
mcla-hami-cota-2012-21.jpg
 
All I can think is that Turn 3-5 is a bad version of the Esses at Suzuka and Turn 16-18 is a bad version of Turn 8 at Turkey.
 
Hmm, mixed feelings about the track so far. All I really think is like when I first unlocked a Fuji race on GT5 and I had no idea where to go. Surround by a sea of Tarmac. Seriously. No grass or gravel or anything, tilkey?
 
m8h3r
Hmm, mixed feelings about the track so far. All I really think is like when I first unlocked a Fuji race on GT5 and I had no idea where to go. Surround by a sea of Tarmac. Seriously. No grass or gravel or anything, tilkey?
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I'm sure they do that so if someone goes off track they're not out of the race and can re-join and continue. Minimizes DNF's.
 
R1600Turbo
I'm sure they do that so if someone goes off track they're not out of the race and can re-join and continue. Minimizes DNF's.
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Grass? Like at turn one at Australia. That's fine. It slows you down but doesn't end your race. We need some super abrasive run off's for 2013.
 
m8h3r
We need some super abrasive run off's for 2013.
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Paul Ricard has super-abrasive run-off areas. This has been acheived by mixing tungsten into the tarmac mix - but tungsten is incredibly expensive, so it's not practical to do it elsewhere.
 
R1600Turbo
I'm sure they do that so if someone goes off track they're not out of the race and can re-join and continue. Minimizes DNF's.
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Partly, but also because its safer. A car stops better on tarmac and won't dig into the ground and flip like with grass and gravel.

An ongoing debate is whether its better to have grass/gravel to punish drivers into not trying to pull stupid overtaking/defensive moves or to have tarmac and keep drivers in the race as well as the obvious safety question.

I mean Suzuka still has plenty of grass and gravel which is what makes it punishing...but tracks like Spa and Fuji have quite a lot run-off and still manage to be challenging and interesting circuits.
 
Being there today, turn one is a huge climb from the main straight. Basically the first thing you see going the track other than the tower. Best Tilke track since Istanbul. 👍
 
So, for pole, who do you think would get it? My hands are on a dominating performance by Hamilton, with him retiring in the race, because that's the pattern.
 
ghskilla
So, for pole, who do you think would get it? My hands are on a dominating performance by Hamilton, with him retiring in the race, because that's the pattern.
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I was kind of leaning toward that as well, Alonso was fairly consist during practice, Vettel was just fast, but that isn't anything new. Hopefully it'll be a great race!
 
Well, I was looking forward to the race, until I found out that TSN won't be showing it live, and I'll have to wait until 8pm to see it. :mad:
 
prisonermonkeys
You really think so? Even when Vettel was a second and a half quicker than him in FP1, and seven-tenths quicker in FP2?
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Vettel's FP1 time was set on new tires, versus Hamilton's old tires. While still faster in FP2, it wasn't by quite as much.

Unfortunately, McLaren seem to be off Red Bull's pace this weekend, but not by as much as FP1 dishonestly suggested.
 
ghskilla
Those are practice times. We'll just have to see what it translates to in Qualifying.
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Do you honestly think the tables are going to suddenly turn in qualifying, considering that Vettel is a driver who loves to wait until the last minute in Q3 before coming out and running circles around everyone?

Sorry, but the idea that anyone other than Vettel will be on pole is pure wishful thinking.
 
prisonermonkeys
Do you honestly think the tables are going to suddenly turn in qualifying, considering that Vettel is a driver who loves to wait until the last minute in Q3 before coming out and running circles around everyone?

Sorry, but the idea that anyone other than Vettel will be on pole is pure wishful thinking.
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The only person I can really see on pole besides Vettel is Hamilton. And again, we'll just have to see. The one thing I do wish for is for the race not to be another Vettel walkover, because hey, F1 is back in the States, the first race shouldn't be a borefest.
 

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