Formula One 2012

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Hamilton cost a race yet again, story of the season for him.

[Summers]

Oh Schumi!

[Gazz]

Give it up now Michael, you're starting to embarass yourself.

[Gazz]

The last thing you need is a problem with your nuts.

Nicely done Dave.

[Rich]

Its true, nothing worse than a problem with your nuts.

[Summers]

Fernando Alonso!

Happy with 3rd.

[LUKIE]

I want one of these F1 2012 driving rigs.

Link?

Schui, fucking hell. Night race, the old man fell asleep.

[Gazz]

I want one of these F1 2012 driving rigs.

Link?

Schui, fucking hell. Night race, the old man fell asleep.

Can't find any photos or videos of it but it was basically three screens, three racing seats and three sets of wheels and pedals all running the new F1 game.

[MJB]

Lewis

Such a shame, he's been in great form since Germany really and I really thought he could catch Fernando, I'm not sure now though. All the luck seems to be going Alonso's way at the moment, especially when you think how many points McLaren lost through pit stops earlier in the season.

[Summers]

It isn't a shame.

It's deserved.

[MJB]

How?

No seriously, I know that most people on this board think he's a cunt but how did he deserve to have his gearbox fail him?

[LUKIE]

In your own words: because he is a cunt?

[Summers]

He's a horrible shitbag.

[Rich]

It isn't a shame.

It's deserved.

On the one hand this.

On the other hand I fucking hate Vettel...

So all in all its a glass half full kind of day.

[Gazz]

Di Resta in 4th

Kimi continues to score points and moves into 3rd in the WDC.

It's at least a 3/4 full day.

[Summers]

Kimi is showing Schumi how a comeback should be.

[Lineker]

Sebastian Vettel finally scored the second victory of his latest Formula 1 title defence in the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver benefited from Lewis Hamilton's McLaren suffering a gearbox failure while holding a narrow lead.

Jenson Button claimed second in the other McLaren, with Fernando Alonso's third place maintaining the Ferrari driver's world championship cushion.

Front-row starter Pastor Maldonado had to retire with hydraulic failure having battled with Alonso for the final podium spot.

Hamilton and Vettel ran in close company prior to the McLaren's problem, although the Briton seemed under control.

Third-placed Button fell away at first, before regaining some ground as he got better tyre longevity than those ahead.

Vettel made his first pitstop two laps earlier than Hamilton, and though this initially looked costly as he dropped into time-consuming traffic, once he was in clear air his pace on fresh rubber was sufficient to make up all the time lost and keep him between the McLarens.

That position became the race lead on lap 22, when Hamilton's car ground to a halt with a gearbox failure.

Button then kept Vettel honest to the finish, without it ever looking like the Red Bull's lead was in jeopardy. By the end, Vettel had edged away into a very secure lead.

Vettel stayed cool through two mid-race safety car periods: the first for Narain Karthikeyan sliding his HRT into the barrels at the tunnel entrance, and the second when Michael Schumacher ploughed into Jean-Eric Vergne on the restart lap.

Those cautions resolved the third-place battle. When Maldonado, who had fallen from second to fourth at the start, pitted for a second time under the first safety car, he rejoined 10th while Alonso stayed out and moved up to third. That decision probably secured the place for Ferrari even before Williams ordered Maldonado to retire with a hydraulic problem before the green.

Paul di Resta kept the frontrunners in sight throughout to score an excellent fourth for Force India, outpacing fifth-placed Mercedes man Nico Rosberg.

Lotus salvaged sixth and seventh with Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean on its least competitive weekend of 2012 so far.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa picked up a puncture on lap one, yet fought back impressively to secure eighth. On the way, he overtook Bruno Senna with an incredible move that saw him bounce off the Williams and the wall before arriving at Turn 13 sideways but in front.

The safety car timing hurt Mark Webber's strategy, and the best he could manage was to battle through to 10th, right on Daniel Ricciardo's tail.

Among other incidents, Nico Hulkenberg clashed with both Saubers on consecutive laps late on, with Sergio Perez the only one involved to get away without having to pit for repairs.

Also notable was Timo Glock's 12th place, which moved Marussia ahead of Caterham in the constructors' standings.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS


The Singapore Grand Prix

Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore;

61 laps; 309.316km;

Weather: Clear.


