Source - Imgur


Source - Imgur

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Feel The Fourth

Always look forward to this race!

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Top Three Team Champions 2017 (With Jezza13)
Group Pick 'Em Champion: 2016 & 2019

Yeah great circuit... If they brought back Malaysia and got rid of bloody Abu Dhabi the last few races of the season would be amazing

Surely Ferrari territory this weekend?

Austin is one of the best races of the year. That series of corners after the DRS zone is just perfect for wheel-to-wheel racing. It's one of the few circuits where DRS does what it's supposed to do; the straight is short enough that it only gets the attacking driver alongside and then they have to finish the job themselves over the subsequent turns.

I'll take Mercedes and Hamilton.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztVMib1T4T4

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Mission WinLater

I checked the ESPN Stats... Hamilton has won every year at COTA since its 2012 inception, save 2013 (Vettel). That's 6 of 7 races. No reason to expect anything else in 2019.

Kimi won last year

Wrong.. don't u remember "f**cking finally" last year?

I stand corrected. So it's 5/7 for Hamilton, then. HAM clearly enjoys this track.

I cant see Mercedes out-qualifying Ferrari.. And Mercedes dont seem capable of overtaking the Ferrari even with DRS and tyre offsets.

I feel the pit-straight and long back straight will be pure Ferrari territory.

As a Lewis fan, I am willing to be pleasantly surprised

Yeah, but what I do see is Ferrari throwing away a front-row lockout due to strategy.

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PICK 10 COMPETITION (4 wins, 15 podiums): 3rd in 2016
TOP THREE CHAMPIONSHIP (No Limit Excedrin Racing): Champions in 2015 & 2018 | 2nd in 2017 & 2019
AUTOSPORT GP PREDICTOR: 2017 USA & P-F1 Champion

There are also a lot of slow to medium speed corners where the Merc does well.

The wide open entrance to turn one also means that there is above average opportunity for overtaking on track.

Ferrari will be strong, but I am not ready to concede the weekend to Team Red yet.

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Mission WinLater

How cynical Or realistic?

I think it will be extremely difficult for the front runners to overtake at this circuit with the cars the way they are. I think anyone following will lose so much time through sector 1 and 3 that nobody will get close enough to attempt an overtake.

It won't. This is a track that actually promotes overtaking. With the track as wide as it is, multiple racing lines are possible so dirty air is not that big of an issue here. Merc will still have trouble overtaking the Ferrari in the long straight of course, but there are plenty of other places where a talented overtaker can do some damage. I'd say watch out for Verstappen in this race. Hamilton on the other hand will not take any chances I feel, but he just loves it here so you can never count him out. The circuit also punishes the tires and usually it's at least a two stopper. Should be a great show.

I am a big fan of the circuit. I think it could use some more grass or gravel instead of all those runoff areas but otherwise, this is one of the best circuits on the calendar.

The problem is unless they can get much closer than normal then it doesn't matter how wide or or how many racing lines the track has. With this years cars the layout will be a nightmare for dirty air.

I hope I'm wrong.

Hamilton may actually decide he can afford to take chances. His main priority is of course the WDC, but if he is racing the Ferraris or anyone other than Valtteri for the win, then chance is are that Bottas will drop at least 7-points anyway. May free him up to take a little more risk and try and wrap it up in style. He may as well push on for race wins now!

I do wonder how mercedes have managed to have such good reliability this season. When has there been a year without some technical retirement for either of their cars? I suppose hamilton didn't have any in 2017, but Bottas did in spain. They both did in austria last year. But this is the only thing that could easily delay Hamilton's WDC. But I don't see it being likely. But if both cars can do a full season without a single technical retirement, that is pretty impressive.

Leclerc has not had a retirement that was the fault of the car. IIRC he did have a power loss in Bahrain but was still able to finish the race in the points. Sebastian Vettel had one mechanical failure in Sochi. So Ferrari has also had a remarkably consistent year for mechanical reliability.

