5 From Austin
- Richard Baxter
- Nov 4, 2019
- 3 min read
1 – The Big 6 For Hamilton.
Lewis Hamilton is confirmed as Six time World Champion, what an incredible feat.
I was lucky enough to be alive to see Schumacher win his Seven World Championships, and to be honest I never thought it would be matched, let alone beaten. But with how Hamilton is currently driving and the enthusiasm he has for Formula 1, we could yet see more history made as he has the chance to beat it.
There often seems to be a lot of negativity around Lewis Hamilton, but we should all take pride in being able to witness this. For what we are seeing doesn’t happen often.
2 – More Than 1 Stop!
About time! I have said previously in blogs and on the NRF1 Podcast that I find it infuriating that teams won’t try a 2 stop Strategy. But in Austin, several teams did commit to it. Mainly by accident, but Bottas especially made a 2 stop strategy work. The pace on new tyres is so significant it can cancel out the time lost during a pit stop. Let’s hope going forward more teams will commit to more than 1 pitstop and we can actually get some racing.
3 – Track Limits Again.
This weekend the FIA clamped down on track limits at the Circuit of the Americas. With the run off areas available, a lot of cars run wide in an attempt to gain time. The FIA deleted any times where a driver was deemed to have run too wide at certain corners on the track. It was good to see clear and precise rules for the drivers to follow. However it was not enforced at every corner, some you could run wide others you couldn’t – but there was no explanation why. It would be better if the FIA could set clear parameters for every corner so everyone knows the limits. It gets confusing for the fans to know why a lap time has been deleted, I’m sure it is for the drivers also. It’s a start though, so hopefully moving forward the FIA can make it clear at every circuit on the claendar.
4 – Can Bottas Bounce Back?
Bottas did well to win the race in Austin; he drove magnificently in qualifying and the race. After the race it seemed like he had quite mixed emotions. He was happy he won, yet there was this underlying disappointment that he didn’t challenge more for the World Championship. He said he failed his personal target for this year. Moving on to next season it will be interesting to see if he can bounce back from this disappointment. He can take heart in the fact he has beaten Hamilton in several races this year. He is going to need everything he has in his locker if he is to compete for a World Championship. Good luck to him – I would like to see Bottas win a World Championship, but there’s a lot who I’d like to see win who haven’t.
5 – It’s Not Over Yet.
The US Grand Prix confirmed Lewis Hamilton as the World Champion, and Mercedes have already claimed the constructors championship. It seemed like a nice conclusion to the season. But it’s not over yet.
Up next we have one of the best circuits existing at Interlagos, Brazil. It always provides an element of unpredictability.
Other teams and drivers are still battling for their place in the constructors and drivers championships, so there is still a lot of hard racing to be done.
Let’s hope the last couple of races are absolute blinders – the season hasn’t ended and there’s still more for us to enjoy.
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