04/25/24
November 17, 2012
Formula 1 Racing Returns to the U.S.: Formula 1 racing returns to the U.S. for the first time in five years Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas race outside Austin, Texas. The $400 million track, the first built expressly for F1 in the U.S., has a 10-year contract. "The track seems spectacular," said Fernando Alonso, who trails Sebastian Vettel by 10 points going into the season's penultimate event. More than 100,000 fans are expected to attend.
posted by rcade to auto racing at 04:24 PM - 5 comments
So far the Circuit of the Americas seems to be pretty good. It seems to be challenging from a pure driving standpoint as well as being wide enough and laid out in a way that there is a good bit of overtaking. Quite a fun race so far.
posted by Mothball at 02:45 PM on November 18, 2012
Sadly turns out to be just another follow the leader track. The advantage the KERS system gives and overtaking car on the straightaway when the lead car is not allowed to use it is ridiculous. This track does have the long straights to allow KERS to work but all in all just another normal F1 race. LOL but I still watch them.
posted by ic23b at 09:40 PM on November 18, 2012
That was the first F1 race I've watched. I had trouble getting into it. How many times did Vettel and Hamilton get into interesting battles? I only noticed one when Hamilton passed him, and after that it seemed like the race was over even though numerous laps remained.
posted by rcade at 10:40 AM on November 19, 2012
Somehow I missed this entirely. Tuned in to catch the last 3 laps though. It's a good looking track, but I'll have to take everyone else's word on how it races. How was the crowd?
posted by flannelenigma at 12:01 PM on November 19, 2012
It's a Hermann Tilke circuit, like most of the ones in F1's recent expansion, and the standard complaint against his designs is that they don't promote overtaking. Tilke thinks there are four distinct overtaking zones in Austin, and F1 watchers think there's enough there to create good racing, but we'll only know for sure once the race begins.