Two Weeks Notice

Charles Pic and Pit Crew at the Spanish Grand Prix

Two weeks remain for you to enter the Marussia F1 Team and Monster.com Social Media Driver contest.

Gain behind the scenes access, tickets, interview team members, shoot photos and videos and more with Marussia F1 Team at the US Grand Prix in Austin this November!

Check out this video and then click HERE to read how you can attend the USGP as "Social Media Driver"

Circuit of The Americas Passes Critical Inspection

FIA's Charlie Whiting visits Austin to inspect Circuit of The Americas

FIA Race Director and Safety Delegate, Charlie Whiting, spoke at Circuit of The Americas earlier today about the preparedness of the track for November's race. Mr. Whiting makes this final inspection 60 days prior to an inaugural Formula 1 race in order to make sure the circuit will be complete in time.

Here are a few excerpts from today's media briefing with Mr. Whiting:

"When you look at the track & the facility, what are you looking for?"

Details, really. Just to make sure that things like the track surface, the kerbs, the verges, the run off areas, guard rails, fences, verges, everything, is in the right condition.

Officially the final inspection has to be done 60 days prior to the first race. It's not normally practical to have everything absolutely, totally ready. But what we need to be sure of is that the Circuit will be ready. And, so what we're looking for here is that the asphalt, for example, is all done and it's all to good quality. The kerbs are all finished, the verges are all virtually finished, guard rails and fences are 98% done. You know, I'm 100% confident that everything will be absolutely fine.

"So, it passed the final inspection?"

"Absolutely."

"With your racing background, how do you think this track will race?"

Very well, indeed. We've got three, if not four, corners which are, very likely to see overtaking. They've been designed...if you look at Turn 1...so that they're extremely wide and the apex is very short. It's a very sort of modern approach to slow corners, where we hope overtaking will take place. So, I'm very confident it will work well.

"What was your impression of Turn 1?"

Awesome...is the only word I can find to describe it. And I think drivers and teams alike, coming here for the first time, will say the same thing.

"Will this be a single or double DRS Zone circuit?"

Single. 

"...and wear rate on tyres? ...kinda tough on tyres, kinda light?"

Very hard to know until we get to know what the asphalt is like. It's impossible to say at this point. But I can say certainly there will only be one DRS Zone.

"Do you know where that DRS Zone will be?"

Between Turns 11 and 12.

It was great to hear Mr. Whiting share his enthusiasm and confidence for Circuit of The Americas!

Race Review: Singapore Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel of Germany and Red Bull Racing celebrates on the podium after winning the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix at the Marina Bay Street Circuit on September 23, 2012 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Another race, another shake up on the championship leaderboard. However, as unpredictable as the races have been, a pattern is emerging - Alonso on podium. Alonso may not win the number one spot, but he somehow always manages to get on to the podium.

How did it go down at the Singapore GP? It started with qualifying: Hamilton, after a perfect flying lap, landed the pole position. Trailing behind Hamilton in qualifying was Maldonado the Dangerous, then Vettel. Notice that Alonso is not even top 3 in Qualifying; he was P5.

With Maldonado's record, I was expecting a good battle at the front part of the grid at the start of the race. Hamilton defended his pole from Maldonado and got a clean getaway, while Vettel's slick maneuver got him ahead of Maldonado, and then Button also took a run on Maldonado and passed the Williams driver to take the 3rd position. It is as if a different Maldonado was in the Williams car altogether; where is his usual aggressive drive?

The Marina Bay Street circuit is notoriously difficult track to overtake - a car needs to be a few seconds ahead to overtake, which means tyres and pit stop strategy were paramount in giving a driver the advantage to get ahead. With 61 laps in the race, the most sensible way to manage is a two-stop strategy, which most cars opted for. In terms of tyres, the soft was more durable than the supersoft so most teams were trying to get the drivers to squeeze as much drive as possible from the soft tyres.

Hamilton's pit stop at lap 13 was incredibly fast at 2.9 sec, paired with his quick pace throughout the laps, he looked unbeatable in winning the race. However, it was not his day. In an unlikely turn of events, Hamilton's McLaren had a gearbox failure at lap 23, leaving him with a car but no drive. I would have thrown a hissy fit, but Hamilton handled it with unusual calmness, perhaps he was thinking this is a sign for him to leave McLaren and move to Mercedes.

Shortly after Hamilton's gutting moment, Maldonado's car also suffered an untimely end at lap 35. It's most unfortunate to see two cars that were on front rows on the grid that would likely battle out to the bitter end both retire early.

