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The Red Bull Racing F1 drivers
entertained the crowd as best they could: Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat
made a particularly special effort during Saturday's Wash-out at Circuit Of The
Americas! (Source: f1fanatic.co.uk)
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After two straight days of heavy rain, the weather
finally cooperated for the Formula 1 Circuses biggest show with plenty 'O
action, even a few passes for the lead...
Sunday, Oct 25
With
qualifying having been cancelled the day prior, Qualie' got moved to Sunday
morning - which Nelie graciously drove us to and dropped us off at the track to
stand in the RAIN some more!
And
thanks to Carlos Sainz Jr. for which I discerned as Claudio and Mwah were
seated in a packed shuttle van making its way to the circuit's various corners.
From somebody's Smartfone broadcast behind us, we basically only missed the
first 4mins of Q1 when the Toro Rosso driver clouted the wall causing a Red
Flag stoppage period.
As the funniest part of the whole weekend was
standing there in the rain and telling Claudio the cars sounded like they were
off to the far right of me, that's because they were. As you're looking the
wrong way Tomaso!
Most
impressively though was Daniel Ricky' Ricciardo's pace in Q1 as the Aussie
ended the session quickest ahead of the mighty Silver Arrows, albeit
everybody's lap times were nearly 20-seconds adrift due to the constant precipitation.
It was
ok standing in the rain, now adorned in my vintage "Fly Yellow"
raingear last worn at Portland International Raceway during thy Champ Car
Dazes! Having sagely taken said ancient rain gear with me at the last moment -
wearing one final time before retiring them, since the waistband NO longer
worked, etc. As Claudio said when I told him to hold up when leaving from
Qualie: Your Pants are Falling Down; Hya!
As we
stood at Turn-11 again thru Q2 while the rain got harder and the wind began
Ah-blowing! As guess what? They cancelled the final portion 'O qualifying,
i.e.; Q3, the Top-10 Shootout for Pole!
Thus, the
remaining 15-competitors were locked into their Q2 finishing order with Nico
Rosberg on top for his (then) third consecutive Pole, followed by Lewis
Hamilton and then the two B-I-G' BULLZ, nee Red Bulls with Ricciardo leading
team-mate DK, nee Rooskie' Daniil
Kvyat, with the Milton Keynes Boyz starting ahead of both Scuderia
Ferrari's, Force India, Team Willy' and thy rest 'O grid.
Then
struggling back towards the Drop-off Parking lot area whilst holding up my
pants! Nelie picked up the Drowned Rats & took us home to dry off, change
socks, etc. Eat lunch and then turn back ground and attend the race which took
place in the DRY; Hurrah!
As we
set out casually late for the race, as our first parking lot was closed like
many due to being flooded. For which I thought it was well done having somebody
on duty to provide us with a flyer giving directions to our new assigned
parking lot. Unfortunately, after driving past the High School replete with an
F4U Phantom Jet denoting the school's
entrance - we discovered our secondary parking lot was full. As Y'all need to
go to the High School; CRIKEYS!
There
we, along with many other stragglers boarded one of the numerous School Bus Shuttles,
as I'd forgotten how cozy its riding in seats designed for K-12 Students with
my knees firmly stuffed into the seatback and NO room to move my arms with
Claudio pinning me in!
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| The intrepid Tomaso & Claudio prepare to tackle the elements Sunday morning at COTA! (The Tomaso Collection) |
Naturally
we were late to the race, sadly missing the start and first 25mins approx
before finally arriving at our favourite Turn-11 vantage point. Standing at the
back of the Queue, I yelled voraciously my approval of Ricciardo's pass of
Hamilton for the lead, albeit I feared it wouldn't last after inquiring if the
track was forming a dry line?
Unfortunately
it was; Oh Crap! As there goes the race as far as I was concerned. As its truly
a pity these days that there's only two true competitors with the Silver Arrows
(Mercedes) being virtually unbeatable. Whilst la Scuderia's (Ferrari) Sebastian
Vettel seems the only driver able to give them any competition.
