Austin Qualifying (or not) - The story of the hurricane

What a joke...I am convinced the US GP is cursed....

— Ben Hunt (@benjhunt) October 24, 2015

It had a depressing familiarity. First the qualifying start was delayed by half an hour. Then another. Then another. Then another. Then another. Then (hallelujah!) that if the weather didn't break quali would be 0900 tomorrow instead. Then eventually, at about 1600 local time, some three hours after the qualifying action was due to start, they gave up indeed to reconvene tomorrow morning.

The Austin weekend has been characterised by rain
Photo: Octane Photography

Why always America, as The Sun's Ben Hunt lamented? That most scared of prizes for the sport? Ten years on from Michelin-gate. Also in the land of the Dallas farce; the Las Vegas car park; the Phoenix ghost town; Watkins Glen running out of money; Long Beach and Indy lost to the sport's financial hard ball?

As for this time, as Bob Dylan might have had it, this is the story of the hurricane. The outer edges of Hurricane Patricia hitting the Austin Grand Prix weekend yesterday and today. Bringing with it vast quantities of rain and often of the horizontal variety. The first practice session on Friday did happen, albeit in the wet. The second was canned, due to lightning in the area and strict rules in America about requiring people (such as marshals) to work in such conditions.

Further thoughts on the Indian Grand Prix

White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)
In most sports lines cannot be argued with. In football, if the ball crosses the line that marks the edge of the pitch then it's out, it's a throw in to the other team and there's no argument. Same in tennis, if the ball bounces over the line then it's out - end of story. So it is in rugby, so in fact it is in pretty much any sport you could mention: the line is sacrosanct.

And from a look at the F1 regulations there is very little to lead you to think that things are any different herein. Here, verbatim, is FIA Sporting Regulations Article 20.2: 'Drivers must use the track at all times. For the avoidance of doubt the white lines defining the track edges are considered to be part of the track but the kerbs are not. A driver will be judged to have left the track if no part of the car remains in contact with the track. Should a car leave the track the driver may rejoin, however, this may only be done when it is safe to do so and without gaining any advantage. A driver may not deliberately leave the track without justifiable reason.'

Race Director Charlie Whiting -
doesn't come out of this well
Credit: Morio / CC

Not much to argue with there surely? But, as we're growing used to, F1 manages somehow to be different to other sports; as we're also growing used to, in this game things aren't always what they seem - as anyone who watched Saturday's qualifying session at the Buddh International Circuit could tell you. It turns out the apparently innocuous words 'without gaining an advantage' are in fact a gaping get-out.

In the Indian qualifying session the white lines around the Buddh track barely were heeded by any driver, only seeming to have worth in offering the loosest guide of the direction that the cars should be going in. At several corners every car ran completely - with all four wheels - wide of the lines on the outside; some corners were similarly cut routinely. It looked terrible, and watching on I imagined someone viewing F1 for the first time in this session - they'd have been forgiven for wondering what on earth was going on.

But apparently it was all above board; there was no retribution for any driver. The FIA's Race Director Charlie Whiting, the sport's equivalent of the police officer, in the drivers' briefing on Friday night deemed that just about anything would go in qualifying. And when interviewed on television he shed a bit more light: upon being shown footage of drivers putting all four wheels off the track in previous years at this track he declared that in his view such lines simply could not result in an advantage, and that the design of the kerbs and AstroTurf strips outside of the track specifically ensure that this is so.

Breaking up is never easy

This weekend the F1 circus has a new venue, at the Korean International Circuit in Yeongam. But it turns out that the new facility for the inaugural Korean Grand Prix may if anything be too new. Anticipation of the race had for some months focussed prominently on whether there would be a race at all, with preparation of the track and facilities behind schedule.

Bernie admitted in the Guardian yesterday that until a few weeks ago cancellation of the event was a real possibility: 'Last month I didn’t think it would be finished. And it would have been cancelled then – for sure'.

However, things came together (Bernie's public 'hurry up' of Korea's preparations seemed to concentrate minds) and FIA race director Charlie Whiting approved the track 10 days before the first practice session is scheduled to start. This somewhat stretching the FIA's usual 90 day deadline for such an approval.

This hasn't done a great deal to calm nerves in certain quarters, particularly given that the final layer of track tarmac was laid on 9 October, but 13 days before F1 rubber hits the road. Some therefore doubt the extent to which the tarmac will have 'cured', and will therefore hold up to the rigours that 24 F1 cars (and support events) will impose upon it. Nico Rosberg and Nick Heidfeld among others have aired their concerns publically, such as that the track may break up, as well as that oils used in the construction of the track may not have dissipated, both of which have the potential to make the surface treacherous.