The 2013 Spanish Grand Prix

I had intended on posting my recap of Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix last night. But after writing it, something didn’t feel right. In fact Formula 1 doesn’t feel right lately and as a ravenous fan of the sport, I’ve been struggling.

Maybe it’s just one of those seasons – it happens. But maybe it’s part of a larger problem with the sport and this is just the beginning? I’ve been rattling my brain, trying to figure out when the racing stopped.

After a 3 week hiatus, I had hoped the teams would’ve been able to regroup back at their respective bases, that McLaren would’ve had the chance to dial in their sluggish MP4-28 and that Pirelli would’ve fixed their damn tires. None of that seems to have happened and what we were left with was another mediocre race at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Before I tumble any further down the slope, praises are in order for Fernando Alonso, who’s now 4th on the all time winning list, surpassing Nigel Mansell. His drive on Sunday really was that of a consummate professional. A bulletproof strategy by Ferrari and a clean race by Alonso secured the team’s second win of the season and damn do I respect them for it.

Even his teammate Felipe Massa continued to show flashes of his former brilliance and clinched a well deserved 3rd place finish. Right now my money is on Ferrari as the team to beat.

Despite parting ways with their technical director earlier in the week, Lotus didn’t skip a beat. Kimi Raikkonen has found a home on the podium in 2013. At this point it seems ridiculous that he would ever consider a move to Red Bull in 2014. Then again it’s still early and anything can happen.

Where Lotus, Ferrari and even Force India have excelled is with their understanding of Pirelli’s hellacious tires. They’ve been a bone of contention amongst teams and fans of the sport alike. In a contract year it would seem insane for Pirelli to produce such an inferior product and more insane still that they wouldn’t offer any sort of explanation. It’s no wonder Paul Hembery deactivated his Twitter account late last season, after being lambasted by fans.

However bad Pirelli’s tires are in 2013, what’s been arguably worse is the racing or lack thereof. Formula 1 has reached a turning point where drivers are no longer pushing from start to finish. Instead they’ve adopted a more conservative strategy – one that saw Lewis Hamilton telling his engineers “I can’t drive any slower”. This is motor racing but somewhere along the way, Formula 1 seems to have forgotten that.

Everyone’s playing the blame game. Drivers are blaming team orders, teams are blaming Pirelli and the FIA, but all the outcry seems lost in what has become a rather staged piece of entertainment. What’s most interesting is how the sport has managed to convince us all that what we’re watching is indeed great racing. The off track soap opera is entertaining as ever, most notably the team drama at Red Bull. But for all of the sport’s technical advances, we’re still seeing drivers struggle to push because of a lack of tires or fuel. Maybe the races are too long? Something tells me it would make no difference to shorten them.

In the days following the Spanish Grand Prix we’ve heard plenty of public bellyaching from Red Bull. Things have gotten so loud that Pirelli made the decision to produce a longer lasting compound for the Canadian Grand Prix in June. We’ve also heard Jenson Button admit that he’s embarrassed by his McLaren team and their MP4-28′s performance.

It’s been a difficult season for the Woking boys and one that may see the exit of Martin Whitmarsh as Team Principal – there have already been rumors of his possible resignation around the paddock. Then there’s Mercedes who look great in qualifying, but have struggled on race day. Both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg quickly fell into obscurity by the end of Sunday’s race. One thing’s become abundantly clear – if the tires are to blame then we may see a massive shift throughout the field in Montreal.

Many would argue with me but Formula 1 is in a slump right now. Maybe the lack of exciting venues is to blame and we’ll see the energy reignited in Monaco next week. However at some point you just have to say screw the tires, the cars and the excuses and go out and race.

Photos courtesy of F1 Fanatic.

The 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix

Apologies for the lack of updates on A Class lately. Things have been pretty busy and after a fairly uninspiring Chinese Grand Prix, I decided to reserve my Formula 1 discussion for after the Bahrain Grand Prix. Lets get straight to it.

When it comes to the Bahrain Grand Prix, the political situation has long overshadowed the race itself. With the kingdom’s citizens at odds with the ruling Al Khalifa family, many have questioned the relevance of having the race at all. In typical Bernie fashion, the Don of Formula 1 was quoted saying the government was “stupid” to hold the race. It’s no secret that from a sponsorship standpoint, the Bahrain Grand Prix is one of the most lucrative on the World Championship calender.

As it turns out, Sunday’s race ended up being one of the most exciting of 2013 with lots of great battles throughout the field.