Classified:


Pos  Driver        Team                       Time

 1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           2h00:26.144

 2.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +     8.959

 3.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    15.227

 4.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +    19.063

 5.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +    34.784

 6.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +    35.759

 7.  Grosjean      Lotus-Renault              +    36.698

 8.  Massa         Ferrari                    +    42.829

 9.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +    45.820

10.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +    47.175

11.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +    50.619

12.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +  1:31.918

13.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +  1:37.141

14.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +  1:39.413

15.  Pic           Marussia-Cosworth          +  1:42.925 (*)

16.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +  1:47.967

17.  De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth               +     1 lap

18.  Senna         Williams-Renault           +    2 laps

19.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +    2 laps


Fastest lap: Hulkenberg, 1:51.033

(*) Pending 20-second penalty


Not classified/retirements:


Driver        Team                         On lap

Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari           38

Schumacher    Mercedes                     38

Maldonado     Williams-Renault             36

Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth                 30

Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes             22



World Championship standings, round 14:                


Drivers:                    Constructors:             

 1.  Alonso       194        1.  Red Bull-Renault          298

 2.  Vettel       165        2.  McLaren-Mercedes          261

 3.  Raikkonen    149        3.  Ferrari                   245

 4.  Hamilton     142        4.  Lotus-Renault             231

 5.  Webber       133        5.  Mercedes                  136

 6.  Button       119        6.  Sauber-Ferrari            100

 7.  Rosberg       93        7.  Force India-Mercedes       75

 8.  Grosjean      82        8.  Williams-Renault           54

 9.  Perez         65        9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         14

10.  Massa         51       

11.  Di Resta      44       

12.  Schumacher    43       

13.  Kobayashi     35       

14.  Hulkenberg    31       

15.  Maldonado     29       

16.  Senna         25       

17.  Vergne         8       

18.  Ricciardo      6       


All timing unofficial[/code]




Mark Webber has lost the point scored in the Singapore Grand Prix after he was handed a 20-second penalty.



The Australian was deemed to have gone off track to overtake Sauber rival Kamui Kobayashi, and was therefore given a post-race drive-through penalty.



"Car #2 left the track and gained an advantage when he rejoined", said the stewards.



The penalty has dropped Webber from 10th to 11th position, elevating Sergio Perez to the point-scoring places.



[code]Revised world Championship standings, round 14:                


Drivers:                    Constructors:             

 1.  Alonso       194        1.  Red Bull-Renault          297

 2.  Vettel       165        2.  McLaren-Mercedes          261

 3.  Raikkonen    149        3.  Ferrari                   245

 4.  Hamilton     142        4.  Lotus-Renault             231

 5.  Webber       132        5.  Mercedes                  136

 6.  Button       119        6.  Sauber-Ferrari            101

 7.  Rosberg       93        7.  Force India-Mercedes       75

 8.  Grosjean      82        8.  Williams-Renault           54

 9.  Perez         66        9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         14

10.  Massa         51       

11.  Di Resta      44       

12.  Schumacher    43       

13.  Kobayashi     35       

14.  Hulkenberg    31       

15.  Maldonado     29       

16.  Senna         25       

17.  Vergne         8       

18.  Ricciardo      6       


All timing unofficial

Sebastian Vettel has kept his Singapore Grand Prix victory after the stewards deemed he had not done anything wrong during the first safety car period.

Vettel was summoned to see the stewards over alleged erratic driving when Jenson Button nearly made contact with him as the Red Bull driver swerved and braked to prepare for the restart.

The sporting rules state that "No car may be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person at any time whilst the safety car is deployed. This will apply whether any such car is being driven on the track, the pit entry or the pitlane."

The stewards said, however, that, having examined Vettel's telemetry they did not find any erratic driving and so the German kept his win.

"An examination of the telemetry overlay for throttle, steering and brake traces of both cars did not indicate any erratic driving behaviour on the part of the race leader," said a stewards' statement.

"It is noted that Article 40.13 provides that the first car may dictate the pace."

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh said the duo had been lucky not to crash during the incident.

"They were lucky not to have gifted Fernando Alonso a first place," he said. "I think when you weave around, then you go, and then you brake in the corner, it was very, very close and we were very lucky not to have a big accident."

Marussia believes it will have to fight to hang on to 10th place in the constructors' championship following its best-ever finish in the Singapore Grand Prix.

