They say "be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."  Well, home it may be, but "humble" isn't a word that applies to the Circuit of the Americas, home of the 2013 United States Grand Prix!  Let's take a look at the track map:

Ah yes... who can forget this beauty?  The run up Phil Hill to Turn 1, followed by a junior-sized version of Suzuka's "S-Curves", then a whole buncha fund stuff leading to a slightly smaller version of Turkey's Quad-8 (here, 16-17-and-18, aka "Faux-8").  Easily the best Tilke track ever, perhaps because he didn't actually design it.  Instead, TilkeCorp simply built the place... and we are all better for it.

Last year's first race was won by Shiv Hamilton, who tracked down and passed 4Time Vettel for the lead late in the race.  At the time, it added extra suspense to the final race of the year, as there was still a fight for the championship.  Not so much this year, and who knows how this year's race'll work out?  I certainly don't, but I wouldn't bet against Vettel.

One driver I won't bet on is Kimi Raikkonen.  He's going to miss the last two races as he recovers from back surgery.  Convenient, that.  I'm also not going to bet on Felipe Massa, just because.  However, good news for all of us, as Massa will be on the grid next year!  It was announced on Monday that he's signed with Williams for 2014, taking the seat of NoJokeHere Maldonado and his Venezuelan Government backing.

But that's all next year.  We still have this season to finish up... and I'm actually going to complain about NBCSN.  This is arguably the channel's biggest event, and what's happening?  Quals are being tape-delayed so English Premiere League soccer can be broadcast.  The hell?  Here's the broadcast schedule as I know it:

FRIDAY
12noon - 230pm: Practice 2
SATURDAY
530p - 7p: Quals
SUNDAY
12noon - 330pm: 2013 United States Grand Prix live (one hour pre-race) on NBC.

F1U! will be annoyed by this all weekend, but we'll be here!  See ya then.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 11:00 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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