***** The Official US Grand Prix thread *****

[thegreenhell]

Howdy all y'all, it's time for the rootinest, tootinest, sumbh Grand Pricks in the West!

- Hamilton could clinch the WDC this weekend.

- Rossi back in the Manor.

- Renault's first major performance upgrade of the year available to RBR.

Qualifying 7pm Sat 24th.
Race start 7pm Sun 25th. (Don't forget to change your clocks on Sunday)

Yeehaw!


Edited race start time from 8pm to 7pm to account for clock change from BST to GMT on Sunday.

Edited by thegreenhell on Wednesday 21st October 00:04

[Logie]

Yea looking forward to this, will be interesting to see the new Ren engine and Honda have a 20bhp upgrade but its unclear if thats from the ICE of hybrid bit

[suffolk009]

I'm really quite excited about this race.

[Zippee]

Looking forward to this, especially as tomorrow morning I fly out to watch it - woohoo
Got some special tickets which means we're being part hosted by Williams including a few Q&A sessions with the team and a meet and greet with Massa & Bottas Yeehaw and all that!
Ay questions you think I should ask

[Vaud]

Ask Bottas to teach you the Finnish words he used when he spoke to Kimi after the last race.

[KarlMac]

Vaud said:

Ask Bottas to teach you the Finnish words he used when he spoke to Kimi after the last race.

Shoudn't be too hard, I imagine most of them were only 4 letters

Looking forward to a dinner time race. I can retire to the spare room while X Factor is on...

[Jasandjules]

Suspect we are about to see Lewis take his third WDC.

[NM62]

I feel Seb may make Lewis wait until Mexico.

[Dakkon]

NM62 said:

I feel Seb may make Lewis wait until Mexico.

He needs 5th or better in any of the next four races, Seb is not going to do anything.

[NM62]

Dakkon said:

NM62 said:

I feel Seb may make Lewis wait until Mexico.

He needs 5th or better in any of the next four races, Seb is not going to do anything.

My point was if it finishes Lewis 1st - Seb 2nd - Lewis won't be champion in Austin.

[Jasandjules]

NM62 said:

My point was if it finishes Lewis 1st - Seb 2nd - Lewis won't be champion in Austin.

Are you sure? I might be mistaken but I thought Lewis basically needs to finish ahead of Seb and Nico - if he does that he is WDC.

[thegreenhell]

Current points, with four races remaining:

HAM - 302
VET - 236 (-66)
ROS - 229 (-73)

If they finish the USGP in that same order, HAM-VET-ROS, then the points will be

HAM - 327
VET - 254 (-73)
ROS - 244 (-83)

So Vettel would be 73 points behind with 75 still available from three races. If Hamilton wins, then only Vettel finishing second can mathematically keep the championship open until the next race.

[London424]

Jasandjules said:

NM62 said:

My point was if it finishes Lewis 1st - Seb 2nd - Lewis won't be champion in Austin.

Are you sure? I might be mistaken but I thought Lewis basically needs to finish ahead of Seb and Nico - if he does that he is WDC.

Only if the order is Lew - Ros - Seb

[timmybob]

Zippee said:

Looking forward to this, especially as tomorrow morning I fly out to watch it - woohoo
Got some special tickets which means we're being part hosted by Williams including a few Q&A sessions with the team and a meet and greet with Massa & Bottas Yeehaw and all that!
Ay questions you think I should ask

Sounds like fun! I think I'll join you...

[Jasandjules]

thegreenhell said:

If Hamilton wins, then only Vettel finishing second can mathematically keep the championship open until the next race.

Ah thank you. Well, then I fear I must agree with the above poster, I also suspect Vettel will keep the WDC alive.

[leglessAlex]

I'm not sure, can Vettel stay ahead of Rosberg if there's not problems for either car?

Providing there are no reliability problems I'm going to say it'll be Hamilton-Rosberg-Vettel and Hamilton will get his much desired third championship.

[Vaud]

leglessAlex said:

Providing there are no reliability problems I'm going to say it'll be Hamilton-Rosberg-Vettel and Hamilton will get his much desired third championship.

Deserved, though I suspect the sheer volume of post-race Senna comparisons will be cringeworthy.

[Paul_M3]

Without reliability problems I'm fairly certain of a Mercedes 1-2.

Rosberg now knows the championship is gone, so I imagine he'll be fairly relaxed and put in a pretty decent performance.

[rupert the dog]

Zippee said:

Looking forward to this, especially as tomorrow morning I fly out to watch it - woohoo
Got some special tickets which means we're being part hosted by Williams including a few Q&A sessions with the team and a meet and greet with Massa & Bottas Yeehaw and all that!
Ay questions you think I should ask

Just been looking at your pics on your info page. The TVR interiors were really something else weren't they? Beautiful!

[leglessAlex]

Vaud said:

leglessAlex said:

Providing there are no reliability problems I'm going to say it'll be Hamilton-Rosberg-Vettel and Hamilton will get his much desired third championship.

Deserved, though I suspect the sheer volume of post-race Senna comparisons will be cringeworthy.

Very much so, I didn't mean that to sound derisive!

Hamilton has more or less had a perfect year and has done no more or less than what he needed to to stay ahead of a very fast team mate.

That said, I'm still looking forward to Ferrari and maybe others catching up car wise. It's not the fault of Hamilton he's in the best car and it's not as if it drove itself, but it doesn't make for a massively exciting drivers championship.