Yes, they are running it through a number of neighborhoods. Basically, the track runs in an area that starts and the Lincoln Tunnel entrance an runs north towards the Palisades hospital. It follows some residential streets along the water with condos between the proposed track and the Hudson River, loops around near the Lincoln Tunnel and heads north through more residential streets along the cliffs above the Hudson for about a mile. In all, the streets near the water are really a slow-moving highway and won't be difficult to insulate from the track, but it is the only access road those homes have out of their developments. The portion of the track that follows the cliffs above the Hudson does really run through a neighborhood though for about 3/4 of a mile.

 

How in the heck did they convince the locals to go for that? I can't imagine having an F1 race going outside my front door... I figured the race was going to be limited to the confines of Liberty State Park...

Heck I remember when we lived in DC the huge stink folks threw when they used to run the IndyCar race in the parking lot of RFK Stadium...

 

They had tried with Liberty State Park a few years back. It was approved...for a day. Then the mayor of Jersey City was so inundated with protests, that they decided against it.

 

Well with just over 5 days to the start of the 1st race of the 2013, it looks like there is more good news for the fate of the 2nd US race. The grand Prix in New Jersey appears to have gotten their house in order and has lined up the needed permits and can start re-paving soon. The odd thing...some of these roads were recently re-paved and will now need to be redone with no crown in the road.

http://en.espnf1.com/usracing/motors...ry/102555.html

 

That's good to hear - and hopefully by then NBCSports will have figured out how to offer remotely decent F1 coverage because so far I'm underwhelmed...

I guess the next question is that with the death of Hugo Chavez - will Pastor Maldonado have the funding to make it through the season, and if not how it will impact Williams...

 

The results for the second practice in Melbourne are in and here are your top 10:

1) S. Vettel / Red Bull / 1:25:908
2) M. Webber / Red Bull / 1:26:172
3) N. Rosberg / Mercedes / 1:26:322
4) K. Raikkonen / Lotus / 1:26:361
5) R. Grosjean / Lotus / 1:26:680
6) F. Alonso / Ferrari / 1:26:748
7) L. Hamilton / Mercedes / 1:26:772
8) Felipe Massa / Ferrari / 1:26:855
9) A. Sutil / Force India / 1:27:435
10) N. Hulkenberg / Sauber / 1:28:187


Red Bull looks very strong and Mercedes is showing signs of promise. So anybody want to step out on the proverbial limb and make a prognostication on who will be on the podium come race day?

 

Vettel
Alonso
Massa

 

Today's results make Hamilton look like a genius.

 

I only started following F1 after Valencia last year - but from what I read - didn't Merc look good at the start of the year but failed to keep pace as the year progressed?

In all honesty, I don't intend to draw any conclusions from the first race (let alone the first practice) of the season. It'd be like predicting the Superbowl based on the first game... Once we're three races in, then we should see who's actually got pace...

Or, if the Concord Agreement still isn't ratified, we won't see Marussia at all...

 

Yeah, that's why I said "Today's results"

You can read what I said, or what you'd like to comment on. Please read what I said...

 

I read exactly what you said, no need to get snotty.

It's still a practice, and doesn't reflect how things are going to be in Qualifying let alone the race....

 

 

+1

 

Did I miss something? Was there an announcement about whether or not NBCSports was going to cover the Qualifying when it resumes later today?

 

Lewis is a genius....

McLaren is in the dumper...

Long live Ross Brawn!!!

 

Well - NBCSports in my opinion had an underwelming pre show and after show. Basically no grid walk or interviews and very little footage of the drivers in Parc Ferme. Too many commercials as well in one 40 minute span I started to monitor - about 7 breaks!

I never really felt excited about the upcoming race watching Diffy, Hobbs, and Matchet. Somethings missing from the production stand point...

 

The one thing NBCSports did that I was impressed with was continuing to show the race during (most) of the commercial breaks. Beyond that though - BBC is airing Malaysia and I can't wait to watch their coverage instead. If the 5Live F1 podcast is any indication - Suzy Perry is going to be a terrific replacement for Jake Humphries.

 

No side by side coverage on my cable provider..

 

Wow! I didn't think that was a provider thing, thought for sure that it was something NBCSports made part of their broadcast feed. Were you watching in HD or Standard Def? Maybe it was only part of their HD broadcast?

 

Direct TV had the side by side coverage

 

I was unimpressed by NBC's coverage.

Pro's

Hobbs and Matchett in the booth along with Diffey (though I would have much preferred Bob Varsha but he is still under contract to Fox).

Sam Posey retained for his color commentary (always insightful and intelligent in the way that only Posey delivers).

Con's

Too many commercial breaks (typical of NBC)!

Side by side coverage offerred was almost useless due to size of images rendered... (screen size way too small as most shots were not close-ups but aerial and longshots of cars on the circuit).


Well this is their first broadcast so here is hoping that they will perfect things as they progress into the season.

 

An interesting and entertaining first race of the season!

I had picked Fernando to stand on the top step of the podium with Raikkonen in 2nd and Webber or Hamilton in 3rd... so much for my powers of prognostication!

Check out Adrian Sutil... nice drive and Felipe Massa also impressed me... nice to see him back in form!

Mercedes looked very racy... lets see if they can maintain their new found momentum.

 

Ferrari, Red Bull and Lotus seem to be the teams to beat.

Mclaren??? Maybe they should go back to the 2012 car if they can't sort those suspension issues.

Mercedes...reliability is a big question and it will be interesting to see if they can move forward this year, instead of moving back like they did last year. I am really pulling for Rosberg to stick it to his Diva team mate.

 

Same 3 looked fast in practice...not sure what happened to Mercedes...maybe testing long runs prior to the rain coming.

Mclaren is going to struggle. They had to reduce front down force to compensate for the lack of rear down force....could be another very ugly weekend for them.

Tires are going to be huge....I have not seen tires come apart like that since Indianapolis when most of the teams sat the race out.

 

After two races I think you're 100% correct...

I thought NBC's coverage stunk. It was better than last week... But we downloaded BBC's "Highlights" of the qualifier and the race and it was SO much better. BBC's highlights are full coverage of the event - just not live and without all of the commentary that they normally have when they carry it live.

I like Will Buxton but I've had enough of him talking over the radio calls. Plus the BBC was instantly reporting from the pit lane after Lewis' visit to McLaren, during each of Force India's botched stops, and the Toro Rosso/Caterham collision.

More importantly, BBC has a lot more interviews with the drivers. Seriously - what is Will Buxton doing out there? BBC had at least 6 folks in Malaysia covering the race and those extra folks give them much more comprehensive coverage than NBC with their 1 person at the track and 3 watching via satellite.

I'm stunned at how much we missed on the NBC broadcast that we're seeing on the BBC broadcast.

If you're a Mac user you can get the BBC race coverage by downloading Get iPlayer Automator or even iPlayer Plus. If you're a PC user you'll need to use a UK proxy to download from BBC's iPlayer...