Texas GP: COTA race 19 lassos up. Mercedes commits, F1 signs with new TV viewing deal with (?), Sprint Race start CHAOS! Max ponies up on a double-down! COTA make a point with the National Anthem.

Welcome back Zoomies! After a race-free weekend we just had, we are back on the circuit for COTA which stands for Circuit of the Americas in Texas. This race got the COTA tag, as it was the first F1 race in the USA.

We did get some kinda big news during the break: Mercedes Principal Toto Wolff announced that Mercedes Racing has FINALLY committed to its current drivers, Georgie Russell and rookie Kimi Antonelli! I know a couple of teams had their eye on Georgie, especially due to the season he is having so far! The other big news that broke this racing weekend is that F1 has decided to sign with AppleTV for United States broadcasting rights in a five year deal worth 140 million, starting next season; ESPN wasn't going to beat that! The downside for us North America fans is that now that if us American viewers want to watc Formula One racing for the next five years, we have to SUBSCRIBE to Apple TV. streaming platform- this really degrades my tyres immensely! Lastly, F1 has extended the Texas GP contract till 2034!!

Your Driver/Team line-up: Switch Lawson and Tsunoda, and Colapinto replaced Doohan at Alpine a while ago!

I've been so eager to feature this Driver of the Weekend, but things did not work out till now: Haas driver Esteban Ocon. Ever since "Estie" left Alpine and the mess that is what that that team is, and joined Haas, Estie's mood is SO much lighter- he really seems happy ( i know he wishes he was doing better, driving-wise), but he gets the respect he was not getting at Alpine. Oh, and his "radio engineer", is the first woman in F1 to hold that position! Oh, and his team , Haas racing is based here in US of A, so that counts, right?

Photoshoots and driving your own Motortboat off the coast of Greece! Good times, Estie!

It's a Sprint Weekend, so points (8 to 1) for the top eight finishers), and only one 60 minute practice, so lets lasso up the horsepower of these cars and get er on!

P1: it's hot in Austin! 84 degrees, 55% humidity, white fluffy clouds overlook this circuit, which does have my favorite elevation, 30.9 meters that the drivers will encounter right off the bat after lights out, and THEN navigating off that into a wide Turn One. Halfway thru, Williams Carlos Sainz car starts smoking and the team has him box, as there is a problem with the gear box, and Carlos only practice is done for the day. No further incidents, so its off to Sprinting we go! SQ1: 12 minutes. 89 degrees, 35% humidity, track temperature is 111 degrees! No incidents other than 3 drivers did not get out of the pit lane on time to beat the checkered flag! your Sprint Race back row are: Bearman/Ocon- Haas, Colapinto-Alpine, Bortoleto-Sauber, and not enough time, Tsunoda- Red Bull!

SQ2: 10 minutes. Liam Lawson of Sugar-Free RB, goes over the white line, and his time is deleted. your next bottom five are: Lawson and Hadjar- Sugar-Free RB, Stroll- Aston-Martin, Gasly- Alpine, and Antonelli- Mercedes.

SQ3: 8 minutes. Move from the Medium tyres to the Soft tyres for this Quali. Note: first time this season that Daddy Nico Hulkenberg has made it to a Q3! No incidents, so your top ten are: Max Verstappen on pole, Lando Norris-2nd, Oscar Piastri-3rd, Nico-4th (!!), Georgie-5th, Fernando Alonzo-6th, Carlos- 7th, Lewis Hamiton-8th, Alex Albon-9th, and birthday boy Charles LeClerc-10th. My quick note on Sprint Quali: lots of skill and strategy deployed during this SQ3!

That Estie Bestie Smile!

Texas Sprint Race: 19 laps. Hot, muggy weather, with winds whipping around. All on Medium tyres. Without further ado, it's SPRINT LIGHTS OUT , and taking the hill, and Turn One, CARNAGE breaks out, as Nico's car clips Oscar's whose car spins around and knocks his teammate Lando's car off-track, with a Lando tyre merrily rolling down the track, trying to find the best BBQ pop-up!! Yuki has a piece of car under his, and someone's car is shedding parts on track like a Shetland pony! Yellow Flag and , followed by Safety Car! Both McLaren cars are OUT (only good news for TeamPapaya is minimal damage to their cars for GP Quali later in the day!). Also learned Alonso also is out with a puncture from amongst that demolition derby. Also lots of debris on the track as Lewis points out after Turn 4!

