F1 Quals: Mexico 2016

Beautiful day at Mexico City's Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez today.  The sun was shining, bringing a lovely glow to the world's largest megaslum Neza-Chalco-Izta, located just a few miles away from the pretty park where the track is located.  The track was very hot, however, making the Super-soft tires start degrading even before they were mounted on the cars.  Nico Rosberg can actually clinch the World Championship this weekend, with a win and Lewis Hamilton finishing 10th or below.  To stand a chance to win, first you must qualify!  Here's the provisional grid for the 2016 Grand Prix of Mexico:

Pos	Driver	Car	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:19.447	1:19.137	1:18.704
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:19.996	1:19.761	1:18.958
3	Embryo Verstappen	Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer	1:19.874	1:18.972	1:19.054
4	Smiley Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer	1:19.713	1:19.553	1:19.133
5	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India Mercedes	1:20.599	1:19.769	1:19.330
6	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:19.554	1:19.936	1:19.376
7	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:19.865	1:19.385	1:19.381
8	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Mercedes	1:20.338	1:19.958	1:19.551
9	FelipeRetired  Massa	Williams Mercedes	1:20.423	1:20.151	1:20.032
10	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso Ferrari	1:20.457	1:20.169	1:20.378
11	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Honda	1:20.552	1:20.282
12	Sergio Perez	Force India Mercedes	1:20.308	1:20.287
13	JensonRetired Button	McLaren Honda	1:21.333	1:20.673
14	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1:21.254	1:21.131
15	Sony Ericsson	Sauber Ferrari	1:21.062	1:21.536
16	Pascal's Wehrlein	MRT Mercedes	1:21.363	1:21.785
17	Esteban!	Haas Ferrari	1:21.401
18	Kid Kvyat	Toro Rosso Ferrari	1:21.454
19	FelipeNot Retired Nasr	Sauber Ferrari	1:21.692
20	False Esteban	MRT Mercedes	1:21.881
21	Lettuce Grosjean	Haas Ferrari	1:21.916

The sharper-eyed (or the overly-detail-oriented) of you may have noticed that there are only 21, not 22, cars listed.  That's because in P3 Renault's Jolyon Palmer took his car for a looooong run over some curbing... that fit perfectly between the wheels.  He wound up with a crack in the driver's tub, forcing the team to build him a new car from the ground up.  He races at the stewards' whims.

Other than that, however?  Rosberg pulled second place out of his exhaust pipe, jumping up from fourth at the last moment.  I'm sure his teammate is happy for him.  The Ferraris only noise came from a radio call with Seb Vettel in Q2: "Are we safe (in our position)?"  "We are safe."  "Can I go for a wee?"  Just in case you wondered what F1 drivers do when... well... y'know.

Finally, Lettuce Grosjean looked to be ready to shank a b*tch after his car had another series of cascading failures in Q1.  He's never been thrilled with his brakes, and they've gotten even worse over the last few races... and today, his hybrid battery went south on him, too.  You know, the battery that's charged mostly by the brakes?

Race is in the afternoon.  See you sometime thereafter...

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F1 on TV: Mexico 2016

Last year's GP of Mexico was the surprise hit of the season, with the fantastically renovated circuit combining with a gazillion insane fans.  And now we're back!  Here's the track map for the 2016 Grand Prix of Mexico:

I'm really not in the mood for writing tonight, so I'll simply say the tire choices are Medium, Soft and Supersofts. 

The Legendary Announce Team's broadcast schedule is as follows:
Friday
Practice 2:  2p - 330p  live on NBCSN
Saturday
Quals:  1p - 230p  live on NBCSN
Sunday
2016 Grand Prix of Mexico:  130p - 4p  live on NBC

All times Pond Central, as per usual.  Please note the actual race is on NBC, the mother network.

Chin up, fellow fans.  F1U! will be along as usual.