Mercedes continued to look quick at the start of this weekend with a great showing in qualifying. Nico Rosberg secured his second career pole with teammate Lewis Hamilton in P4. Hamilton ultimately suffered a 5 grid spot penalty for a gearbox change following free practice. On Sunday things didn’t fare so well for Mercedes as both drivers struggled to maintain pace.

The opening laps provided for some of the most exciting wheel-to-wheel racing at the start of any Grand Prix in recent years, with Rosberg fending off Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso – who exchanged places for P2. However once DRS was enabled, Vettel made his move and created a lead which he held for the remainder of the race.  Rosberg’s pace continued to falter, but he displayed a level of aggression we haven’t seen from him in the past. Ultimately the driver finished 9th.

Things fared slightly better for Hamilton who was quoted after the race saying the car went from “terrible” to “amazing”. Hamilton also had some nice duels with his former McLaren teammate Jenson Button and Sergio Perez. He finished 5th overall and has stayed consistent in the points since the start of the season.

Lotus have come out fighting in 2013 and amid rumors of the team’s struggles to secure more funding to keep Kimi Raikkonen next season, have produced an excellent car in the E21. Raikkonen struggled in qualifying and started P9. Things fared better on Sunday and with the car’s excellent tire management, he was able to secure a podium finish placing 2nd.

His teammate Romain Grosjean also struggled in qualifying, starting in P11, but made it count in the race. Grosjean finished 3rd after some interesting battles throughout the field. It’s amazing to see the success Lotus has achieved in such a short time. The team’s engineers have certainly discovered the secret to maintaining Pirelli’s unforgiving tires. It’s no secret that Raikkonen is one of the most popular drivers on the market for 2014, with Red Bull rumored to be courting him for Mark Webber’s seat. Ultimately he’s a major factor in Lotus’s newfound success over the last couple of seasons.

Things didn’t go well for Ferrari this weekend. After a great qualifying session for both drivers on Saturday, a series of mechanical maladies saw Fernando Alonso finishing 8th and his teammate Felipe Massa out of the points in 14th. Ferrari have gotten off to a much more successful start in 2013 with the highly competitive F138. However a broken wing on Alsonso’s car forced the driver to do without DRS in most of the race, while Massa experienced numerous tire issues. Both drives made an unnecessary amount of pit stops which ultimately cost them.

With an admittedly sluggish car, McLaren’s only goal for the weekend was to score points. As the teams head back to Europe for a 3 week break, McLaren will essentially rebuild their car in the hopes of being more competitive in Spain. For the second race weekend in a row, Sergio Perez was unable to break into Q3 with his teammate Jenson Button settling for P10 at the start of Sunday’s race. McLaren haven’t had the pace all season, however Button has managed better results than his teammate, who has been harshly criticized in recent weeks.

After scoring just 2 World Championship points in the first 3 races of the season, the pressure was on Perez to deliver in Bahrain. Some unusually aggressive driving saw him in an exciting and nerve wracking battle with his teammate. Button was unhappy with the advances by Perez which calls in to question some of his earlier comments with regards to Red Bull’s team orders debacle. When it comes to tire management their may be no better driver in Formula 1 than Button, ultimately he finished 10th on Sunday with Perez in a more successful 6th. McLaren have a lot of work to do in the coming weeks as they’ll not like being without a podium finish for much longer. Expect to see a very different MP4-28 in Spain.

At the end of the day it was Sebastian Vettel who stood at the top of the podium. In typical fashion Vettel got an early lead and dominated the remainder of the race. Vettle has become increasingly outspoken in the last couple of weeks, with regards to Red Bull’s team orders in Malaysia. At the start of the Chinese Grand Prix, he virtually did a 180 from his previous comments about overtaking his teammate and said he would do it again. The bad blood has continued to flow in the Red Bull paddock with Mark Webber suffering a dismal weekend in China, then being forced to use his teammates engine maps in Bahrain. Red Bull continue to maintain that they support both drivers equally but that is becoming increasingly harder to believe.

Webber celebrated his 200th Grand Prix in Bahrain with a small cake cutting ceremony at which neither Vettel or Helmut Marko were in attendance. The politics within the team seem to be boiling over as Marko was seen telling Niki Lauda not to be nice to Webber. At this point it seems highly unlikely that Webber with continue with Red Bull in 2014. It’s been reported the Australian is scheduled to meet with team owner Dietrich Mateschitz later this week at Red Bull’s headquarters. The meeting will presumably be about his future, as he continues to deny rumors about a a move to Porsche next year.

