UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX

The inevitable has finally come to pass and the championship is settled. With Mercedes having such an advantage in this sport, was it ever a question who would officially win this world championship?

From my perspective, championships are earned. They certainly mean less nowadays than they used to considering the discrepancies in funding and technologies available to every team.

For that reason, I don't want to waste another minute being bitter that Hamilton won the world championship, or that he won it on MY American soil. I really hoped he would just get it out of the way in Mexico so I would be able to enjoy the last three races of the season supporting Red Bull and Ferrari in peace.

I'm proud to be an American, but I regret how this F1 event went down this weekend. I believe we could have been much better hosts at the Circuit of the Americas.

We look forward to this race all year. And being an American F1 fan means that you're in the vast minority when it comes to sports allegiances in this country. Barely anyone here has even heard of F1, so you're fighting an uphill battle.

If the USA was going to host an F1 grand prix, the least we could have done was to make sure it was an event that deserved to be amongst all the other destinations on the F1 calendar.

I'm really glad F1 comes to America, but I think there are a lot of issues we could have avoided. First of all, why did we build COTA on land that was sinking in the first place? And if we were going to build it there, why didn't we plan to make sure that the major resurface was done before this year's race? Okay, so it's planned for this next year. But that's too late.

Second, it's not a pleasant looking track to begin with. It's very harsh-looking with no greenery, surrounded by flat, treeless land. The track itself is good, but the surrounding environment doesn't make it a very interesting location to watch.

The biggest problem I had with the US Grand Prix is that there doesn't seem to be any demonstrated understanding that this is an event which is seen around the world. We're on the global stage here, so it would be nice if we weren't the only country flaunting mostly-naked cheerleaders and ostentatious sky divers with the American flag. It's fine for NASCAR, but this is Formula 1.

I guess they just don't know how this racing is different from what American racing is used to.

Well. Okay.

My favorite part of this weekend was when Bottas stole away the win from Hamilton at the last minute. Okay, so Hamilton still won the championship, but he didn't also win the race today, which was important to me that he didn't get. I'm so proud of Bottas. He's the best.

Two races left this year. I can't wait for Ferrari and Red Bull to have a fresh start.

Free Practice 1

- it’s super cold for Texas in October. It’s like in the low 50s but should warm up in the next couple days 

- A lot of talk about how bumpy this track is because the track is sinking even though it’s built in the last ten years and they’ve done all they can without doing a total repave

- Hamilton goes out and right away says « it’s so bumpy I don’t know if this track is safe » like the US doesn’t have the most advanced safety regulations in the world 

- They have no mercy about track limits on Turn 19 and two people have had their times deleted already Latifi is in for Russell this session

- They have the 2020 tires to test for FP1 and FP2 Charles has a helmet that’s half USA themed and half for Brazil next

- Grosjean has a Disney’s Cars helmet for this race 

Free Practice 2

- Grosjean has a big crash into the barriers with his front end and it red flagged the session Gio goes off at turn 9 and caused a yellow flag but then continues 

Free Practice 3

- apparently Brendan Hartley was hard at work in the simulator overnight for Ferrari? What? When did he get involved at Ferrari? Was that just an incorrect name reported?

- It’s warmer today thankfully 

- Yellow flag because Charles felt the engine go in the Ferrari and pulls over and the engine is smoking a lot. This is so bad because Charles was looking at pole again and this was the engine that was going to be in qualifying today and if it’s done (and it looks really really done), then he will have to replace his engine and gearbox. This happened after Charles reported problems with the engine yesterday in practice. 

Qualifying 

- out in Q1: Gio, Kimi, Russell, Perez, Kubica 

- Out in Q2: Hulk, KMags, Kvyat, Stroll, Grosjean

- Hamilton knocked Maxy off track and Maxy roasted him on the radio but they said no investigation necessary 

- Final result: Bottas starting on pole, Seb and Max third

Pre-Race

- They asked this kid wearing all Mercedes if he was rooting for Hamilton to win today and he turned to the camera and went "I want Valtteri Bottas".

- extensive clip of Daniel driving around with some guy and they interview him about his music preferences, his driving and he said his "only problem with Max" was his moving under breaking

- is this skydiving with the American flag thing necessary

- why are we the only country with slutty cheerleaders featured?? So embarrassing.

- WHAT IS THIS NATIONAL ANTHEM? Even Seb is like snickering. It's like a low jam version of the anthem? I don't understand.

