IT’S now across to the Americas as far as Formula 1 grand prix racing is concerned.
First of all is the United States Grand Prix in Texas this Sunday, October 25, to be followed just a week later by the Mexican Grand Prix in Mexico City on November 1, and then, two weeks later, it’s down to South America for the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo on November 15.
News off the Internet is that Renault will have an upgraded engine available for use at this weekend’s US grand prix, which at least one Red Bull driver is very likely to use.
Whether this will be Daniel Ricciardo or Daniil Kvyat remains to be seen, but I expect the drivers to have a major choice in the situation. The only negative is that the new engine may not be reliable.
Other news is that Bernie Ecclestone believes that it is time for a complete re-think of Formula 1 and he wants input from fans as to its future.
Ecclestone says and I quote, “We mustn’t forget we’re in the entertainment business, so we ought to have rules that the public want. We should be asking the public ‘What do you not like about Formula 1 today and what did you like about Formula 1 before?’”
On the technical front there is soon going to be a change to the exhaust systems of the cars which will make them sound a lot more like a real Formula 1 engine should.
This weekend’s race should be more interesting than usual at the medium speed circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
Outright power will not be as important as good torque and low-down power delivery should equalise quite a lot of the cars’ performances.
Obviously, the men to beat should still be Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in their Silver Arrows, with the Ferrari duo of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen in close attendance with their prancing horses.
The Williams pair of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa may spring a surprise while Red Bull could be the joker in the pack, with at least one and maybe even two of the Renault engines.
It sounds and feels very exciting and augurs well for the American series. It will be interesting to see how much progress has been made since last year when Nico Rosberg was in pole position in 1:36.067 secs.
I think we are in for a storming race around the 5.5km, 20-corner track for 56 laps.
Who are the stars that are going to wear the stripes in USA? The race is scheduled to take place at 9pm SA time on Sunday.