It was a departure from the usual procession in Bahrain with plenty of wheel-to-wheel racing across the field. The World Championship is still wide open and anything can happen after the teams get a chance to regroup in Europe. It’s hard to believe Formula 1 is already headed to Spain next with the Monaco Grand Prix just a month away!

Photos courtesy of F1 Fanatic.

The 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix

Formula 1 wrapped up the Malaysian Grand Prix earlier today and what is typically a rain soaked procession, turned out to be one of the most dramatic races in recent memory. The events at Sepang International Circuit conjured up memories of the Senna-Prost era at McLaren and cemented Formula 1′s identity as a team sport.

There’s an infinite amount of story lines to discuss as Europe’s sporting columns are ablaze with Red Bull and Mercedes gossip. With pit stop foibles, mechanical maladies and host of very unhappy teammates, lets get straight to it.

Ferrari came out of qualifying in prime position to score their first race win of the season, with Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa starting P2 and P3. After an aggressive start by the Red Bulls, Alonso fought for position, coming out of turn 1. The Ferrari driver’s front wing became dislodged after making contact with Sebastian Vettel and then Mark Webber as he fought the Red Bulls. Alsonso was expected to come into the pits after the first lap to have his wing replaced, but failed to do so.

Upon completing the first straight of lap 2, his font wing broke free, lodging itself under the F138′s front tires and sending Alonso off the track. With his race over, it left most scratching their heads at Alonso’s bizarre decision to stay on track. The assumption was a strategy to complete 1 more lap and pit for a wing and tire change, as the track began to dry. Unfortunately things ended differently and costed Alonso valuable points in his bid to win the 2013 World Driver’s Championship. It’s still early enough in the season, but as we’ve seen so many times before, mishaps from earlier in the season tend to rear their ugly face in November. His teammate Felipe Massa completed a solid drive, finishing 5th overall.

Pit stop woes followed Alonso’s retirement for the remainder of Malaysia’s first half. In an unfortunate turn, Force India had to retire both cars as they experienced a number of issues with improperly securing wheel nuts. A collision in the pits involving Caterham and a Freudian Slip saw Lewis Hamilton pull into the McLaren pits for a brief second. Early in the race McLaren displayed flashes of brilliance with some very quick tire changes and saw Jenson Button leading the race. His success was short lived after another horrendous stop in which the mechanics sent Button out, after failing to secure the MP4-28′s right front wheel nut.

The team did manage to rescuer it, only to have Button return to the track in 14th and later retire with 3 laps to go. McLaren have gotten off to another tough start in 2013. With an admittedly sluggish car, the team can’t afford to make costly mistakes in the pits. The question is how long Team Principal Martin Whitmarsh will have to right his ship before his job comes into question. Sergio Perez secured 1 point after finishing 10th overall.

With an abundance of drama happening throughout pit lane, it was Red Bull and Mercedes that stole the show. Both teams dealt with similar issues involving team orders in an effort to conserve fuel and keep both cars on the track. Mark Webber displayed some brilliant driving as he lead most of the race and it seemed inevitable that he would secure his first win since last year’s British Grand Prix. Unfortunately his teammate Sebastian Vettel struggled with playing second fiddle and had a number of exchanges with race engineers in a bid to overtake Webber. After an excellent pit stop on lap 44, Webber emerged ahead of Vettel in P1. The two drivers battled for the next 2 laps, fighting for the lead which Webber maintained. After some interjection by team bosses, the Red Bull drivers were told to maintain the gap and bring the cars home for some valuable points. The strategy didn’t sit well with Vettel as he took to the inside, nearly colliding with the pit wall to overtake Webber in turn 1. The move was a blatant disregard for team orders and a fuming Webber showed his lack of gratitude by giving Vettel the finger. The pass has been the most talked about event following the race and in many ways brings to light the internal problems that have followed Red Bull the last few seasons. It’s no secret that Webber and Vettel aren’t the greatest of friends and Webber’s response to the move and a complete lack of sympathy on behalf of Vettel go on to illustrate a mutual dislike between the teammates. Vettel ultimately won the race, his 27th career win, with Webber finishing a close 2nd.