Timo Glock's 12th place at the Marina Bay circuit was enough to lift the outfit ahead of Caterham.

Marussia is now on for a potential leap in income if it can keep tenth until the end of the season. However, the team knows it can take nothing for granted with six races remaining.

President and sporting director Graeme Lowdon told AUTOSPORT: "We are well aware, like everyone else, that we still have to fight at every race from now until the end of the season.

"There can easily be carnage somewhere and it would be desperately disappointing if we are not at the front of the battle if that happens.

"None of the new teams have finished higher than 12th [since joining the grid in 2010], so statistically this is a mega result. But we cannot sit back and think that is it. We have to keep pushing."

Marussia's step forward in form over recent races is the result of an upgrade package that was introduced at the Belgian Grand Prix.

And although historically finishing top ten in the standings has had significant commercial benefits, Lowdon says it is too early to judge what lift in income his outfit could expect to get if it holds onto the position.

"Because there is a new Concorde [Agreement] period, it is unclear," he said when asked if there was any idea of how much his team could stand to earn from finishing 10th.

"There are a lot of strange things in F1, but you would hope that finishing tenth is better [financially] than finishing 12th.

"I think the key focus for us is to finish as high as we can and hopefully everything else will come out in the wash.

"Historically there has been a massively large difference, so we should not underestimate the potential value."

Post-race press conference:

PODIUM INTERVIEWS (Conducted by Eddie Jordan)

Q. Sebastian you're a back-to-back winner here. What's the secret?

Sebastian VETTEL: I think it's one of the toughest races of the year to be honest. It's very long; the full two hours. The circuit is a killer. There's so many bumps, there's no space for mistakes and the race just seems to go on forever. Obviously we benefited from Lewis' failure. A couple of laps before that he lost some oil and then after that I think we generally we had very, very strong pace all weekend. I had a good start, which got us into second and in the hunt. The pace was there so... I'm just incredibly happy and proud because this is a such a tough race. I would like to dedicate it to one very, very special man, Professor Sid Watkins who passed away and we remember him for sure. I think he is one of the biggest reasons we can go out on a circuit like this and enjoy ourselves and be reasonably safe. He pushed the boundaries in terms of safety for all of us, so a big thank you to him.

Q. Can you see something reminiscent of 2010; how you came from this position and just sneaked that win of the championship in 2010?

SV: I don't think Fernando would be too happy if it happened again in the last race. But it's an incredible season for all of us (inaudible) we have a lot of races left, the car seems to be competitive and we just have to use the momentum and keep pushing for these last races and see what happens.

Q. Jenson, what happened at the re-start?

Jenson BUTTON: First of all, good evening everyone. Was that fun? Good. It was a pretty tough two hours for us. The re-start? Sebastian accelerated and braked for the right-hander and I just didn't expect that, such a speed difference. So I hit the brakes, locked up and just missed the rear of his car, because that would have been quite embarrassing. But we got through it and yeah it's a good second place. I'm reasonably happy with that. We all want to win, but you can't win them all.

Q. Does that second place make up in some small way for Monza?

JB: Yeah it does, but for us as a team to have another failure this weekend is disappointing. The important thing for us is we have a very good car. I think the team are doing a fantastic job and it seems that every race we go to we really do have a chance of winning so that's important to us.

Q. Fernando, you also have won twice here and now on the podium again. It must be one of your favourite tracks?

Fernando ALONSO: Yeah, good evening everybody. Of course, is one of the best tracks to drive, to enjoy. The weekend in general is out of our normal routine, let's say, of times etcetera. We enjoy driving here, the atmosphere is fantastic, the layout is quite interesting and it was a fun race again.

Q. You still have a 29 point lead in the Championship but yet you haven't won since Germany. Are all of your opponents, are they all falling away or tripping over themselves?

FA: Well, in Monza is was Lewis winning the race and Sebastian retired. Here it's Sebastian winning, Lewis retiring, so for me it's OK is they keep doing it like this.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Sebastian, really should we have expected that result after practice - but perhaps not after qualifying?

