(PRE-SESSION)  So here we are again!  It's 45 degrees and sunny at the Circuit of the Americas, looking for a high of 68.  That's a little cooler than F1 tires like, but it's certainly good enough.  In any case, Practice 3 is only 60 minutes in length, as opposed to the usual 90.  I'll be using the time remaining as the time notation:  if you see (45:30), that means 14.5 minutes have gone by in the session.  Read from (60:00).  Please keep all extremities inside the blog at all times.  Wonderduck's Pond is not responsible for any injuries incurred in the reading of Wonderduck's Pond.  Post no bills.  Accept no substitutes!

(60:00)  Look, we've gone green on Saturday!  First out is Gandalf Kobayashi on SPEED's streaming site.

(57:52)  Wow, 60000 people at COTA yesterday, 80000 expected today?  There are a dozen actual races that don't get that many spectators on the calendar!

(55:37)  Sebby Vettel very nearly pranged his car in the pit lane.  Whoopsy!

(53:55)  Narain Kittylitter is third on the time sheets as SPEED goes to commercial... that might be the first time I've ever seen his picture on the screen during a session.  At least, on the "first page," not at the end.

(50:11) Just a picture, nothing really happening.

Kimi at the far end of the esses.

The rest will be below the fold.


(45:14)  Apparently Nico Rosberg is having problems with his seatbelt, but doesn't pit.  Hm.  Must not be that big of a problem.  I'd be panicking, m'self.

(44:49)  Because I don't go anywhere in the DuckMobile without my seatbelt being on... and Nico is going 200mph?

(44:11)  YEOWTCH!  Slappy just cut across Massa's nose like he had no idea the Ferrari was there.  Good lord, the old guy is getting senile!  (note: Slappy is younger than me)

(43:47)  Yes, that makes me feel old.

(43:09) Cold pizza and gatorade for breakfast... nummy!

(41:30)  Perez and Pic just had a coming together... our first accident at COTA!

(39:43)  They're saying that the tires aren't wearing at all.  Kimi just did nine laps and all the team did was brush the dust off them and sent 'em back out... wow.  I knew they went conservative on the tires, but that's ridiculous.

(36:30) Jenson Button was bouncing off the rev limiter coming down the back straight just now.  Think you need to fix that, McLaren.

(32:29) Just a reminder, Vettel leads HWMNBN by 10 points in the Driver's Championship... it could be decided tomorrow.

(30:02) Lots of pounding around out there right now, but little action if you know what I mean.  Fuel runs and the sort.

(29:18)  HRT is questionable to make the race, to be honest.  Pete Rose barely hit the 107% rule yesterday, Kittylitter wasn't even close, and apparently neither are likely to make it today.  That'd be a shame.

(23:00)  Jules Vergne has a broken suspension and is parked in the grass out on track somewhere.  Vettel may have deranged his steering as well, going over the back of a curb... will keep an eye on that.

(21:09) It sure looked like Vettel's left front was pointing the wrong way, but nobody's saying much about it, so maybe I was wrong?

(16:04)  I'm not saying much, because there just doesn't seem to be much going on.  Other than Jules Vergne being hooked off the track causing a local yellow, really it's just lap after lap of lap after lap.

(15:30) Heh.  Massa: "I need to lift for the yellow."  Massa's Engineer: "Not four seconds, Felipe."

(13:00) We're getting Charles ToothPic on the stream right now... that's a sentence I never thought I'd type.

(12:50) And right as I post that, it changes to Maldonado.  And so goes away the moment in the sun for Marussia.

(9:29) Both Red Bulls are rolling out of the pits, so I must've been wrong about Vettel's "damage."  Yeah, that's never happened before.

(6:20) A little bit of traffic out there for Felipe Massa.

Also, just in: Lettuce Grosjean has transmission problems and is in the garage.

(4:36) Tom Tjarks, the battery symbol shows just how much charge is left in the KERS system.  They do indeed use leafblowers when the cars are in the pits; it's for cooling... if a F1 car isn't moving, there's no cooling going on in the radiators or for the brakes.  They can easily cook themselves without some sort of help when stopped.

(2:24) Here's a shock: Vettel just broke into the 1:36s, with a 1:36.490, over a second faster than Shiv Hamilton.  YEEK.

(1:21) Apparently the "golden lap" for the medium tires is Lap 4... that'll make Q3 awfully interesting!  They don't usually DO four laps in Q3.

(0:00)  Checkers are out, and Maldonado just did a 1:37.001.  Hamilton is driving like a man possessed and gives us a 1:36.748!  Quals is gonna be wild!

Right, two hours to Quals, let's see if I can get to the grocery store and back in time!  See ya then!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 08:50 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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