Race

- at start, Albon and Sainz have contact

- Hamilton makes his way up to 4th at the start

- the Ferraris haven't fired their tires up so Hamilton gets into third right away on the first lap

- The Ferraris are dropping further and further back, specifically Vettel

- Seb locks up on first lap, letting Norris past

- They are saying it's all because the Ferrari's just don't have their tires up to temperature correctly

- Bottas leads over the line in the first lap and he rained first, with Max in second and Hamilton in third

- By lap 2, Seb dropped back to 7

- Alex Albon has to pit after first lap because of the contact with Sainz on the first lap

- they are investigating Sainz and Albon collision on first lap but deem it a racing incident

- a HORRIBLE start from the Ferraris

- Vettel can barely keep up and keep it not he track, he is feeling damage even though he didn't hit anything

- 8/56 - Seb has major suspension failure and his car ends up with the front left permanently flying off the ground until he can pull over by a place for them to take the car off track. Seb retires.

- 14 / 56 - Max pits, first of anyone. They're trying to undercut Hamilton, but they put the hard tires on

- the lap after, they pit Bottas to try to compete with Max's undercut

- 21/56 - Ferrari does a 7.7 sec pit stop for Leclerc. Um.... ?????????? TWO WEEKS IN A ROW messing up Charles pit stops? Are you kidding me?

- Kvyat has a slow stop, around 6.2 seconds but we don't see it

- They told Hamilton to come in and he said no and drove right by the pit box. THIS is why he hasn't won anyone's heart.

- Bottas gets past Hamilton right away when Hamilton didn't pit so then Hamilton pits, surely realizing he made a cocky mistake staying out, not that he won't do it again next time. I can't believe he just ignores his team's educated input and strategy.

- Hamilton is ignoring speed instructions because he wants to win so bad and it's ruining his tires. He radios, "Give me a target, Bono. Work with me."

- Kubica retires from he race

- 35 / 56 - Max pits for second time for yellow tires

- 36 / 56 - they pit Bottas for the second time

- 52 / 56 - an AMAZING battle where Bottas charges at Hamilton and finally gets past him right at the end of the race and it's THE BEST MOMENT that Bottas is going to steal this win from Hamilton during his championship winning race

- Albon has fought his way from the back all the way to 5th and gets driver of the day. He's doing great

- Max charging at Hamilton in second and looks like he's going to get him right at the end, but then Kevin Magnussen goes off and there's a yellow flag so it steals Maxy's second from him and he has to stay third

- At the end, BOTTAS WINS, then Hamilton, then Max in third

MEXICAN GRAND PRIX

I was all geared up for MAXico.

And then this happened.

By the end of this string of disappointments, I was pretty checked out. The last thirty laps of the race, I couldn't even feel anything anymore. Once Ferrari inexplicably messed up Leclerc's second pit stop, adding four seconds to his pit stop time, it was all over for me. I'd already had to sit through he trauma of watching Max Verstappen drive around the circuit with only three wheels after that contact with Bottas, and then the pit stop madness this weekend sealed the deal.

Watching the race went something like this:

The worst part of this weekend was that Max had such an appalling time in Mexico after winning there for the last two years in a row. I dreamed that he would make it three years, but I guess we just aren't there yet.

The nicest thing that happened this weekend was that, for some reason, Perez didn't actually suffer from the home race curse, which is always puzzling and pleasant for anyone that escapes it.

As far as I'm concerned, I can't wait to get to Austin. I am really hoping that, by some miracle, Hamilton doesn't win the championship on American soil. It would just feel too awful. I wish he has just got it over this last weekend so we could all move on with our lives.

Here are my notes from this weekend:

Free Practice 1

- if Hamilton outscores Bot by 14 points, Hamilton wins the championship which is a tall order because he’s only done that a few times before and plus Max is so good here so it looks like Hamilton will win the championship the race after this and that’s the USA and I do NOT want him winning here on American soil

- HAHAHahahahah Renault was disqualified from the Japanese Grand Prix after using illegal driver aids which Force India taddled on them for. HiLARious

- Latifi in Williams instead of Kubica but only speculation that he’s in the seat next year but he’s the prime candidate because Hulk is too expensive 

- Seb locked up and rejoined the track quickly 

- Ugh Toro Rosso is going to be confirmed as Alfa Tauri next year 

- Pierre Gasly shoots off but no crash 

- Max had a little lockup and off but he didn’t crash or anything 

- « Ooooo Stroll is in the wall » at 32 min left and it was a 65 mph corner? 