As most anticipated, the safety car made not one, but two, appearances at the Singapore GP. The safety car came out at Lap 34 when Karthikeyan crashed out, and at Lap 40 when Schumacher crashed into Vergne. The safety car rounds took quite a while, such that the race timed out and concluded at the 2-hour mark rather than completion of 61 laps.

Without a truly heated battle up at the front with Hamilton and Maldonado out, we end the race with Vettel, Button, and Alonso moving into podium for top 3. Alonso still leads the championship with Vettel now trailing in 2nd and Raikkonen in 3rd place. Who did you think will have the best drive at the Japanese GP on October 7th?

Two-Wheel Update

World Superbike at Miller Motorsports Park

Two important pieces of information were released over the weekend concerning two-wheeled racing.  First, World Superbike (SBK) is moving to Laguna Seca in 2013, and second, MotoGP's 2013 calendar was released with two unconfirmed races in April, sans Austin.

// Superbike

Since visiting Miller Motorsports Park in May of this year, the idea of SBK coming to Circuit of The Americas has been in the back of my mind. Speaking with several SBK officials that weekend, the option to move to Austin was well received but no one would confirm whether talks were underway. SBK seemed happy with their stint at Miller but it was clear the new facility couldn't overcome the lackluster crowds and minimal exposure associated with the event.

In line with the overall sentiment from these discussions, this past Friday a new three year contract to host the United States round of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca was announced. Laguna Seca has replaced Miller Motorsports Park starting next year, opting to return to the Californian track where MotoGP also runs.

// MotoGP

Since MotoGP was put in limbo earlier this year, a serious void was created by the lack of a two-wheeled series at COTA. Frustrating many season ticket holders who expected MotoGP to be a foundation of the facility's program, the issues between Tavo Hellmund and Circuit of The Americas bled over to the MotoGP side of things, surprising many who hoped the series would be free of the F1 drama.

Waiting patiently for things to be resolved, complications were revealed when former MotoGP Champion Kevin Schwantz announced a lawsuit against COTA, claiming they went around him to secure an alternate deal with MotoGP owner Dorna and push him out.  While this issue remains to be resolved, motorcycle governing body FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme) released a provisional calendar with two races in April yet to be confirmed. 

Two weeks following the season opener in Qatar, back-to-back races on the 14th and 21st of April are unconfirmed and the season expands from 18 races in 2012 to 19 races for 2013. The fourth event on the calendar is Spain, and with only Portugal, Spain's close neighbor, missing from the 2012 calendar, it's very possible what has yet to be confirmed is how the logistics between Austin and Portugal will take place in just one week between the two events.

Given the emergence of Schwantz's case against COTA, one could argue that there's little reason to pursue legal action unless a deal between Dorna and COTA is underway. The silver-lining is that we may soon have the top two-wheeled series here in Austin, but we'll continue to wait until official word is out later this year.

Lotus F1 Team Builds "Mega-Watt" Project In Luxembourg

With the support of Lotus F1, team partner Wallenborn and Jerome D’Ambrosio personal sponsor Soleco have agreed on a deal that will construct a megawatt of solar power at the Wallenborn campus in Luxembourg.  The solar array, which is to be installed and managed by Dutch-based Soleco, will be the first of its size in the country and the largest undertaking by Soleco since its inception.  This partnership is a prime example of the networking and business opportunities that can be afforded to such companies who are involved in F1.  The deal was even struck at the Belgian Grand Prix during the first weekend of September.

According to Wallenborn CEO Franz Wallenborn, the entire array “will be installed on the roofs of [their] high security logistics warehouse.”  To put into perspective how much power 1 megawatt really is, Wallenborn’s net electricity usage could actually be negative during months of maximum solar intensity (depending on the size and power demands of the facilities).  Or put another way, Wallenborn could potentially “sell” unused electric power back to the utility company during times solar generation exceeds demand - resulting in huge savings in operating costs for the company.

As a power engineer by day, it excites me that industry and private citizens alike are taking action to offset their electric power usage.  I believe a diverse mix of green energy solutions – not just solar – is the best overall solution to a future of sustainable energy consumption.  Kind of like how KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) onboard today’s F1 cars supplement the gasoline-powered engines by providing an extra 80 HP boost.  With Lotus F1’s support of the Wallenborn solar project, perhaps we will see other renewable and sustainable solutions to make F1 engines even more efficient?