SV: Yeah, it just underlines that we obviously struggled a bit yesterday, especially in the last section of qualifying. Up to then I think it was fine and the pace was there. The confirmation was straight away there in the grand prix when we found ourselves behind Lewis and were able to push him quite hard. I think he was obviously trying to save his tyres, we were trying to save the tyres. It's a bit of a different race, it's very tactical but I think the pace was there in the race throughout. Also, towards the end versus Jenson I think we could have an answer every time he was going quick and it was a good finish of the Grand Prix. Obviously it's a long race, a lot of laps – we did the full two hours again – but it's fun in a way, you are excited, a bit nervous before the race starts, knowing there is a little bit of a marathon coming, but I think that's what makes this race so special: not just racing at night, it's also the circuit with a lot of corners, a lot of bumps, making it extremely difficult. It's a great challenge for us. Very happy with the result, obviously. I think the team deserves a big thank you. In fact working in these conditions is very, very hot and in the garage it is another 10, 15 degrees hotter than outside. So not the nicest office to work it but obviously it's nice to give a little bit of champagne back and bring a trophy home – so I'm very happy.

Q. And good for the Championship chances as well...

SV: Yeah, it looks better than before. Fernando finished third. I am not a genius but I think it's looking ten points better than it was before. There's a lot of races left and it's a bit difficult to predict what's going to happen. We have to make sure that we finish the races first of all. I think the pace is there, even if we are not quick enough to win then it is good enough to collect a lot of points. And we have to make sure we do that. It's a tough championship so far but we're still in it. We're still looking forward to the next couple of races, and obviously the target at the moment is to beat Fernando.

Q. Jenson, the pace seemed to be there at the start but not necessarily at the end.

JB: Yeah, the pace on the supersoft was good. I could look after the tyres pretty well – not that it did me any good anyway because after the pitstops they had a gap because they went to new tyres earlier than me, so it didn't really work out. And on the harder of the two tyres, the balance wasn't as good and I couldn't really look after the tyres and degradation was reasonably high so, yeah, not too bad. Would have been nicer to have pushed Sebastian a bit harder: you never know around a street circuit when you push someone hard, so there was always the possibility that we could do one step better but it wasn't to be; Sebastian didn't make any mistakes and we came away with a second. Reasonably good points and it's nice to get some good points back on the board after the DNF in Monza.

Q. After Lewis' retirement was there any concern in terms of reliability, or did they not tell you that?

JB: No, they didn't say anything. I obviously knew that it was a… I still don't know… but I'm guessing it was a gearbox problem. For about three or four laps it was spraying gearbox oil. I thought it was the backmarker at the time, and then I saw Lewis pull over so I knew that was from his car. It's disappointing for the team to have another DNF – two weekends on the trot. It's something that we need to sort out because as a team over the race weekends we're doing a great job and the pace is there with the car. Over the last few races the results we've had have been very good but it's just we can't seem to do that with both cars. It's something for sure we need to work on for the rest of the season.

Q. Fernando, for you was this pretty much the best you could hope for?

FA: Yes, definitely. I think we were not very competitive this weekend so we struggled a little with the pace of the car and yesterday we managed to put a good lap in Q3 and that was a little bit the best part of the weekend. Because if you start at the rear I think you are having problems all the race, so starting in fifth, it was OK. Then the start was so-so. We lost position with di Resta and then we recovered in first and second corner, and then we fight a little bit with Maldonado so I think the safety car arrive in the worst moment for us because we have stopped and changed the tyres five laps before the safety car, so we didn't have the pitstop for free like the others did. So, it was, I think with all these difficulties, if we put altogether, arriving third in our difficult weekend is for sure a fantastic result in terms of points.

Q. And in terms of your rivals obviously with Lewis not finishing…

FA: Yes, again I think it's a very positive weekend. A very good weekend. Of the four or five contenders, we lost points with one, with the other three we increased our advantage, so obviously, as I said, when we are not quick enough to win more points against three of our opponents, I think it's positive.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Ubaid Parker - F1 Pulse) Sebastian, when you were chasing Hamilton, you were losing three to four tenths on several laps in sector two alone, although you were recovering it a little bit in sector one and sector three. Was there any particular reason for that, because you did mention that turn ten was a difficulty yesterday?

