Yeah yeah first day already happened. I thought this was set to post but apparently I just saved it instead. So now I will update it to include today’s events.

RAIN.

LOTS OF RAIN.

TRAFFIC.

LOTS OF TRAFFIC.

So much rain and traffic, up to 30,000 people might not be allowed in for qualifying if they have passes to park on grass lots at the circuit. Though because F1 fans are the best kind of people, there is an effort underway to get people to rideshare and get less cars on the road outside the circuit.

Grosjean was fastest in the first drenching practice, and Hamilton fastest in the second. Thankfully the cars went out on track unlike other times it’s raining, well, because here it’s never going to stop raining.

Everything else then!

Saturday July 7
Final Practice Session: 5:00am
Qualifying: 8:00am

Sunday July 8
Race: 8:00am**

All times Eastern. In the US, you can watch the second practice session and the qualifying session on SPEED, and the other two practice sessions on their website.

**THE RACE WILL NOT BE SHOWN LIVE but on a tape delay on Fox at 2pm on July 8.

Last year’s winner: Fernando Alonso

What to expect: Rain.

Weather: See above.

Tires: We should probably just expect wets.

DRS: Same as last year, though there’s no telling it’ll ever even be used. Because rain.

Valencia Street Circuit

Friday June 22
First Practice Session: 4:00am
Second Practice Session: 8:00pm

Saturday June 23
Final Practice Session: 5:00am
Qualifying: 8:00am

Sunday June 24
Race: 8:00am**

All times Eastern. In the US, you can watch the second practice session and the qualifying session on SPEED, and the other two practice sessions on their website.

**THE RACE WILL NOT BE SHOWN LIVE but on a tape delay on Fox at 2pm on June 24.

Last year’s winner: Sebastian Vettel

What to expect: The usual borefest that is Valencia. Maybe we’ll get an eighth different winner.

Weather: It was disturbingly hot there today, apparently reaching 98 FREAKIN DEGREES. Thankfully it’s going to cool down dramatically, but it’ll probably still be that hot on the track come Sunday. It should be sunny, maybe a little cloudy, for the whole weekend, so don’t expect rain to perk this race up.

Tires: Softs and mediums are the compounds of choice for this street circuit. Pretty sure we’ll once again see hardly anyone going out for Q3 since everyone will want to use the soft tires.

DRS: There will also only be one zone in Valencia this year, a change from last year. The detection point will be prior to turn 8, with the activation zone after turn 10.

Sorry this is hardly even 200 words. I seriously can’t stand this race. I’m glad it’s wasted on tape delay.

And yes, since I cater to an American audience, I will not update this blog until the tape delayed race is over. I am a nice person on occasion.

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

Friday June 8
First Practice Session: 10:00am
Second Practice Session: 2:00pm

Saturday June 9
Final Practice Session: 10:00am
Qualifying: 1:00pm

Sunday June 10
Race: 2:00pm

All times Eastern. This race begins SPEED’s absolutely annoying move to showing races on Fox, typically on a time delay after this one. You can watch the second practice session and the qualifying session on SPEED, and the other two practice sessions on their website. A pre-race show will be shown on SPEED before the race at 1:30, and also a post-race show at 4pm.

Last year’s winner: Jenson Button

What to expect: Organizers had to cancel the typical open house in the pit lane today thanks to threats from the immature student protestors in Montreal. Because if you can’t have your way, you should ruin the fun for everyone else…I learned to stop doing that when I was 5.

Anyway. Red Bull are now not allowed to use the floor their car has had for the past few races. It was declared legal to use in Monaco, but it had to be changed for this race. There was talk that they would lose their last win, but that’s kind of ridiculous when the car was deemed fine. Haters. You’re even making Mark Webber mad and you know what happens when you make Mark Webber mad…

McLaren hopes to get their butts into gear once again, considering the poor performance of Jenson Button lately.

Of course, there’s still no sign of who could possibly win this race, because it could entirely be a seventh different driver for the season. Cue continued arguments about whether or not this unpredictability is good for racing/fans/etc. I think since we’re all different people, we all just have to shut up and deal with it. Though personally I enjoy it, and I find it stupid that team principals and what have you, as in people who are not fans, try to tell us how we think.