Free Practice 2 

- Charles spins but keeps it out of the wall

- Alex Albon has a hard crash into the wall and red flag 

- People are flying off all over the place 

Free Practice 3

- the track is damp and there’s standing water

- Pierre Gasly is feeling sick and might not come out

- Daniels car had a hydraulic leak and they had to change the gearbox so all in all things at Renault are terrible 

- Now Hulk’s car is broken and they don’t know if it’s the same issue as Daniel but the point is that everything at Renault is broken 

Qualifying 

- out in Q1: Stroll, Kmags, Grosjean, Russell and Kubica 

- Stewards investigating a pit lane squabble between Riccardo and Kvyat 

- At the LAST second in Q3, Bottas has a scary crash in the wall 

- Max on pole, Charles in second, Seb in third

(In the time between Qualifying and the Race)

- IN AN OUTRAGEOUSLY DRAMATIC TURN THE STEWARDS GAVE MAX A 3 PLACE GRID PENALTY FOR IGNORING YELLOW FLAGS OF BOTTAS CRASH AND STRIPPED HIM OF HIS SECOND EVER POLE POSITION so now Charles starts 1, Seb 2nd, Hamilton 3 and Max 4th 

Race 

- Charles stays out front, Seb in second and keeps Hamilton behind, then Hamilton drives Max RIGHT off the track and Ham and Max end up both on the grass 

- A CHAOTIC first lap 

- Max started fourth after the first couple laps is running in 8th 

- Max goes back to pass Bottas in a great move but then there’s contact and Max had a puncture and loses his back right tire which just disintegrated until he’s running only with three tires til he gets back to the pits and then has to come out plumb last

- 12/71 Lando pits and got a green release but his front left tire wasn’t on and he stopped before the end of the pit lane and they rolled him back to the McLaren pit lane and redid the tire but he did come out last after that 

- Ferrari did pit Charles first this time in the first fifteen laps but then left Seb out even though Charles is leading 

- They radio Seb to check in with him and he says « everything is peachy »

- The SECOND fumbled pit stop this race is Gio and they dropped him off the jack with a wheel off still and it takes forever for him to get away and his first attempt at a getaway tears off the yellow tape on the ground on the Alpha Romeo pit 

- It’s shocking every race how terrible Hamilton’s whining is especially this weekend without his usual race engineer talking to him cause he’s out for a medical procedure 

- Lap 44/71 they pit Charles again and they couldn’t figure out if the back tire was on all the way even though it was and the stop ended up being 6.2 seconds instead of around 2 seconds and it’s basically all over for me now

- They retire Lando on lap 50ish/71 after the wheel mishap early on

- Charles was trying to catch Bottas in 3rd but he went too far off and it ruined his tires and chances of getting on the podium. Also if Charles had gotten Bottas out of third then it would have gotten Hamilton to win the championship in Mexico instead of in the US 

- Kimi has to DNF on 60/71 

- Hamilton "wins", then Seb, then Bottas

- This is the most OUTRAGEOUS and TERRIBLE podium ceremony I've ever seen, including confetti, a hydraulic lift which lifts Hamilton and the car onto the stage, a GIANT picture of his face over everything and a guy in a matador outfit and driver's helmet trying to take a selfie with all the drivers, which Seb said he hated later. And the trophies are shaped like Heineken. So. Overall, the most terrible podium I've ever seen.

JAPANESE GRAND PRIX

Well. That didn't work.

If the super typhoon cancelling all of Saturday's activities wasn't enough, Sunday sure sealed the deal.

Overall, I would call this weekend one big sad face emoji.

Except for the track and the fans, of course. There's nowhere quite like Suzuka circuit on an F1 race weekend.

But as far as the Japanese grand prix, itself, was concerned, the misfortunes began before the lights even went out.

Actually, that was the problem. Seb jump started, and it all went downhill from there, (although, weirdly, not for Seb, who snagged that second place podium). Seb didn't get a penalty for the jump start because I guess the steward's magic eight ball said "no" on this one. That's just fine with me, since I love Seb and want to see him succeed.

But we need to talk about the stewards decision-making at this race. Maybe they were still traumatized from the chaos of the typhoon predictions on Saturday, or maybe it was just another day at the office, but whatever was going on in that room during the race is not what F1 needed on Sunday.

Just take a look at my notes below. What you'll notice is that their rulings are all over the place. Their worst crime this race was ruling that the (personally heartbreaking) incident in Lap 1, turn 2, where Charles Leclerc collided with Max Verstappen merited no further action, only to then rule later in the race that the investigation had been reopened, then to rule that the incident will be investigated after the race.

Huh????

Is this under investigation or not?

The feeling of relief I experienced when they first ruled "no further action" on the Leclerc / Verstappen incident was only replaced by rage, then a dull throbbing of disappointment and, eventually, bitterness.

Because once that incident happened, the whole race was given to Mercedes. Again.

It was all over before it even began.

And don't even get me started on that post-race demotion and penalty they slapped on poor, innocent, future champion Charles Leclerc.

The good news for this weekend was that the SUPER TYPHOON was less severe than predicted, and that the drivers were still able to qualify on Sunday morning. And the on-track action was very exciting for the first third of the race.

But still. I can't believe we survived a super typhoon for that race.

See my note below.

