Yahoo Sports Formula One: It's showtime for Lewis Hamilton as Texas hosts Grand Prix
Man, if my wife finds out she could have seen some F1, some Stevie Wonder and some Justin Timberlake for £133, I’m a dead man walking.
Heck, she’d pay £133 just to hear Timberlake say ‘Ladies, good morning’.
Welcome to the future of Formula 1.
It’s Austin and it’s showtime
Yes, Lewis Hamilton could clinch the title this weekend but, really, that’s not the most significant thing about this year’s US Grand Prix.
Though it’s not the first time big-name music acts have been brought in to bolster interest, the showbiz element is being ramped up in Austin as F1’s owners, Liberty Media, drag the sport kicking and screaming out of the Ecclestone era.
You might not like it but here’s how this weekend’s race stacks up against next season’s British Grand Prix (Silverstone surprises notwithstanding).
A weekend general admission ticket in Austin costs £133. The same bit of paper is £180 for Silverstone.
In Austin, you’ll get Stevie and Justin concerts as part of the deal. At Silverstone, you’ll probably get Eddie Jordan banging his biscuit tins again, with a Travis drive-by.
In Austin, you’ll get steaks the size of wheel rims, at Silverstone you’ll get bacon rolls the size of bacon rolls.
In Austin, you’ll get a cheesey driver-by-driver announcement on the starting grid. At Silverstone, you may get the same thing but we’ll all be hoping for more Red Arrows and a minor royal at that point.
In Austin, you’ll get some rain, probably overnight but possibly during the race. At Silverstone, you’ll get rain as well, but it will be cold rain because Britain can’t even do bad weather properly these days.
The Circuit of the Americas (Cota) is a perfectly good track, with some of the best bits of Silverstone incorporated.
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And it’s easier to get to than Silverstone from almost any city in Britain…
Maybe we should export the British Grand Prix.
OK, back to Lewis
The arithmetic’s pretty straightforward. If Hamilton wins this weekend, while Vettel finishes out of the top five, then we have a British Formula 1 champ to cheer again.
Or to boo – Hamilton’s brilliance is so often eclipsed by the way he divides opinion among fans.
As we know, Mercedes have had their struggles of late but they’ve still managed to bring home the big results.
Ferrari, for so long the great red hopes for a non-Merc championship, have fallen to pieces.
And Red Bull have kept popping up to mix things around on the podium and keep the bookies happy.
So, realistically, the championship isn’t likely to be decided this weekend.
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But, equally realistically, lots of things have happened in F1 of late that weren’t likely. It would be a foolish fan who decided to skip Sunday’s race…
Especially as there is likely to be rain, although the bulk of it may well fall overnight.
A wet race or a green, freshly-laundered track, will benefit Hamilton and the Red Bulls and increase the chances of Hamilton taking the title with three races to spare. Or it could even stick Max Verstappen back at the top of the podium.
Either way, don’t forget it’s a late start for viewers in Europe – get the beers in before last orders spoil your evening on Saturday (quali starts at 10pm BST, thanks to Cota messing timings around for that Timberlake thing) and then it’s an 8pm race start on Sunday for the Brit audience.
Don’t forget the other championship
It’s hardly a surprise but Mercedes should wrap up the Constructors’ Championship this weekend.
Actually, that is a surprise – who knew they weren’t already champs?
Turns out that Ferrari can stay in the constructors’ race, theoretically, if they score 17 points more than the Silver Arrows.
Anyone want to bet their house on that? Hello? Anybody?
It’s easy to forget just how strong Ferrari looked earlier in the season, even if the constructors’ championship always appeared to be too big an ask for the Maranello outfit – though they’ve traditionally been more focussed on winning the drivers’ championship anyway.
The thing is, mega-teams like Merc and Ferrari rely far less on F1’s prize money than the also-rans.
Which is why the battle to watch may well be in the midfield, where Williams, Toro Rosso, Haas and Renault are squabbling over 5th to 8th positions.
See, it’s not all over yet.
Hello, yet another F1 newbie
There will be another new face on the F1 grid at Cota. Well, new to F1 but not to the world of motorsports.
New Zealander Brendon Hartley will jump into a Toro Rosso – or be gently lowered in as, at 27, he’s a geriatric as 21st-century F1 debutantes go.
He is replacing Pierre Gasly, who’s off to battle for Japan’s Super Formula title.
With Toro Rosso’s other 2017 driver, Carlos Sainz, replacing Jolyon Palmer at Renault, that means Daniil Kvyat will once again grace F1 with his clattering presence.
Kvyat has been dropped more times than a plate at a Greek wedding but he’s been given one last chance to impress us with his torpedo-like abilities. Hartley will have him firmly in his sights.
As for Hartley, while no one is expecting him to set the track on fire (frankly, that’s more Kvyatt’s department) he is a hugely experienced racer, who left the Red Bull family as a junior driver way back in 2010.
Since then he has carved out a cracking career in sportscars, becoming World Endurance Champion for Porsche in 2015, alongside Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard, and he’s looking pretty handy for Porsche this season as well.
Mop-haired Hartley, who could be the result of a wonderful experiment involving Boris Johnston, Romain Grosjean and science-Muppet Beaker, is the First New Zealander to compete in the sport for 33 years. The last F1 Kiwi was Mike Thackwell who, despite his speed and talent, was involved with only five grands prix and finished none of them.
Come on, Mr Hartley, there’s Kiwi history to be made here…