Yet if
I remember right, Vettel uncharacteristically spun-off at the T11-12 complex
directly in front of us, or was that in Qualie? As the German raced his way onto the podium from a 13th place
start after Ferrari elected to switch Power Units to their Monza-spec PU which
made sense since Austin has longish straights and Mexico was certainly a power circuit
with its monstrous three-quarter mile front straight! As this change incurred
both Ferrari drivers 10-place Grid slot penalties...
Thy
undisputed ROY (Rookie Of the Year) Max "Dutchboy" Verstappen came
home an excellent P4, tying his best finish to date while Sergio Perez was a
fine fifth en route to his home race the
following week.
While American F1 rookie Alexander Rossi acquitted
himself quite well at home, even flirting with a possible point scoring finish!
Yet it wasn't to be with the likes of double world champion Fredrico Suave, nee
Fernando Alonso soldiering home 11th. Although not too sure how
"Suave" Fernando is these Days, whilst Rossi finished P12...
And
won't even get started on the MUD, other than it was everywhere! With Claudio
being kind enough to scoop my entirely caked sneakers globules off for future
Mud-bogging adventures whilst thoust 'Ol banana yellow rain pants kept my jeans
protected while I got mud everywhere else - as we first slithered our way onto
the waterlogged grass to watch the race from lawn chairs - as the MUD
threatened to suck off my shoes if I didn't keep moving!
After
hauling ourselves out of the sodden grass carpeting; Hooah! We traipsed about COTA
to attend the Post-race concert performed by Elton John, who played for two
solid hours and was amazing! Before getting home at 9:30PM for a 14+ hour day;
CRIKEYS MATES!
SIR ELTON ROCKS!
Sir
Elton John did the Post-race Podium Winners interview and naturally was
delighted with his fellow Brit Hamilton's victory, as we listened to this
before beginning our Madcap adventure of getting to the concert, as the race
ended some seven minutes before 4PM with Elton slated to perform from 6-8PM, it
should be a breeze getting there in under two hours, right?
AFTERMATH...
Naturally,
Monday was absolutely dry with bright sun and warm A-L-L day, as Claudio and
Mwah just Chilled with me finishing the most enjoyable book Magnificent
Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon by Buzz Aldrin, which naturally
made me appreciate Elton John's rocketman song Sunday evening...
Returning
home Tuesday, I was flying home on United Airlines and quite happy that they'd
been willing to change my flight home after having changed it originally after
booking to include a nearly five hour layover in San Francisco; YIKES! Thus I
was overly pleased to have had it changed, returning home via Houston again and
arrive home 4hrs earlier than anticipated!
Ended
up sitting next to a pair of United employees, with a friendly pilot taking my
window seat and a Customer Services Supervisor named Maggie taking the middle
seat, allowing me the more convenient aisle seat instead.
They
were both very friendly and let me chat their ears off which made our 4hr 11min
flight much shorter. As I-T became the running joke for the majority of the flight
after the pilot told us when the Captain turns on the fasten seat belts sign
and the plane hits mild turbulence its because he needs to go to the bathroom;
Hya!
Arriving
at SeaTac Int'l Airport early evening to a balmy 57-degrees; YIKES! Where's my
jacket! And sitting on the Shuttle Express bench I thought, did somebody PEE
here? As a driver came by and called out Tomas Hur-hur-hum? NO! Wasn't doin'
his Payton Nationwide commercial impression. So I asked him twice if he'd
called my name? And led me to his van. I got inside, buckled the seatbelt as he
said I'll be right back. Then he asked me if I was going to Redmond; Huh? OOPS,
WRONG TOMASO!
Returning
to the benches, it still smells like pee! Uhm, actually smells like rotten
fish... As there was a couple standing across from me who'd been fishing somewheres'
- as I heard their driver muse 'bout spraying perfume on themselves next time,
as another passenger said excuse me, I need to ride in another van, I cannot
take the smell!
And
then it RAINED all day Wednesday, the first of three solid days, getting
absolutely SOAKED again Friday afternoon walking home from thy local grocery
store. As welcome to thoust rainy season; Sigh! As all I can say is I survived
Austin's Mudfest at COTA; Yeehaw!