Weather: The race should be nothing like last year, with temperatures for the weekend in the 70s. There’s a 60% chance right now for rain tomorrow.

Tires: Once again, the tires are softs and supersofts. Tire wear will be key, as the track is not exactly used by cars any other time of the year. As rubber is laid down during practice sessions, the track will progressively become faster.

DRS: There will be a single DRS zone in Montreal this year instead of the two zones last year. The one zone will be located from turn 11 until the final chicane. Word is the second zone on the start/finish line was removed because overtaking was way too easy last year.

Well duh, just ask the winner who went from last to first.

Circuit de Monaco (image credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Thursday May 24
First Practice Session: 4:00am
Second Practice Session: 8:00am

Saturday May 26
Final Practice Session: 5:00am
Qualifying: 8:00am

Sunday May 27
Race: 8:00am

SPEED will show a pre-race show beginning at 7:30am. Second practice is also live, and the others can be streamed on SPEEDtv.com. All times eastern.

Last year’s winner: Sebastian Vettel

What to expect: It’s the most wonderful time of the F1 season!

The Monaco Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500 make one of the best weekends in racing. Grands Prix have taken place in Monaco since 1929, and the glitz and glamour of this F1 weekend are well known.

Well, Monte Carlo is pretty glamourous anyway.

The chicane where Sergio Perez crashed last year has been changed. The tarmac has been slightly lowered and the barrier has been moved back 15 meters.

With tire degradation playing such a major role in races lately, it’s hard to tell who could have the best chances this weekend. Lotus hopes to continue improving, and Pastor Maldonado and Williams would love to win again. We could easily see a sixth different winner, though!

Weather: It looks like it’s going to be rainy, sadly. The chance of rain is highest on Thursday, with storms, which could make practice sessions difficult. There’s also a 60% chance of rain on Saturday and 50% on Sunday. This could always change, but we might be seeing a wet qualifying session and race, or possibly just wet qualifying, or hopefully no rain.

Tires: This weekend will be the debut of the supersoft tires for the season. The other compound will be the soft tires. And with the weather, there might actually be no debut of supersoft tires. In other interesting tire news, Paul Hembery has said Pirelli is ready at any time to supply teams with Q3 only tires if they would like.

DRS: The drivers are not allowed to use DRS in the tunnel during practice and qualifying. The DRS zone for the race will be the start-finish straight.

Shanghai International Racing Circuit Layout (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Sorry this is so late, I thought I was going to be downtown for about 2 hours max and it turned into 4 1/2 rather quickly.

Thursday April 12
First Practice Session: 10:00pm

Friday April 13
Second Practice Session: 2:00am
Third Practice Session: 11:00pm

Saturday April 14
Qualifying: 2:00am

Sunday April 15
Race: 3:00am

SPEED will show a pre-race show beginning at 2:30am. Second practice is also live, and the others can be streamed on SPEEDtv.com. All times eastern.

Last year’s winner: Lewis Hamilton, McLaren

What to expect: First and foremost, last year’s winner will be starting off with a five grid spot penalty for a gearbox change. Secondly, Lotus lodged a protest regarding Mercedes’ f-duct wing. The FIA deemed it once again to be legal, and the matter was unanimously rejected by the stewards. So seriously guys, jsut suck it up and make your own now.

Weather: Weather looks to be overcast, maybe rainy for the first two practice sessions, and then possibly rainy Sunday morning. It shouldn’t be a problem. Temperatures are forecasted to be mild, in the 60s.

Tires: Tire compounds for the race will be the white/mediums and yellow/softs. Tire strategy played a huge role in last year’s race and we should expect the same thing once again. A three stop strategy may be the way to go, as it worked last year.

DRS: The same DRS zone as last year will be used again. The detection zone will be at turn 12, with the activation zone the back straight.

Check back here for updates on practice and qualifying, I’m not sure I will make it to the second session, but I’ll have you covered in the morning!