Mercedes experienced their own issues resulting from team orders as Lewis Hamilton struggled to outpace his teammate Nico Roseberg, in an effort to maintain tires and fuel. Rosberg had a number of exchanges with Team Principal Ross Brawn, urging him to allow a pass on Hamilton. There was concern for both cars’ fuel loads following the race and Rosberg was instructed to maintain his position. Had fuel levels not been an issue for Mercedes, it’s likely that both drivers would’ve caught the Red Bulls and there may have been a different outcome. Hamilton finished 3rd overall with Rosberg in 4th. Mercedes should be very pleased with their efforts this weekend. Many speculated that the success of the team would be a work in progress for most of 2013, however in the 2nd race of the season the team are fighting for race wins. Their time will certainly come and soon.

Once the checkered flag was raised everyone was talking about the pending podium ceremonies. A very dejected Lewis Hamilton joined fueding Red Bull teammates Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel. A very uncelebratory air surrounded the podium as everyone anxiously awaited the driver’s interviews, lead by Martin Brundle.

This is a scenario where the podium interviews are useless because rarely do we get honest emotion from the drivers as they maintain composure under the spotlight. Everyone had hoped for Vettel to provide some reasoning for his actions but ended up getting a half hearted apology for not following the team’s orders. Webber was considerably more candid, however his choice in words held back most of what he was probably thinking. Hamilton showed real class in his acceptance of 3rd with his mention of Rosberg and a lack of willingness to accept his trophy. It appears as though Hamilton is desperate to turn over a new leaf this season and change people’s perceptions of himself. He certainly won a few fans back today.

It was a fantastically exciting Malaysian Grand Prix and a departure from the boring race F1 fans have grown accustomed to. It’s a 2 week break until the teams are in Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix.

Photos courtesy of F1 Fanatic.

The 2013 Australian Grand Prix

It’s a new year and with it, a new season of Formula 1. After months of designing, prototyping and testing, the teams were back at Albert Park for the Grand Prix of Australia.

Here are a few takeaways from today’s race.

On the back of last year’s biggest story, Lewis Hamilton made his Mercedes debut and it was a fine one indeed. Despite finishing 5th overall, Hamilton was on pace with the leaders and surpassed the expectations held by most. The Silver Arrows looked quick all weekend, but as the season moves forward, keep an eye on their reliability. Nico Rosberg’s race was cut short due to an electrical failure on lap 26.

McLaren struggled all weekend and it quickly became apparent that the MP4-28 is not on par with the rest of the front runners. Jenson Button started 10th and a bad tire strategy had him in the pits well before the rest of the grid. Sergio Perez’s debut with the team wasn’t memorable and he failed to score a single point. It’s still early and Perez may be working out some growing pains, but McLaren aren’t the kind of team to give a driver too many opportunities to get up to speed, as we all saw with Heikki Kovalainen. It was a disappointing weekend and after the loss of their top driver, technical director and title sponsor, they have some major work to do in Woking.

Mark Webber got off to another shockingly bad start after qualifying 2nd overall. It’s a trend that plagued most of his 2012 season and it’s not a good sign to see it happening again at the start of 2013. His teammate Sebastian Vettel built an early lead but fell back as the race progressed. Despite Vettel’s 3rd place finish, expect Red Bull to pull away from the rest of the field in the coming races.

Ferrari looked strong all weekend with both drivers doing well in qualifying and in the race. Felipe Massa has done a complete 180 from where he was at this time last season and even out qualified his teammate Fernando Alonso. Massa is driving with a newfound confidence that we saw glimpses of at the end of 2012 and it appears to have carried over into the new season. Alsonso had a few brilliant moments this weekend including a fantastic battle with Hamilton. Romain Grosjean should watch and learn how to execute proper wheel-to-wheel racing.

Alonso finished 2nd and Ferrari are well on their way to another successful Championship run in 2013.

Despite lots of good performances, there were 3 that really stood out. The first didn’t even get a podium finish and that was Force India’s Adrian Sutil. I’m not a fan but you have to respect a driver who spent a year away from the sport, only to come back and lead a good chunk of the Australian Grand Prix. In the end it was the tires that kept Sutil back but I doubt we’ll be seeing the last of him at the front of the pack in 2013.

Then there’s Kimi Raikkonen, today’s race winner. Could the Australian Grand Prix have ended any better? The Iceman finished the race by telling his engineer ”I told you the car was fast”, it was classic Kimi through and through. Lotus is everyone’s favorite underdog team in Formula 1 and with this strong of a start to the season, there will be more race wins to come. Expect Grosjean to improve his pace in the coming months and Kimi to keep being Kimi.