Free Practice 1 (Friday)

- Japanese driver Naoki Yamamoto is in this session with Toro Rosso replacing Pierre Gasly

- Announced that in light of the forecast of Super Typhoon Hagibis, all activities for Saturday are cancelled so no FP3 and Quali rescheduled for Sunday morning before the race

- First car out on the track was Carlos Sainz and he barely got out of the pit lane and got stuck in first gear and his Renault powered Mcclaren just died. Virtual Safety car and it hasn’t even been five minutes. Now they have to push it back a steep uphill to the pits.

- This may be the only dry running the cars get all weekend 

- Gio has a hydraulic problem and has to not shift all the way back to the pits

- Daniel lost the front and shot off at the turn but got back on track 

Free Practice 2 (Friday)

- Between FP1 and FP2, the FIA decided that if Quali is cancelled on Sunday morning, then the times done in this session, FP2, will be considered Quali times. So now everyone is frantically trying to go fast in this session 

- Bottas spins and yellow flags it but doesn’t hit the wall so he goes back on track 

- Gunther Steiner got fined 7500 euros for speaking badly over the radio about the FIA after Russia FIA stewards gave Magnussen a penalty about the bollards 

Qualifying (Sunday Morning)

- Quali does go ahead and the typhoon didn’t do damage to the track or anything so the times in P2 that were potential Quali times in case Quali didn’t go ahead don't matter now

- Almost immediately, Robert Kubica goes into the wall coming through the turn into the pit straight during his out lap in a way that looked like he just wasn’t even paring attention. Red flag right away in Q1. 

- 12 min left of Q1 and it’s a red flag again and Kmags went into the wall and he’s actually reversed back out of the wall and then drove back out into the track and now there’s parts everywhere and driving back to the pit so they can work on it right away.

- They’re saying it’s wind that’s caused both Kubica and Kmags to go into the wall in the same place Out in Q1: Kubica, Kmags, Russell, Perez and Ricciardo 

- Nico Hulkenburg has a major hydraulic issue and has to go back to the pits without a time on the board so he won’t get a time down on Q2 

- Out in Q2: Gio, Stroll, Raikkonen, Kvyat and Hulk  

- Very stressful Q3 waiting til the last second to see if Charles or Vettel would get pole and for once Seb got pole

- Top three is Seb, Charles then Bottas, then Ham. Beautiful that Ham is down in P4

(No grid walk shown this weekend)

Race 

- Kubica starts from pit lane after crashing in Quali earlier today 

- Charles runs into Max in the second corner and Charles has front wing damage. Max in back of grid now after spinning and then they didn’t call Charles into the pit to repair the car and goes out for second lap after the team called him in and Charles suggests they continue a little more even though the front wing is sparking and then he does a THIRD LAP without coming in and there’s carbon fiber flying everywhere 

- Race control investigating the Charles and Max incident 

- Hamilton complains about wing damage coming into his face from Charles car

- They said no investigation necessary about Charles and Max 

- When the end plate of Charles wing fell off and hit the wing mirror but now the front wing is fine minus endplate

- Charles pits on lap 4 and gets new front wing and tires 

- Max very upset Charles didn’t get a penalty and stewards rule no investigation necessary on it

- Vettel jump started and moved before lights out so investigating that 

- Alex Albon shunted Norris off the track on a turn and had to pit and brake was on fire but they sent him back out

- Incident between Alex Albon and Lando Norris noted

- And then the stewards changed their minds and reopened the investigation on the turn 2 incident with Charles and Max even though they already ruled no investigation necessary 

- Now Charles left wing mirror flies off after just wiggling and Charles trying to hold it in place

- Seb under investigation for a false start 

- Charles passing Max again from 16 to 17 was so drama but Charles did it and Max didn’t fight because he’s having downforce problems after being hit 

- Rules no penalty for Seb’s alleged false start because apparently he didn’t go past the line where he would gain an advantage 

- Charles is doing insane moves picking off the people ahead one by one 

-15/53 they retire Max after the significant damage on the first lap and decided it would be better to retire to avoid further damage

- Seb locked up really badly going into the pit lane 

- Announce now the incident between Charles and Max will be investigated after the race even though they previously ruled no investigation ughhhhh

- Hamilton’s whining on the radio in this race is truly next level 

- Perez got pushed off on the last lap by Gasly and Perez went into the wall 

- A lot of good chasing in this race,  especially with Charles recovery drive and Seb and Hamilton at the end 

- Final podium: Bottas in 1st, Seb in second, Hamilton in third (which he refuses to celebrate because it's not good enough for him, ughhhh)

Post-Race

- Charles finished P6 but was demoted to P7 after the race by the stewards who gave him a double penalty, 5 seconds for the collision with Max (even though it wasn't his fault) and 10 seconds for driving with damage, although the team were the ones who told the race director they would bring in Charles on the next lap with his damage only to go back on their word and instruct Charles to stay out, which he then did, trusting his team. Ferrari also have a 25,000 euro fine for this whole debacle.