United States GP - An early start for a long wait
Austin, 15 November
They like to talk about the “big sky” in Texas, but unfortunately this morning, it was a foggy sky over the Circuit of the Americas that greeted the Formula 1 circus on its second visit to Austin, for the penultimate round of the World Championship. The USA GP timetable involves getting up much earlier than usual, with practice today and tomorrow starting at 9 in the morning, and once the dawn broke, it became clear that warmer temperatures had delivered fog. Therefore FP1 had to be extended to cope with a delay at the start and in the middle, but the second session resumed at the normal time, with the sunny weather we had been promised finally putting in an appearance.
Having stayed away yesterday, to allow extra recuperation time for his back, Fernando was perfectly comfortable at the wheel of the F138, eventually setting the tenth fastest time, two places ahead of Felipe. Last year the track could have been renamed the Ice Rink of the Americas, as the brand new asphalt was not bedded in and was oozing oil and so everyone in the paddock was pleased to see that the situation had improved as a result of the track being a year older and having seen some action since the last F1 race. Nevertheless, especially in the colder conditions that prevailed in FP1, Pirelli’s choice of the Hard and Medium tyre currently seems a bit on the hard side. That might improve as the track rubbers in and if the higher temperatures promised for the next two days materialise. In general, both Ferrari men were not satisfied with the performance of the F138 today, as they worked through the usual programme of looking for a good set-up and analysing tyre behaviour over short and long runs.
The World champions elect continue to stamp their authority on the time sheets, with Sebastian Vettel fastest ahead of Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber. Respecting the current view of the car hierarchy at the moment, the two Mercedes were next, with Nico Rosberg third ahead of Lewis Hamilton and still on-message in terms of the performance pecking order, a Lotus was next in fifth place. But it was a new name on the time sheet, as Heikki Kovalainen makes a return to racing for the final two rounds of the season, standing in for Kimi Raikkonen, who underwent planned surgery on his back in Europe today. Esteban Gutierrez went well for Sauber, to go sixth fastest at what is almost a home race for him, as last year we saw a huge influx of visitors from his native Mexico here in Austin.
They like to talk about the “big sky” in Texas, but unfortunately this morning, it was a foggy sky over the Circuit of the Americas that greeted the Formula 1 circus on its second visit to Austin, for the penultimate round of the World Championship. The USA GP timetable involves getting up much earlier than usual, with practice today and tomorrow starting at 9 in the morning, and once the dawn broke, it became clear that warmer temperatures had delivered fog. Therefore FP1 had to be extended to cope with a delay at the start and in the middle, but the second session resumed at the normal time, with the sunny weather we had been promised finally putting in an appearance.
Having stayed away yesterday, to allow extra recuperation time for his back, Fernando was perfectly comfortable at the wheel of the F138, eventually setting the tenth fastest time, two places ahead of Felipe. Last year the track could have been renamed the Ice Rink of the Americas, as the brand new asphalt was not bedded in and was oozing oil and so everyone in the paddock was pleased to see that the situation had improved as a result of the track being a year older and having seen some action since the last F1 race. Nevertheless, especially in the colder conditions that prevailed in FP1, Pirelli’s choice of the Hard and Medium tyre currently seems a bit on the hard side. That might improve as the track rubbers in and if the higher temperatures promised for the next two days materialise. In general, both Ferrari men were not satisfied with the performance of the F138 today, as they worked through the usual programme of looking for a good set-up and analysing tyre behaviour over short and long runs.
The World champions elect continue to stamp their authority on the time sheets, with Sebastian Vettel fastest ahead of Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber. Respecting the current view of the car hierarchy at the moment, the two Mercedes were next, with Nico Rosberg third ahead of Lewis Hamilton and still on-message in terms of the performance pecking order, a Lotus was next in fifth place. But it was a new name on the time sheet, as Heikki Kovalainen makes a return to racing for the final two rounds of the season, standing in for Kimi Raikkonen, who underwent planned surgery on his back in Europe today. Esteban Gutierrez went well for Sauber, to go sixth fastest at what is almost a home race for him, as last year we saw a huge influx of visitors from his native Mexico here in Austin.
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