Safety Car leaves on Lap 6, and it's Max and Georgie in front, Carlos in 3rd and the 2 Ferrari's of Lewis and Charles in the top five. Lewis overtakes his teammate Charles on Lap 9 to slide into 4th! Lap 15 sees a nice battle for the last point in 8th, as Ollie and Kimi are in a good scrap for that position! Lap 17 sees Safety Car out again as Lance Stroll spears Esteban's car on Turn One! Both drivers done, and are okay. Race ends on Safety Car, so it's Max, Georgie and Carlos on the Sprint podium, Lewis and Charles Ferrari, Alex Albon, 6th, Yuki (from 18th plce!!) 7th, and Kimi gets the last point in 8th. Understatement to say a bad start of the day for Team McLaren as we head into Grand Prix Qualifying later in the day!

Q1: 18 minutes. 91 degrees, 111 track temperature! We get our first RED FLAG as Sugar-Free RB's Isack Hadjar rear wheels decide they want to do their own thing, and Isack slides his car into the soft barrier on Turn 6. 15 minutes later, Q1 presumes. No further incidents, so bottom 5 are , Hadjar-Sugar-Free RB, Stroll-Aston-Martin, Ocon-Haas, Bortoleto- Sauber, and Colapinto- Alpine. Scratch that as Alex Albon's Williams car had his lap time deleted, so swap Albon and Colapinto.

Q2: 15 minutes. It's gotten very windy at the track at some turns, so noted it is. No incidents, next bottom 5 are: Gasly and Colapinto-Alpine,Tsunoda- Red Bull, Hulkenberg- Sauber, Lawson-Sugar-Free RB.

Q3: 12 minutes. No incidents, so your top 10 for the GP on Sunday are: Max on pole, Lando-2nd, Charles-3rd, Georgie-4th, Lewis-5th, Oscar-6th, Kimi-7th, Ollie- 8th, Carlos-9th, and Fernando-10th.

Almost forgot to post a pic of Estie in his drivers kit/uniform/gear!

Texas GP: 56 laps, 20 turns. Team radios are concerned about the winds from turn 10 to 19. Sold out crowd, and with that, its LIGHTS OUT, It's a clean break up the hill and down into turns 1 and 2, Charles, who Ferrari has decided to star the race on Soft tyres, overtakes Lando for 2nd, while Georgie and his Mercedes drop back 2 spots, so its Max, Charles, Lando, Lewis, and Oscar in the top 5 to start this race!

Lap 7 sees the Virtual Safety Car come out as Carlos and Kimi collide side by side and both slide off into the gravel. Kimi's Mercedes car is able to race on, but Carlos Williams car is done for the day! (DNF), VSC ending on lap 9, and full racing starts again. Charles and Lando are having a go at it for 2nd place, with some exciting racing with Charles defending the position for 21 laps before Lando overtakes Charles for 2nd place! Of note: Lando has been hit withthe black and white flag for exceeding track limits 3 times (meaning three times all four wheels were over the white lines on each side of the track), if Lando gets a 4th track limits violation, thats a five second penalty. Max out ahead by 10 seconds, btw.

Lap 23 sees Charles pit and switch to new Medium tyres, and comes out 9th. Just about all drivers have pitted tween laps 30-33 for Soft tyres, recall that Charles switched to Mediums, and Max was so so far ahead (25 seconds!) that he was able to pit and come out ahead by 5 seconds!

Lap 36 there has been a tussle for 7th place between Yuki and Ollie, Ollie takes a lunge, Yuki brakes, and Ollie does a scary pirouette into the dirt, but is able to race on, but those tyres are dirty! Lap 40, Lando radios that his Soft tyres are basically gone. On Lap 51 though, the great tussle tween Charles and Lando sees Lando overtake Charles for 2nd place! Max ahead by almost 8 seconds.

And Max does a double as he wins the Texas GP to go with his Sprint win! Lando places 2nd, and Charles rounds out the podium in 3rd. Lewis in 4th, Oscar in 5th, Georgie in 6th, Yuki in 7th, Nico in 8th, Ollie in 9th, and Fernando rounds out the points in 10th!

Dang- Somebody could lose an eye with that horned trophy!

Notes:

Fans vote Charles Driver of the Day. Max has now won seven races in the USA, by far the most of any driver.

Look out Papaya boys, cuz if you look out into your jeep mirrors, the T-Rex on track known as Max is closer than he appears in the race for the Drivers cup! Ferrari had a good weekend, McLaren a bit rough! I have to give Colapinto credit for snapping back at Alpine team radio telling him to give up position near the end of the race for 17th place...he defied that order and passed his teammate. Oh Alpine, ya just don't know when to fold em.

A lot of positive buzz was going around after this young LATINO boy sang a beautiful rendition of the USA National Anthem in TEXAS- so thought I would share with you!

Off to Mexico City for Race 20!