[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by jfxavier

If the friday weather is an indicator of what's coming, anything could happen this weekend.

With Patricia being termed as one of the strongest cyclones to hit the West in recent times, its really quite open as to what could happen:

1. FP3, quali and race go on as planned - as Patricia is said to be weakening
2. Quali moves to Sunday morning
3. Race cancellation
4. Race postponement to another time (they probably have only 1-2 hours of leeway due to light)
5. Race postponement to another day (though with the Mexican GP a week later, not sure how this will be possible)

In any case, I'm sure the flawed decision-making (due to wrong priorities) that happened in the 2014 Japanese GP will weigh heavily on the race organizers, FIA and Charlie. Bernie would probably oppose race cancellation as he's trying to grow F1 in the US - besides, all he cares about is the money he makes from TV rights.


If the race does go ahead, however, it will probably be quite interesting since teams will not have been able to set their cars up they way they would if they had adequate FP sessions, leading to a lot of experimentation during the race (remember the 2013 Brazilian GP?)

[shyn]

Manor has tweaked its livery to feature the American flag's stars and stripes for this weekend's United States Grand Prix.
American driver Alexander Rossi will drive this weekend for the team, his third appearance for Manor after replacing Roberto Merhi in Singapore and Japan. Rossi's elevation to a senior seat has seen him become the first American to drive in Formula One since Scott Speed at the 2007 European Grand Prix.
The change in livery caught the attention of world champions Mercedes, who will supply Manor with engines from next season.
Source: http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/...-american-flag

[arunphilip]

The picture says it all!

Qualifying for the United States GP is in doubt after the Circuit of Americas was hit by heavy rain on Saturday.

The FIA, the sport's governing body, are expected to make a decision on whether or not to alter this weekend's timetable in the next few hours. However, organisers at the Circuit of America in Texas have reacted to the overnight deluge, which continued into Saturday morning, by delaying opening the circuit 'for the safety of our fans and employees'.

Practice Three currently remains scheduled for a 4pm start UK Time.

If the qualifying hour, due to begin at 7pm UK time, was postponed, the session would likely be rescheduled for Sunday morning.

Source: http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/125...ed-to-race-day

[arunphilip]

FP3 Timings


FP3 went ahead, although the organizers kept the spectator gates closed. Several drivers had spins and offs, with Nico Rosberg also losing his front wing.

All 20 drivers went out to set times, because if qualifying is not conducted (later today or Sunday morning), then the FP3 timings will be used as the qualifying timings.

Source: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2015/10/2...-dire-weather/

[shyn]

Here is some footage of the slides and spins and saves from the soaking wet FP3
https://www.carthrottle.com/post/6-e...inal-practice/

[arunphilip]

Qualifying postponed to 9 am local time (6:30 pm India) on Sunday.

Heavy rains and flooding on the track/run-off areas prevented cars from taking to the track. The only vehicles on track were maintenance trucks, and 2 laps by the safety car.

With the F1 cars at a standstill, teams came up with creative uses for their time and energy, such as:

A breakdance from an FI mechanic:

And a somewhat more intimate dance holding hands between the RBR drivers:

Carlos Sainz Sr. and Jos Verstappen turn up dressed for qualifying to show the youngsters how a mild drizzle never fazed them in their racing years:

While Toro Rosso then move onto a game of skittles, using Red Bull cans:

Carlos Sainz Jr. decides to give his race engineer's unruly mane a bit of a makeover. And he's not deterred by the absence of a hair dryer:

RBR took to celebrating a birthday for one of the team:

And Kvyat demonstrates what Mr. Mateschitz and others are doing with the fates of their employees:

Qualifying is meant to be competitive, so Williams start off with practicing their rowing skills:

Which they then escalate to (human)-powered boating:

Force India pick up that idea and turn up with a bigger boat. Complaints about copying ideas were met with the response "Its F1. Everyone copies a good idea!"

Who needs cars to make F1 fun?

Sources:
http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-...pt-austin.html
http://www.skysports.com/f1/grandpri...ates/live-blog

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by arunphilip

Qualifying postponed to 9 am local time (6:30 pm India) on Sunday.

