[shibujp]

The 2019 United States GP

Timing
04NOV Race 00:40 - 02:40

03NOV Qualifying 02:30 - 03:30

02NOV Practice 3 23:30 - 00:30



Circuit

• Known as The Circuit of The Americas or COTA
• Completed in 2012, the first F1 race was held in November 2012
• Located in Austin, Texas
• Kind of a middle of the road circuit, between the slow and fastest circuits.
• Designed by Herman Tilke

Circuit Characteristics

• It's a cold weather circuit. Low temperatures rule at this time of the year!
• Total length is 5.513 km, 56 laps.
• Asphalt is relatively high grip being relatively new.
• Top sped is 320 kmph on Turn 12.
• Full throttle is 63 percent of the time
• Gear changes are 54 per lap
• Fuel consumption is 1.8kg per lap which is average
• ERS is deployed for 35 percent of the lap.

Car Setup

• The high number of slow corners mandate a push towards maximum downforce.
• Brake wear is medium, with only four out of the 10 braking event having much significance.
• A compromise between medium and maximum downforce is to be achieved to allow for the slow corners and long straights.
• The ride heights are relatively high as the track turns bumpier every year.

Weather


Tyres


2018 race
Hamilton qualified in pole but was beat into the first turn by Raikkonen who ended a 112 race winless drought by finishing on the top step. Vettel saw his chances of challenging Hamilton go up in smoke after a tangle with Riccardo sent him into a spin tumbling from 5th to 15th. He ultimately recovered to finish fourth but it meant he was mathematically out of the running for the title. Verstappen and Hamilton finished up the podium.

FP1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3L40MV8VH8

FP2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd3Rlii8W6A

Drive on,
Shibu

[Pancham]

Guys where can I watch Practice 3? Star sports select 2 is not broadcasting P3.

[speedmiester]

Bottas on pole from Vettel and Max. Hamilton could only manage 5th.
Exciting race tomorrow. With the long straight, there will be quite a few overtakes and fight for top position on track.

[shibujp]

Bottas on pole. That was a great lap after Verstappen looked very strong in the first two sessions. The run into turn 1 is going to be fascinating with Bottas, Vettel and Verstappen in the top three.

Albon is starting on softs and could use it to good effect on launch like Kimi did last year. Mclaren is really strong in qualifying in the last few races with Norris topping the charts in Q1.

While Verstappen is concentrating on Vettel and Hamilton, looks like his teammate Albon is quietly proving to be capable of challenging him much more than any of his previous team mates.

Both McLaren's in the top 10 and both Sauber's crashing out in Q1 itself. The bumpiness of the track caught out even Hamilton and he never looked comfortable. However Lewis started 4th last time round in Mexico and look where he ended up. Ferrari need to be on point to get a solid result out of this.

Lewis just needs to finish higher than 9th to seal his 6th world driver's championship.

Qualifying

Drive on,
Shibu.

[sgiitk]

The race is on past midnight. So I relying on 'canning'. P3 after 'canned' is coming today. Now P3 is critical in many ways, as for P2 it is only for starting tyre determination and is basically technical.

One thing I observed is that the track is very uneven, but it is the US so all is fine. There is talk about another race in the US next year.

[TSIboy]

All hail King Lewis the 6th! As expected, he clinched his sixth world championship finishing behind teammate Bottas followed by Max in P3.

The last few laps were pretty exciting. Had there been a lap more Max would have got Lewis for P2.


A picture taken before the race.



Lewis and the late Niki Lauda's signature cap.

[speedmiester]

Bit of a boring race.
Congratulations to Hamilton for another title.
Bottas drove a strong race to win.

Speculations are rife that Technical Directive from FIA on Ferrari engine is the cause behind Ferrari's lack of pace

[motorworks]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Bit of a boring race.
Congratulations to Hamilton for another title.
Bottas drove a strong race to win.

Speculations are rife that Technical Directive from FIA on Ferrari engine is the cause behind Ferrari's lack of pace

On one side Binotto claims that there is nothing wrong with their engine and its all as per the defined rules and on the other side there are these widespread rumours that some directive from FIA has led to Ferrari revising some engine settings. But whatever said and done, Ferrari finishing 50 seconds behind the top 3 was a total disaster. And Vettel had issues right from word go and had to retire after a suspension failure.

This performance from Ferrari does not look promising from a 2020 perspective where the rules are exactly the same.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Bit of a boring race.
Congratulations to Hamilton for another title.
Bottas drove a strong race to win.

But for the Yellow Flag Verstappen would have been second. Congratulations to Hamilton for his 6th World Championship.

Yes, the Ferrari's looked under the weather, but I will reserve my judgement.

[nikhilthegunner]

I watched approximately 20 laps before deciding to sleep thinking it wasn't worth watching. Turns out I was right. There was never any doubt that Hamilton would win the World Champion. Now he's moved that much closer to equalling Schumacher's record. I think if things go well, he has the potential to beat this record too.

Last year's race was so much better in my opinion. Seeing Raikkonen win after so long was the best thing ever.

[aim120]

The difference in pace of the Ferrari was very surprising, remember just a few races ago, Lewis and Bottas even with fresher tires and DRS couldn't overtake the ferrari's on the straight.

I think the ferrari was very well exploiting the loophole, while the Ferrari customer teams like Haas and Alfa Romeo had FIA complying algorithm or device, in this race Ferrari top speed was inline with other teams.

Read here for a good analysis. Only ferrari had a drop in Top speed.
https://www.racefans.net/2019/11/03/...n-power-units/