"Cato Batista" 02/11/2014 6:04:00 ID #688


Ladies and Gentlemen,

Ninth pole for Nico, he was flying when it mattered the most, he was even quicker than VET’s pole from last year. Lewis was on top in every session until brake temperature problems left him 3 tenths behind his teammate in Q2 & Q3, up that time he had been the fastest driver around COTA in every session. Williams has the second row with BOT 3 clear tenths ahead of MAS. RIC was very strong in the demanding sector 1 to compensate for his lack of top speed to finish almost 4 tenths ahead of ALO, the Spaniard beating the McLarens by a few hundredths. RAI was ninth and closing the shootout was the remarkable SUT in the Sauber.

CFA points were scarce in QF today, only Uwe deserved a 4-point plenum hitting the top 3 (last place in the standings a good motivator, I’m sure) With most of us going for HAM ahead of ROS only those reversing the order save 2 points: Tim, Curro, Alberto and our 3 rookies Lorenzo, Hector and Iain. As many as 15 of us didn’t score anything. Ouch.

The final grid for tomorrow:
ROS HAM BOT MAS RIC ALO MAG RAI SUT MAL
There are 3 drivers serving penalties - BUT, 5 places for gearbox change, starts 12; KVY 5 places for replacing power unit components, starts 17; VET starting from the pilane (18) for utilizing his 6th engine of the season.

I must say the Circuit of the Americas impressed me, both the track and the facility itself. I think it will need a few years to create the atmosphere of other venues, the crowd is definitely not as enthusiastic as other places in the world. According to those who had been in the 2 previous events the attendance is noticeably decreasing, and it’s said that by next year when Mexico will have its own GP this place will be nearly empty! It’s clear to see that mexicans come here in droves to cheer their two countrymen.
Our viewing point from from the grandstand in Turn 5 was simply awesome, even better as were able to move around the half empty grandstand to watch the whole sequence from corner 3 to 7. The Mercedes are on rails, in a different league altogether. The Ferraris are a handful, you wonder if they were not driven by ALO & RAI they would probably qualify in like 12th & 14th. (ALO conceded he is losing at least 2 tenths per lap with the old engine he is using as he tries to make it to Abu Dhabi without taking a penalty for installing a 6th unit). But nothing as scary the Lotus, snapping out of line with every input, an accident waiting to happen. It was incredible to find MAL making it all the way to 11th, an amazing display of bravado. Another eye catcher was rookie KVY, full of confidence dancing with the car at the very limit. The Williams have this reputation for being very slippery on straight line but actually the chassis is just as competent and BOT looks as polished as the best in the business, a Champion on the making. Another surprise (to me) were the McLarens, very unstable, the rear end darting out of shape with each directional change. I guess they were in Q3 thanks mainly to their Mercedes power. Special recognition deserves SUT for achieving 10th place, the first time a Sauber makes it top ten this season. That car definitely doesn’t belong there.

The expected strategy for the race will be 2 stops for the 56 laps. The compound of choice is the soft to be used in 2 of the 3 stints although is only about 1 second faster per lap. Tyre management will a factor since the primes are dropping grip after only a handful of laps, the key to gain track position in the early part of the race will be to make the used set of rubber they are starting with as long as possible, which means avoiding brake lock ups on full tanks, not easy. There will be passing opportunities coming mainly from the very demanding nature of the layout, any mistake anywhere easily opens the door for the chasing car going into the 4 hard-braking zones around here.

It’s a great track, let’s see if that translates into a great race tomorrow. Mercedes has said that since they had already won the Constructors’ Championship their drivers are now ‘free to race each other’...

And here we go again. Cato - HAM ROS BOT RIC MAS ALO

Good luck, enjoy!