November 2, 2014

Hamilton BBQ's Rosberg in Texas

Stick a fork in him, Nico's done.

If you do the math, you will notice that after his win in the US Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, Hamilton only needs to  finish second behind Rosberg in the final two races of the season to win the championship.    So, he could conceivably play the two final matches of the season safe.

He probably will not so a surprise is still possible.

In the Rosberg camp, it means he could be perfect in Brazil and Abu Dhabi and it would still not be good enough, today's pass was a heavy one.    Rosberg showed he has the raw speed but does not have the instinctive race craft of Hamilton.  

" kind of sucks for me but that's the way it is.  It took too long for me to find the rhythm.  Once Lewis was by I found it but it was a bit late"

That is a hard admission to make, one that feels like a white flag.   Rosberg has not been the same since the team came down on Lewis' side after Spa.  

As for Hamilton, with 10 wins this season, he really should have had this sewn up long ago. Happy he did have all those DNF's because there is still some reason to watch.    Of the two, there is no question he has had the edge overall.  

25 seconds behind the Mercedes's race, Austin gave us one of the most entertaining races of the year, one that at times resembled a Moto GP race much was the passing back and forth action.  Great show from Vergne, Ricciardo, Alonso. Even Maldonado drove a great race, Quite amazing.  

A great results for COTA, Pirelli and yes, Herman Tilke!


144Lewis HamiltonMercedes561:40:04.785225
26Nico RosbergMercedes56+4.3 secs118
33Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing-Renault56+25.5 secs515
419Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes56+26.9 secs412
577Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes56+30.9 secs310
614Fernando AlonsoFerrari56+95.2 secs68
71Sebastian VettelRed Bull Racing-Renault56+95.7 secs186
820Kevin MagnussenMcLaren-Mercedes56+100.68 secs74
913Pastor MaldonadoLotus-Renault56+107.87 secs101
1025Jean-Eric VergneSTR-Renault56+108.86 secs142
118Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault55+1 Lap16
1222Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes55+1 Lap12
137Kimi RäikkönenFerrari55+1 Lap8
1421Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari55+1 Lap15
1526Daniil KvyatSTR-Renault55+1 Lap17
Ret27Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes16Engine13
Ret11Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1Accident damage11
Ret99Adrian SutilSauber-Ferrari0Accident9


  1. Re: the final sentence, Tilke didn't actually design the track layout at COTA, that was Tavo Hellmund. Tilke did all the buildings and facilities though.

  2. I made the regretful decision to watch the NBC broadcast instead on SkySportsF1. No wonder the U.S. Market sucks, it was painful to listen to. If anyone watched it, in post race there was a reference to Hamilton passing Stewart and Clark in wins. Did I hear them use a reference to 'late' to discribing Stewart? He's not dead, even though those three brains are at NBC.

  3. COTA is a wonderful track and has had two consecutive years on great battle up and down the grid . Glad the two Mercedes actually had a race , but wish Nico could fight back a bit more... I am a Hamilton fan, but for sure post Spa , Nico has lost the killer instinct .

    I also agree with Mr Rapp , NBC coverage was more about celebrities in the paddock than the racing. That said for folks in US that watch 1 race a year , they had it all dumbed down for the neophytes... A bit painful for the faithful

  4. Do you have a reference to this? Everything I've read since the project was announced was that Tilke did the track and Miro Rivera Architects did the buildings and tower.


  6. It was tempting to tune in instead of waiting for a decent smcgill torrent (HD all the way) but in the end I'm glad I waited for the SKY show because even that was 'dumbed down' a touch - I'm pretty sure they know they're getting more US viewers than NBC does.

    Pathetic, really.

  7. This is how a race should be done - sure there are long stretches of track without any stands or fan spots but you can see a full house in the feeds, folks on the grass and full stands all the way up the hill into turn 1 - you can just feel the crowd energy even through the screen. It really is all about T1 on the hill.

    Next year I hope to watch from the top of a parked RV long the back straight, plenty of open spaces back there...

  8. That's a great read, thanks for sharing. Not sure how I missed it. It's a shame Tilke gets to claim all the credit...


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