Qualifying Concludes at Circuit of The Americas

Sebastian Vettel takes pole position at the 2012 USGP

// Qualifying Concludes at Circuit of The Americas

A great qualifying session today at Circuit of The Americas in Austin.  Hamilton and Vettel fought to the end as the Red Bull car edged out the McLaren with just over one tenth of a second between the two.

A strong penultimate qualifying lap from Vettel appeared to be enough to secure him the position. Shortly after Vettel’s fast lap, Hamilton completed his with just seconds to go in the final session.  Managing only P3, Hamilton stayed out for another attempt to take pole position.

Ready, Set, and Go! Austin Prepares for F1 and Austin Fan Fest Festivities

Austin is no stranger to live music. This is the crowd at the Honda Stage at Austin City Limits Music Festival in 2010. Image by Dave Mead.

// AGP is excited to expand our Austin F1 weekend coverage with the anouncement of our "AGP Street Team." The team consists of six Austinites who will explore the many fan activities in downtown Austin at Austin Fan Fest, a giant street festival organized by Circuit of The Americas and sponsored by Mobil 1. In this primer, Nicholle Jaramillo and Mike Boone get you up to speed on the event and help you plan for one giant party. You can read more about the AGP Street Team members here.

The rubber meets the road this weekend in Austin, Texas as 100,000 visitors are projected to attend the city’s inaugural Formula One race. Each year fans travel to Grand Prix events in major cities across the globe. For the first time in history, Austin will be in direct competition with those famous races held in Monaco, Abu Dhabi, and 17 other international destinations. 

Behind the Scenes at Marussia

A Marussia F1 steering wheel

// Behind the Scenes at Marussia

Thursday morning we were invited to for a tour of the Marussia garage, and without hesitation we responded yes, looking forward to seeing the first behind the scenes look at the grand prix team.

Our guide for the morning was Mark Scudamore, a Marussia team member who was enthusiastic about showing us the inner workings of the team. We spoke first outside the garage, discussing the challenges of moving the team to Austin from Abu Dhabi, and the rapid learning curve of the new facility.

Shooting the USGP - Thursday

Fernando Alonso at the 2012 USGP in Austin

Some kids grow up wanting to be astronauts, pilots, doctors, firemen. When I was old enough to start caring about F1, I just knew I had to be involved with it. Somehow, someway. Then photography fell into my lap and I knew that was it. 

So bright and early this morning, with a big smile on my face, I held up my F1 media credential to the infamous F1 turn style computer and listened to it chime "ding don ding." And for the first time in my career, I walked into paddock in Austin for a Formula One race. Kind of hard to put those emotions into words. 

Flying Into Austin

The following is from AGP Guest Contributor Mike Boone. Be sure to follow Mike on Twitter this weekend as he reports from Circuit of The Americas and the Austin Fan Fest.

I am an Austinite, but I returned home via plane on Thursday before the grandest event Austin has ever seen. The Formula 1 race starts today but yesterday I was on a plane with about 100 New Yorkers and from what I could tell most of them were coming to Austin for the same reason: this weekend's Inaugural Formula 1 United States Grand Prix. One might think the busy, non-southern culture that is assumed to consume the Northeast would translate to the people from there as they travel. Not so.  Everyone I have spoke to was thrilled about the race and they didn't appear to make any effort to contain their enthusiasm. 

Thursday at the USGP

The Paddock is growing as drivers, team personnel, and media settle in at the new Grand Prix facility.