Max's two retirements have been due to accidents so he has had no mechanical retirements. The second RBR (Gasly, Albon) has one. Gasly had problems with a drive shaft in Azerbaijan.

All in all, it's been a remarkably trouble free season for the big three teams as far as mechanical problems.

I have to wonder where McLaren would be if they had been the beneficiary of similar mechanical reliability. I hope they can get their problems turned around.

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Mission WinLater

It's not even that.

Bottas can only prolong the title battle with a win AND Hamilton finishing lower than 8th place.
If Hamilton finishes in eighth place -- irrespective of where Bottas finishes -- he is WDC. If Bottas doesn't win -- irrespective of where Hamilton finishes -- Hamilton is WDC.

If Lewis is fighting Valtteri for the win he's already won. The last thing he'd want to do is DNF and fulfill the only scenario where he doesn't clinch the title at COTA. After 2007, I expect Hamilton to play it safe until the title is actually sealed.

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PICK 10 COMPETITION (4 wins, 15 podiums): 3rd in 2016
TOP THREE CHAMPIONSHIP (No Limit Excedrin Racing): Champions in 2015 & 2018 | 2nd in 2017 & 2019
AUTOSPORT GP PREDICTOR: 2017 USA & P-F1 Champion

The announcements, regulations etc from FIA and Liberty live on youtube now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JddVHu ... OXFEzK%3A6

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Mission WinLater

Interesting graph I found.


Source: https://i.redd.it/dqtak32bf4301.jpg

I am assuming this is on track overtakes but it may not be. Austin is not the circuit with the most overtakes but it looks to be more than average.

I guess I should not be surprised that Brazil has a very large number of overtakes.

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Mission WinLater

I think RBR are going to be strong. It should be close between top3 teams.

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Sir Stirling Moss "Quite frankly, Kimi Raikkonen is the fastest driver in the world"

Brazil in 2016 was wet and in 2017 Hamilton and a Ricciardo started out of position which probably artificially increases the number of overtakes.

Ooohhhhh NO, not again

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PF1 pick 10 2016: 7th (1 win, 4 podiums), 2017: 17th (3 podiums)
Awards: Sergio perez trophy & Podium specialist
PF1 pick 3 2015: constructors 2nd, singles 5th
Autosport Gp 2016/17 - 5th
F1 Oracle 2017: 2nd (6 wins), 2016:5th (2wins)

Hamilton and Merc are just pounding so many laps on that test compound, perhaps ensuring a healthy head start for next year...

Ah does that explain why they’re so low down?

Doesn't get much better than listening to Crofty talk about burgers

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PF1 Pick 10 Competition

2016: 24th place
2017: 4th place
2018: 12th place

Wins: Spain 2016, Canada 2017, Malaysia 2017
Podiums: 2nd Germany 2016, 3rd Mexico 2016, 3rd China 2018, 3rd Japan 2018, 2nd Mexico 2018

It's at least a significant part of the reason. Hamilton ran the 2020 test compound for almost the entire session.

Its bumpy as hell out there.

FP1 done:


Source - https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EITefP-XsAE ... ame=medium

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Feel The Fourth

Yes, although Croft was spending so much time talking about food and de Resta so keen to rubbish what Hamilton was doing that they failed to notice what the Mercs were actually doing. Davidson finally pointed it out to them with 6 minutes to go. Although to be fair to croft and de resta they couldnt have spent much more than 20 minutes in total talking about what was happening in FP1.

To be fair is there 20 minutes worth of stuff to talk about in an FP1 session?

Just seen Hamilton’s lap and he got a really good tow on the main straight. I wonder if that will affect anyone’s thinking for quali

Looking at Ferrari's long run pace, they need to commit to a competitive two stop strategy I think. Soft-medium-medium if possible.

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Mission WinLater

People will complain that it's harsh, but since they worked on the car after missing the weighbridge it is unfortunately an absolutely black-and-white thing in the rules. The basic principal that for rules to be effective missing a test has to be treated similarly to failing a test is a common one.

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