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F1 Quals: United States 2016

Time is running low on the 2016 season, and Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, reigning driver's champion, is in serious trouble.  His teammate has a 30+ point lead and holds all the cards.  Hamilton needs to win out and hope something goes wrong with his teammate, but to win out, you've basically got to be on pole when the light go out.  So how'd Quals for the 2016 United States Grand Prix work out?  Here's the provisional grid:

Pos	Driver	Car	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:36.296	1:36.450	1:34.999
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:36.397	1:36.351	1:35.215
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer	1:36.759	1:36.255	1:35.509
4	Embryo Verstappen	Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer	1:36.613	1:36.857	1:35.747
5	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:36.985	1:36.584	1:36.131
6	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:37.151	1:36.462	1:36.358
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India Mercedes	1:36.950	1:36.626	1:36.628
8	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Mercedes	1:37.456	1:37.202	1:37.116
9	FelipeRetired  Massa	Williams Mercedes	1:37.402	1:37.214	1:37.269
10	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso Ferrari	1:37.744	1:37.175	1:37.326
11	Sergio Perez	Force India Mercedes	1:37.345	1:37.353
12	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Honda	1:37.913	1:37.417
13	Kid Kvyat	Toro Rosso Ferrari	1:37.844	1:37.480
14	Esteban!	Haas Ferrari	1:38.053	1:37.773
15	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:38.084	1:37.935
16	Sony Ericsson	Sauber Ferrari	1:38.040	1:39.356
17	Lettuce Grosjean	Haas Ferrari	1:38.308
18	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1:38.317
19	Jenson Retired Button	McLaren Honda	1:38.327
20	Pascal's Wehrlein	MRT Mercedes	1:38.548
21	FelipeNot Retired Nasr	Sauber Ferrari	1:38.583
22	False Esteban	MRT Mercedes	1:38.806

The two Merc drivers split the first two Qual sessions.  Perhaps importantly, Rosberg was fastest in the second session.  This is important because the top 10 have to start on the tires they used for their fastest lap in Q2... and unlike everybody else, the Mercs used the Soft tires while everybody else used the Supersofts.  So in theory, Rosberg will have the advantage in at least the first stint.

Beyond them, Two-by-Two is was the rule of the day with only a wayward Force India to break up the first eight slots symmetry.  Major disappointment for American team HaasF1, who were chasing gremlins all practice.  Maybe things will go better for the race tomorrow afternoon!  Look for it on NBC-the-mother-network, and sometime thereafter, F1U!

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F1 on TV: United States 2016

Y'all put your Stetsons and cowboy boots on, grab a handful of shootin' iron, jump in your pickup truck (RED TRUCK!) and drive your herd just southeast of central Texas to that lil' ol' town called Austin.  But be careful, there's gonna be a buncha furriners there, because the circus is in town... the Formula 1 Circus, that is!  C'mon down to the Circuit of the Americas, home of the United States Grand Prix!  Take a gander at the track map:

Today, tomorrow and forever, the best of the new circuits.  Blatantly stealing Borrowing the best concepts from other tracks around the world, COTA is just about everything you'd want from a FIA Class 1 circuit.  Plenty of run-off area surrounds the track itself while the facility has the world's only Emergency Room located at a race track to go along with the 5500 sq ft medical center (which is fully prepared to deal with exotic diseases like malaria and ebola.  Yes, really).  But best of all is what isn't going to be coming to Austin this year.

Yep, it was just last year that Hurricane Patricia hit the western coast of Mexico, then tracked up north.  That meant rain and lots of it: nearly a foot of rain in a couple of days, to the point the 2015 USGP nearly got rained out.  As it was, the whole weekend was borked up... just take a look at the goings-on on Saturday for a reminder of what it was like.

As is usual for a home race, the Legendary Announce Team will be on-site and bringing us coverage of every session during the weekend!  Here's a look at the broadcast schedule:
Friday
Practice 1: 10a - 1130a  live on NBCSN
Practice 2: 2p - 330p  live on NBCSN
Saturday
Practice 3-Intermission-Quals: 1130a - 3p  live on NBCSN
Sunday
2016 United States Grand Prix:  130p - 4p  live on NBC

All times are Pond Central, of course.  On a personal note, I tried to get Friday off from work, but because of a mandatory event I couldn't manage it.  I did manage to get the afternoon off though, so I'll be parked in the Official Comfy Chair of The Pond for P2!  Saturday and Sunday, of course, are givens.

So there we have it: the USGP!  I'm looking forward to this one, if for no other reason that it'll be the first time HaasF1 has been home.  Points would be nice, guys!