Finally, hats off to NBC Sports. We all wondered what would happen to Formula 1 in the United States after SPEED lost their broadcast rights. I think it’s the best thing to happen for American fans since Circuit of the Americas broke ground in Austin. Formula 1 deserves a proper home on American television and the guys at NBC did an absolutely brilliant job all weekend. The continuing race coverage during commercial breaks, the broadcast of delayed qualifying sessions and a fantastic post race show are just a few examples of just how seriously NBC is taking Formula 1. Well done!

Things are just getting started and it’s only going to get better! The Malaysian Grand Prix is less than a week away!

Photos courtesy of F1 Fanatic.

LaFerrari

The Geneva Motor Show is in full swing and today was the highly anticipated debut of Ferrari’s Enzo successor. Simply named LaFerrari, it will most certainly revolutionize the way we think about hyper cars. Many people have gotten hung up on the name and while not brilliant, it’s hardly a reason to dislike what is an astonishing piece of engineering.

The Ferrari DNA is present throughout with subtle hints to the 458 Italia and the P4/5.

Like the name, LaFerrari’s looks have been met with mixed reviews. I think it’s a fantastically good looking piece of design and far exceeds the Enzo.

Many of you have probably had the chance to soak in all of the content released throughout the day. In case you’ve missed it, here are some of the more interesting details about the car.

 

 

 

 

While KERS and active aero are technologies we’ve become familiar with in motor sports, they’ve rarely been used on production cars. It’s a trend that’s gaining momentum in the automotive industry and is fast becoming the new norm for high performance road cars.

There’s no mistaking that LaFerrari has Formula 1 to thank for it’s technical contributions to the project. While many will argue that the sport has little influence on production cars, that certainly is not the case here. Ferrari, McLaren, Pagani and Porsche are ushering in a new era of what’s technically possible.

Now we can all look forward to the inevitable LaFerrari-P1 comparison test.

Photos & videos courtesy of Ferrari.

McLaren P1

The McLaren P1. Just look at the thing.

The hyper car battle of 2013 is shaping up to be a good one. In a beauty contest the P1 edges just ahead of Porsche’s upcoming 918. Although I have my suspicions that Ferrari is going to come in and blow everyone away.

While McLaren has been fairly transparent and given us all lots of access to media and information regarding the P1, Ferrari have been quietly working away in Maranello. Aside from some performance figures and other carefully released details, not much is known about the upcoming F150, primarily what it will look like. That will all change in March at the Geneva Motor Show.

In the meantime enjoy the excellent P1.

Photos courtesy of McLaren.

The 2013 Ferrari F138

On the back of yesterday’s McLaren MP4-28 debut, Ferrari have held an event to unveil their own F138.

Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were on hand for the festivities. It’s really good to see Massa in Rosso Corsa for another year. Who knows what 2014 will bring, but after his last few races in 2012, it’s a well deserved seat with the Scuderia.

Team Principal Stefano Domenicali described the F138 as an evolution of the F2012.

The F138 will use the same pull rod front and rear suspension as last year’s car. However unlike the F2012, it’s done away with what was possibly the ugliest step nose in all of Formula 1.

There are noticeable changes in the car’s side profile. Like the rest of the 2013 cars we’ve seen so far, expect a different front and rear wing setup come race day. The extra hits of black on white on the car’s livery are a nice touch.

Hopefully the F138 drives as good as it looks. I still firmly believe Alonso should’ve won the World Driver’s Championship last year. The experts are predicting 2013 will be another Alonso-Vettel fight, so I guess we’ll find out shortly.

Photos courtesy of Ferrari.

Tokyo Auto Salon 2013

It’s early Monday morning in Japan and this year’s Tokyo Auto Salon has officially come to an end. Here’s a sampling of all the rest of the cars present at Makuhari Messe.

As always Nissan had a very big presence at this year’s show. While the GT-R remains the king, Silvas and Skylines have not been forgotten.

TAS needs more builds like this fantastic 180SX from SPIRIT Rei.

It’s hard to go wrong with a white R32 on Advans. Funny enough it’s the simple builds that stand out most at TAS.

Phoenix’s Power had the GT-R well represented at the show including this lime green example on BBS LMs.

Next door to Phoenix’s Power was Top Secret. They also showed up with a few different GT-Rs as well as their Rocket Bunny kitted 86.

This year could be the biggest ever turnout for imports, both European and American at TAS. Ferrari had a large presence as did Porsche and BMW amongst others.

The Ferrari F40 was given a very nice display this year. The Japanese have always been obsessed with European cars and as exotics get older and become cheaper, we’re going to see a lot more tuners working with them.