Sepang International Circuit, Sepang, Malaysia (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Thursday March 22
First Practice Session: 10:00pm

Friday March 23
Second Practice Session: 2:00am

Saturday March 24

Final Practice Session: 1:00am
Qualifying: 4:00am

Sunday March 18
Race: 4:00am

SPEED will show a pre-race show beginning at 3:30am. Second practice is also live, and the others can be streamed on SPEEDtv.com. All times eastern.

Last year’s winner: Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull

What to expect: Kimi Raikkonen wants a podium, and maybe if we have a repeat of 2009, there will be ice cream. (I can’t believe that race was 3 years ago.) Red Bull is expected to be quicker, and once again all we can really go on is what we saw last weekend. Mercedes’ front wing is still considered legal, this time by the FIA, so it’s not going anywhere. McLaren obviously had a great weekend, and they could continue to do well at Sepang.

Weather: It will be hot and it will probably rain throughout the weekend. It is Malaysia, after all.

Tires: Tire compounds for the race will be the white/mediums and silver/hards, and of course the wet and intermediate tires will probably be in use at some point over the weekend.

DRS: The same DRS zone as last year will be used again. The detection zone will be at the end of the straight between turns 14 and 15, with the activation zone after turn 15.

Check back here for updates on practice and qualifying, in case you have no plans to stay up late! As for me, I am saying goodbye to anything that might resemble a normal sleep pattern.

IT’S TIME IT’S TIME IT’S TIME!!!

Albert Park Street Circuit, Melbourne, Australia (image credit: Will Pittenger/Wikimedia Commons)

Thursday March 15
First Practice Session: 9:30pm

Friday March 16
Second Practice Session: 1:30am
Final Practice Session: 11:00pm

Saturday March 17
Qualifying: 2:00am

Sunday March 18
Race: 2:00am

SPEED will show a pre-race show beginning at 1:30am. Second practice is also live, and the others can be streamed on SPEEDtv.com.

What to expect: Who knows! Pre-season testing did not indicate a clear frontrunner, and even the midfield should be a good fight once again. Even the drivers don’t know what to expect.

Mercedes have introduced a new rear wing that will basically stall the wing by letting air flow through the endplates, leading to a boost in straightline speed. It was deemed legal by the FIA, so teams will be copying this design very shortly. Charlie Whiting said that there is basically nothing that shows it to be illegal: it’s basically an F-duct, no moving parts, etc.

Weather: Friday should be a bit wet, but the rest of the weekend looks good. Temperatures are mild, and it should be sunny for the most part.

Tires: Tire compounds for the race will be the yellow/softs and white/mediums. Expect each team to make two pit stops.

DRS: Unlike last year, there will be two DRS zones. The zones will be the straights between turns 16 and 1, and then turns 2 and 3. There will be a single detection point at turn 14.

Check back here for updates on practice and qualifying, in case you have no plans to stay up late!

Interlagos/Autódromo José Carlos Pace Track Layout

Last year’s winner: Sebastian Vettel

Schedule for race events, all times eastern:

Friday November 25
First practice session: 7am
Second practice session: 11am, live on SPEED

Saturday November 26
Third practice session: 8am
Qualifying: 11am, live on SPEED

Sunday November 27
Race: 11am, prerace show begins at 10:30am on SPEED

The big story: It’s the last race of the season, boooooo. No points positions are set beyond first place for Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing in the drivers and constructors championships respectively.

This could be Rubens Barrichello’s final race, taking place in his home country. Felipe Massa, a fellow Brazilian, has told Barrichello to retire rather than become a sponsored driver in order to keep a drive. Rubens is the most experienced driver on the grid.

Other drivers will also wonder about their future, and whether or not this is their last race in Formula 1 before having to turn elsewhere. But for now, it’s time to race once last time until March.

DRS Zone: There will be just one zone at Interlagos. The detection point will be inside turn 2, and the activation zone will be after turn 3, along the long straight.

Tires: Pirelli will be introducing two new tire compounds. The teams will be given 4 sets of an experimental hard tire, which is softer than the current hard tire. For the race itself, the tires will be the soft and medium compounds. However, this is a different soft tire from previous races, it is the one tested at the young drivers test.

Weather: It looks like rain on Sunday, which means all the work during practice could be meaningless, and then the tires will be inters and wets.