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Forces

I bumped into this picture the other day, thought it quite amazing how it shows forces at work on a F1 car.

Let's be perfectly clear about this: there is nothing wrong with this Mercedes.  Aerodynamics and G-forces alone have hucked the car over to the left.  The tires are doing their job of pretending to be shock absorbers.  The roll to the left is being mirrored on the right, picking the front right off the ground as the rear left compresses.  And underneath, the titanium skid plate is performing its secondary duty of a sparkler.

All and all, a truly remarkable shot.

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F1 Quals: Japan 2016

Well, that was fun!  Here's the provisional grid for the 2016 Grand Prix of Japan:

Pos	Driver	Car	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:31.858	1:30.714	1:30.647
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:32.218	1:31.129	1:30.660
3	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:31.674	1:31.406	1:30.949
4	Sebby Vettel	Ferrari	1:31.659	1:31.227	1:31.028
5	Embryo Verstappen	Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer	1:32.487	1:31.489	1:31.178
6	Smiley Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer	1:32.538	1:31.719	1:31.240
7	Sergio Perez	Force India Mercedes	1:32.682	1:32.237	1:31.961
8	Lettuce Grosjean	Haas Ferrari	1:32.458	1:32.176	1:31.961
9	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India Mercedes	1:32.448	1:32.200	1:32.142
10	Esteban!	Haas Ferrari	1:32.620	1:32.155	1:32.547
11	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Mercedes	1:32.383	1:32.315
12	Retired Massa	Williams Mercedes	1:32.562	1:32.380
13	Kid Kvyat	Toro Rosso Ferrari	1:32.645	1:32.623
14	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso Ferrari	1:32.789	1:32.685
15	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Honda	1:32.819	1:32.689
16	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:32.796	1:32.807
17	Retired Button	McLaren Honda	1:32.851
18	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1:33.023
19	Sony Ericsson	Sauber Ferrari	1:33.222
20	Felipe Not Massa Nasr	Sauber Ferrari	1:33.332
21	False Esteban	MRT Mercedes	1:33.353
22	Pascal's Wehrlein	MRT Mercedes	1:33.561

Nico Rosberg beat his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton to the line by .013 seconds.  On track, that works out to about 82 centimeters, or just a touch over 32 inches.  The Mercedes W07 Hybrid chassis is 197 inches long, as a reference... yeah, that's pretty close.  The video of the two lapping side-by-side is quite impressive.

Once again, we get two-by-two at the top of the grid: Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull.  Vettel has a three grid-spot penalty coming for his banzai charge at the start of the Malaysian GP, though.  It's amazing how the teams often break down that way.

The big news out of qualifying is the performance of Team Haas.  This is the first time they've gotten both cars into Q3 at once.  Sure, they didn't exactly cover themselves in glory in the session, but they were there.  You want evidence that the team is advancing as a race team?  There ya go.  The points at the start of the season were nice, but they were outclassed by the more experienced organizations fairly quickly.  Now they're starting to make gains on that front as well.  Nice to see.

The biggest disappointment had to be felt by McLaren-Honda.  After all, they're in Honda's home country, on the circuit owned and designed by Honda, and they've been coming to grips with their new engine all season.  And then they leave a mess on the carpet that even an Aismo wouldn't clean up.  That can't have gone over well at all.

So Rosberg gets the early advantage over Hamilton, on a track where such things are fairly important.  With the gap he has in points over his teammate, he's not going to be reluctant to muscle him around, either... if they both get knocked out by damage, well, that's just going to make the lead that much harder to cut down.  Not that Rosberg is going to do a Senna/Prost or anything, mind.

Race is late tonight/early tomorrow... I'll probably watch at least part of it live.  If anything important happens, I'll mention it here before the F1U!.  See ya later!