Despite strong showings from Nissan and Toyota, Mitsubishi didn’t fare as well in 2013. The Evo X is now 5 years old and it’s beginning to show. It’s disappointing to see a car which once littered the show floor at TAS, suffer the same fate as its Subaru rival. With Mitsuibshi moving towards EV production, the CZ4A may be the last of the great tuner cars from the brand.

Varis continues to dominate the market. I’m disappointed that Voltex never created their own Evo X wide body kit to compete.

Unsurprisingly, Toyotas dominated the show in 2013. The 86 is the new darling of the Japanese tuning industry, massively overshadowing its sibling the BRZ.

A JZX100 with strange lights inside of the wheels. This was a trend seen on a number of cars at TAS.

Original Runduce was present with their 86 demo car kitted in Varis aero. This car just looks so good and is probably my favorite 86.

After all these years, the Mazda RX-7 continues to be one of the very best looking Japanese cars.

Last but not least there’s Subaru. As with every year, I was disappointed in the turnout for Imprezas. While the STi fights to remain relevant, the tuning industry seems to be moving on. I blame Subaru for not giving the car the AYC and extra 30-50 horsepower it so deserves.

D Language came out with a very large booth featuring their STi, Evo and 86 demo cars.

Blitz was also on hand with a GVB STi showing off some of their latest electronics and performance parts, including this 6-pot brake kit.

Despite filing for bankruptcy in 2012, Zero/Sports was on hand with a GVB STi. They’re hardly the dominant force they once were at TAS.

I’ll end with this truly awesome looking wide body GVB STi from Varis. This kit has kind of gone under the radar with all the attention on the 86.

That about does it for TAS coverage on A Class. If anything else exciting comes my way, I’ll be sure to post it. Overall I’m disappointed by this year’s show. There’s a real lack of variety right now in the Japanese tuning industry. I suppose it’s been a long time coming. With major players like Honda, Mitsubishi and Mazda failing to produce exciting cars like they once did, the industry has been forced to rely on Nissan and Toyota. Subaru can be happy with their role in the 86 and their own BRZ but as the Impreza continues to get heavier and slower, we may see another great fall by the wayside. On the bright side, the amazing reception the 86 has gotten has shown other manufacturers what’s possible. Hopefully in the next few years we’ll see more of the affordable, fun cars the Japanese automotive industry so desperately needs.

Photos courtesy of GTNET.

The United States Grand Prix

Hats off to the state of Texas and Circuit of the Americas. They pulled this one off in stunning fashion.

Formula 1 was stateside for the first time since 2007 and what a race it was. If the nearly 115,000 fans at today’s race was any indication of things to come, then Formula 1 has a great future in America.

McLaren finally showed up this weekend with a decent car for Lewis Hamilton and it was a 1-on-1 battle with Sebastian Vettel for most of the race.

With 14 laps to go, Hamilton used his DRS to overtake Vettel and held the lead to the end. In typical fashion, Vettel was quick to throw a temper tantrum and media bash Narain Karthikeyan for getting in his way.

Red Bull were however able to secure their 3rd consecutive Constructor’s Championship, which went virtually unnoticed until being brought up by Vettel during the podium interviews.

Joining Hamilton and Vettel on the podium was Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. Predictably, Alonso struggled with the F2012 all weekend but managed to make it work on race day. He’s indebted to Hamilton who’s kept his (slim) Driver’s Championship hopes alive for another week. Alonso’s teammate Felipe Massa pulled off another stellar drive finishing 4th.

Ferrari made a bold move changing Massa’s gearbox in order to receive a 5 grid spot penalty, that would allow Massa to start on the clean side of the track. The gamble paid off.

Michael Schumacher spent most of the race trying to send drivers off the track, a throwback to his Ferrari days. Neither he or his teammate Nico Rosberg scored points for Mercedes (again). Somewhere Lewis Hamilton is laying in bed wondering if he has indeed made the worst decision of his career to leave McLaren. What’s done is done and it was a bittersweet victory for the driver and his team today in Austin.

Formula 1 has massive potential in the United States and it’s all going to come down to how the sport is marketed to an American audience. A big part of that will lie on the shoulders of NBC Sports, who are in charge broadcasting duties next year. However, today it was the city of Austin who welcomed Formula 1 with open arms and did so in big Texas fashion.

Another season of Formula 1 is almost in the books. The Brazilian finale at Interlagos is next week. Alonso better pray for a miracle because it’s going to be a tough one.

Photos courtesy of F1 Fanatic.

When In Texas…

A special Red Bull greeting from your friends at Ferrari.

Photo courtesy of alo_oficial.