Track layout image courtesy of Will Pittenger at Wikimedia Commons.

Yas Marina Circuit

Last year’s winner: Sebastian Vettel

Schedule for race events, all times eastern:

Friday November 11
First practice session: 4am
Second practice session: 8am, live on SPEED

Saturday November 12
Third practice session: 5am
Qualifying: 8am, live on SPEED

Sunday November 13
Race: 8am, prerace show begins at 7:30am on SPEED

The big story: The fight is still on for the other top spots in the points in the penultimate race of the season. Sebastian Vettel is of course looking for his third win in as many races here in Abu Dhabi. This was the site of his first world championship win last year. Other than that, it’s basically a race for the sake of racing at this point in the season.

Since it’s so late in the season, there is plenty of talk about the future of many drivers. Force India’s situation has not been sorted out just yet. Kimi Raikkonen confirmed to MTV3 in Finland that he has been in talks with Williams. Rumor has it something could be announced this weekend in conjunction with a new Middle Eastern sponsor for the Williams team.

Nico Rosberg announced a deal with his current Mercedes team. He will race with them through 2013. His teammate, Michael Schumacher, has not yet decided about his future. It is possible he could retire after next season, while some German newspapers say he has signed a deal already to continue through 2013 with the team as well.

The young drivers’ test will take place after race weekend, with a chance for every team to look at their possibilities in the future. This weekend also features an all-star GP2 race.

DRS Zone: Let’s face the facts – this race can definitely be a bore, where the most exciting thing becomes the lights changing color on the Yas Marina Hotel. This will be the third race of the season to feature double DRS zones, in the hopes of shaking up the race into something more than a (possible) Sebastian Vettel parade.

The first DRS zone will be between turns 7 and 8, with the detection point before turn 7. The second zone will be on the straight leading to turn 11, with the detection point after turn 9.

Tires: Pirelli is back where they started – testing for their tires was first done at this circuit at the end of last year. On Friday, teams will test out a new compound for the tire supplier. For the race itself, the soft and medium compounds will be used.

Weather: As you can expect in the Middle East, the weather will be excellent for racing as usual. Dry and hot, although not too hot since Abu Dhabi is a race into the night.

Track layout image courtesy of Arz at the Wikimedia Commons.

Buddh International Circuit

Inaugural race schedule (all times eastern)
Friday October 28
First practice session: 12:30am
Second practice session: 4:30am, live on SPEED

Saturday October 29
Final practice session: 1:30am
Qualifying: 4:30am, live on SPEED

Sunday October 30
Race: 5:30am, pre-race at 4:30am on SPEED

First and third practice sessions available for live streaming on speedtv.com

The big story: Championships are settled, but this is still a huge weekend. So far, this new track is plagued with bats and rats, power outages, and plenty of dust. Despite all that, media and teams have had nothing but praise for the circuit, and once everyone gets started running, hopefully the bugs will all get worked out.

Needless to say, it bothers me that people are already saying it will be a disaster. Given the past 2 Sundays, this is ignorant, rude, and downright disrespectful when it’s clear those in charge of this event have all the interest in the world in putting on a show.

The tweets from both media and drivers so far have been second to no other race. Maybe only the comments on the love hotels in South Korea were better, but all the curry talk outdoes that.

This is a brand new track, and nobody has yet to really get a run on it, so practice will be the first time we all truly figure anything out. That’s the excitement of a new track, and it will be interesting to see how it does seeing as it is yet another Herman Tilke creation.

DRS Zone: There will be two zones at the Buddh International Circuit. The first zone will be after turn 16, down the pit straight, with the detection zone after turn 15. The other zone will be between turns 3 and 4, the other long straight, with the detection zone at the entry to turn 3.

Tires: The hard Pirelli tire will be the option tire, with the softs as the prime. This is a bit different than usual, when the harder compound is usually the prime. With more softs, the teams will be able to run them more and provide more feedback to Pirelli.

Weather: Hot and sunny with no chance for rain, exactly what you’d figure to have for weather in India.

Circuit layout thanks to Wikimedia Commons user Pyrope.