USA F1 Grand Prix

16 – 18 Nov Formula 1 Grand Prix – Circuit of The Americas (COTA)

Day 1 (Friday)

Up early for a 50 mile journey to the circuit.  This would be the first time that we have seen the brand new track which is purpose-made for F1 since the last race in USA in 2007.  It runs anti-clockwise for 3.4 miles with 20 turns and the whole area covers over 1100 acres.

Today would be practice day for all taking part. First up was the F1 cars for their first and second session, the noise was so loud that we could not hear the commentary.  The Historic Grand Prix cars were next followed by the Ferrari 458 Italia’s (31 racing cars at a cost of over $300.000 each).  Then came the Porsche 996/997 GT3 cars.

 

Day 2 (Saturday)

The Qualifying session for the Ferrari’s.  Third practice session for the F1 cars, then qualifying for the Historic GP cars.Then at 12 pm what we had all be waiting for “F1 qualifying”.

In the afternoon came the first of the Ferrari Challenge races, in spite of the cost of these cars they were most definitely racing, just like very expensive bumper cars at a fair ground.  The GT3 cars did their last qualifying session and then the Historic F1s had an 11 lap race.

Day 3 (Race day)
Another early start so that we would not get caught in too much traffic.
First up was the GT3s for their 10 lap race followed by the second race for the Ferrari’s.
The Drivers Parade consisted of them being driven round the course in convertiable cars, some from the 50s.  

Just before 1pm the ear defenders went on and the race was on.  Just under 2 hours of fantastic racing.  As most people have probably seen the race by now, I will leave it at that – good result for the Brits, and we waved our Union Jack for Lewis Hamilton at the end.  Role on next year!

 

 

 

We were very impressed with the COTA track.  Some of the area still needed landscaping but they had done a good job at getting it ready for the event.  We used the shuttle buses between the car park and the venue and had sunshine all weekend.  The staff were always smiling and the rest of the crowd were friendly – there were many from Mexico there and the Ferrari Team was well supported.

On the Friday evening we went into Downtown Austin to see what was going on.  Austin is known as the Live-Music Capital of Texas and there was all sorts of entertainment going on.  We also caught the end of a stage interview with Jenson Button.