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F1 on NBCSN: Japan 2016

From Sepang International Circuit, the F1 Circus packs up, trundles over to the Kuala Lumpur (Koala Lumper!) International Airport, just across the street.  From there, it's a surprisingly long 9-1/2 hour flight to Chubu Centrair International Airport, located on a manmade island just off the coast of Tokoname, Aichi, Japan.  After that, it's a simple 90 minute drive to the location of this week's race, Suzuka International Racing Course, home of the 2016 Grand Prix of Japan!  Here's the track map for this, my favorite circuit on the F1 calendar:

Once a fearsome beast of a track, it has been tamed somewhat in recent years.  The legendary 130R was straightened a bit via a double-apex turn, Degner was made into two turns instead of one big sweeping bend, and the final chicane was first added, then moved closer to 130R.  Despite all this, Suzuka is still one of the premiere tracks in F1, and the only one with a figure-8 layout.  Not that there's many of those worldwide or anything.

It's also one of the favorites of the drivers.  Not just because of the feeling that you're actually going somewhere, something you don't get at the Tilkedromes, but because of the Japanese fans.  Only at Monza might you find a more passionate bunch, and no fans are more knowledgeable.  And if there's a Japanese driver in the field?  Bedlam.  And if by chance he ends up on the podium?  You get the 2012 post-race experience, with the entire crowd chanting Gandalf Kobayashi's name.  Thrilling stuff.

While it's a late night race, the start isn't so late, and we have the Legendary Announce Team to keep us awake!  Here's the broadcast schedule:
Friday
Practice 2: 1201a - 130a  live on NBCSN
Saturday
Quals: 1a - 230a  live on NBCSN
2016 Grand Prix of Japan: 1130p - 2a  live on NBCSN

All times Pond Central of course, because Pond Central time is best time!  And sometime after the race, F1 Update! will be along with another thrilling and exciting writeup of the race (note: may not be thrilling or exciting).  Join us, won't you?

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F1 Quals: Malaysia 2016

A threat of rain hung in the air at steamy Sepang, the home of the Malaysian Grand Prix.  The heat and humidity actually claimed Red Bull driver Embryo Verstappen, with the young driver passing out after exiting his car at the end of Practice 1.  Of course, that's nothing in comparison to the heat Kevin Magnussen had to deal with.  It was still hot for Quals, but would the impending rain affect the starting lineup?  Here's the provisional grid for the 2016 Grand Prix of Malaysia:

Pos	Driver	Car	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:34.444	1:33.046	1:32.850
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:34.460	1:33.609	1:33.264
3	Embryo Verstappen	Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer	1:35.443	1:33.775	1:33.420
4	Smiley Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer	1:35.079	1:33.888	1:33.467
5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:34.557	1:33.972	1:33.584
6	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:34.556	1:33.903	1:33.632
7	Sergio Perez	Force India Mercedes	1:35.068	1:34.538	1:34.319
8	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India Mercedes	1:34.827	1:34.441	1:34.489
9	Retiring Button	McLaren Honda	1:35.267	1:34.431	1:34.518
10	Retiring Massa	Williams Mercedes	1:35.267	1:34.422	1:34.671
11	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Mercedes	1:35.166	1:34.577
12	Lettuce Grosjean	Haas Ferrari	1:35.400	1:35.001
13	Esteban!	Haas Ferrari	1:35.658	1:35.097
14	Torchy Magnussen	Renault	1:35.593	1:35.277
15	Kid Kvyat	Toro Rosso Ferrari	1:35.695	1:35.369
16	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso Ferrari	1:35.605	1:35.374
17	Sony Ericsson	Sauber Ferrari	1:35.816
18	FelipeNot Massa Nasr	Sauber Ferrari	1:35.949
19	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:35.999
20	False Esteban	MRT Mercedes	1:36.451
21	Pascal's Wager	MRT Mercedes	1:36.587
22	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Honda	1:37.155

Fernando Alonso changed multiple pieces of his engine and the gearbox, giving him a 45 grid spot penalty before Quals began.  As you can imagine, he didn't exactly go all out in his efforts today. 

Other than that?  It's all pretty much by rote.  The Mercs are clowning the rest of the field, Red Bull actually looks pretty decent (but not that decent), Ferrari is grumpy, and there's a whole lot of two-by-two going on all the way down the grid.

I'd love to be more excited about the race, but boy, it's looking awfully familiar right about now.  There's a lot of complaining about the reprofiled final turn... it's universally hated... but other than that, there may not be a whole lot of excitement.

F1Update! coming sometime Sunday... it's an early race, after all... look forward to it, won't you?

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