9 am local would be 730 pm here I think.

[arunphilip]

Qualifying Outcome - Mercedes Row 1 Lockout
Grid timings taken from Q2, as Q3 was abandoned due to increasing rain.
Carlos Sainz Jr. hit the barriers in Q1, damaging his car's nose and front left quarter. Vettel tapped the wall, but no damage caused and he resumed running in qualifying.
An interesting stat - annual rainfall in Austin (race venue) is 32 inches per year. In the last 24 hours, they've got 10 inches of rain!

Starting Grid (after penalties applied)

Sources: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2015/10/2...and-prix-grid/ and http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-...ml#leaderboard

Originally Posted by SilentEngine

9 am local would be 730 pm here I think.

Yep, forgot that the UK clocks changed by 1 hour when converting a 2 pm UK start time

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

What penalty did Vettel and Kimi get to start from 15th place and 18th respectively? Change of an engine?

Yep, both of them have changed to an improved engine. Fifth of the season, so a 10-place drop. More info here: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2015/10/2...ies-confirmed/

Originally Posted by tharian

Kimi knocked out Bottas in the last race and was given a 30seconds penalty in this race start.

Not quite. The 30s post-race penalty was applied to the result of the Russian GP, dropping Kimi from 5th to 8th in that race. No penalties for that have been carried to this weekend.

[nkrishnap]

What penalty did Vettel and Kimi get to start from 15th place and 18th respectively? Change of an engine?

[tharian]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

What penalty did Vettel and Kimi get to start from 15th place and 18th respectively? Change of an engine?

Kimi knocked out Bottas in the last race and was given a 30seconds penalty in this race start. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/121290

Not sure about Vettel.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by arunphilip

[Yep, both of them have changed to an improved engine. Fifth of the season, so a 10-place drop.

Its the 5th engine, but no tokens were spent on this engine.

Originally Posted by tharian

Kimi knocked out Bottas in the last race and was given a 30seconds penalty in this race start.

Both swapped to their 5th engine of the season hence the 10 place penalty. Raikkonen's 30-second penalty was dealt with in Sochi itself, thats why he was 8th in the final standings instead of 5th according to actual race finish.

[myavu]

WOW! what a race! Race of the year. Whole field was racing till the flags. Congratulations Lewis for that 3rd World Title.

Now no more title hunts. All are free to race. But scrape can expected from Vettel and Rosberg for that second spot. Just waiting for the final 3 races. Let us hope for some wheel to wheel actions.

Next year is going to a cracker. Lewis vs Vettel!

Note: American marshals are too slow in recovering cars and debris. Too much laps wasted under safety car.

Cheers!

Vinu

[polopm]

Phenomenal and mental..wow. Mind blowing.

Had to keep the volume down due to the timings and also could not shout in happiness and risk waking up all the family folks.

The safety cars were great levelers. It was great to see the RBRs get past Mercs while the tracks were damp. They held better traction and line. In contrast Lewis's racing line was quite not smooth. After the track gave up its dampness, the contrast was for all to see.
Bit disappointed to see Alonso losing out in the last 10 laps. The McLarens were going quite well till about lap 40 and could keep most of the guys at bay. It also showed how good the STR chassis was. Max was running different racing lines every lap and is proving quite difficult to overtake. He is the deal of the year. Sainz is equally good and I think when Alonso leaves McLaren, Sainz should slot there.

Vettel demolished everyone around him and is driving well. Next year is going to be a cracker. Bring it on !!!

[mayankk]

I had knowingly not subscribed to this thread, cos I knew I wouldnt be watching this live.
Spoilers!!
And anyway, the timings had me on the STB trying to figure out what to record, and when!

But anyhoo, will watch later, but....
GO HAMMY BUAY!!!!
Complete and utter congratulations to the man!!

After the sort of shattering MotoGP, this was a real bringer-upper in the morning

[arun_josie]

Race of the year by far! The conditions were very challenging and for the first time P1 was exchaged very frequently.

Hukenberg missed a great chance to finish P4.
It was good to see McLaren racing for the first time.
And a superb drive by Verstappen.