SV: No, not really. I saw that I was gaining a little bit in the first sector, not sure in the second sector but I could see that I probably lost a bit but I think Lewis has been very quick in sector two all weekend. Also, I think I was fairly close to him, so obviously the closer you get, it's a bit of a disadvantage but I try to keep the gap fairly much the same, lap by lap. I didn't really mean to close the gap, because I know that the closer I get, the more grip I lose, and obviously I will lose tyres just by running close to him and losing downforce so I think it was a tactical race in the beginning, especially the beginning of the second stint after the first pit stop. If you go all out in one lap you probably go a second faster but then you do this exercise for three laps and Jenson is coming. It's the races that we have these days but I think, as I said, Lewis was already quick in sector two so it was probably not a surprise to lose a little bit against him.

Q. (Ian de Cotta - Today) Sebastian, you say this is a tough circuit. What does it feel like to win twice in a row?

SV: Very good. I'm very happy. I think this is one of the best races to win in terms of atmosphere. Everything is a little bit special here. It's a surprise in a way, because we haven't been racing here for fifty years - Formula One hasn't been racing here for fifty years but it still feels like a real classic already. It's nice. I think everyone likes coming here. It's a bit funny to be in the European time zone and a little bit against everything else in this city. It's great to get the opportunity. It's a great city, more than five million people living here and the circuit is right in the middle. When you do the drivers' parade and you see a lot of people around the track it's nice just to be part of it, obviously even greater to win, which was great last year, but is even greater this year to repeat it. I'm very happy, especially with this year's championship. It's very tight. We probably didn't have the fastest package this weekend but we still won the race. I'm very happy.

Q. (Michael Schmidt - Auto, Motor und Sport) Fernando, in the second stint you were consistently catching up to the leaders; what was different in that stint compared to qualifying and the other parts of the race?

FA: I don't know. I think we were pushing a little bit harder and we were in free air. In the first stint we were fighting a little bit with Pastor and then we were probably a little bit more competitive with the soft tyre compared to the super soft, so maybe that was the reason.

Q. (Frederic Ferret - L'Equipe) To all three of you: what are your expectations for Suzuka and your specific car, each of you?

SV: I think we have to improve. I think there is still a little bit that we need to gain. I think that at the moment McLaren is the fastest car and the Ferrari is a little bit of an allrounder. It's always quick and always there so we need to make sure that we see the chequered flag. Reliability will be important but it's a fun track so I'm looking forward to it. The Sauber will be quick, unlike this weekend and we will go from there.

JB: It's always very difficult to know because it's such a different circuit to this one but if you compare it to Spa, and it's reasonably similar to Spa - but without the run-off areas - it's a circuit that should suit us pretty well. I still think that the Red Bulls will be strong as they were in Spa. Qualifying was great for us and the race was as well, but in the race our pace was no better than the Red Bulls. It's going to be a competitive race, I think. We really don't know where the Ferrari will stand on that type of circuit. It's going to be a competitive race, and one I'm very much looking forward to.

FA: Yeah, a little bit difficult to predict. I think all this year we've been up and down for all the teams and it's the same for us. For sure, we need to improve the performance we saw here. We struggled all weekend. Positions five and 13 for our cars is not what we were hoping for so we need to be in a better position in Suzuka. Maybe Silverstone is also quite similar to Suzuka and we were quite OK there so hopefully we can repeat that kind of performance.

Q. (Carlos Miguel - La Gaceta) Fernando, maybe your first stop was a little bit early; one or two laps more, for the traffic, I think - or no?

FA: I don't know. We more or less stopped when we felt that the tyres were dropping off too much and we didn't want to lose too much time. So we stopped. We found some traffic there and we struggled to overtake. After that, we had good pace so maybe... I don't know. It's difficult to... or it's easy to see after the race. I was happy with the pit stop call.

[Lineker]

McLaren is ready to match Mercedes' wage offer to Lewis Hamilton in a bid to further tempt the former world champion to remain at his current team.

On the back of frenzied speculation about Hamilton's future caused by Eddie Jordan's claim that he would move to Mercedes in 2013, negotiations have been ongoing between the Briton's management team, XIX Entertainment, and McLaren.

Although no deal has yet been agreed, high-level sources suggest that the wage deal on offer is no longer an issue.

McLaren is believed to be offering at least, if not more, than the approximate £11.5 million per season deal that it is understood Mercedes has put on the table.

The main issue to be debated now is whether or not the greater commercial freedom that Hamilton could have at Mercedes - because personal sponsorship deals are not as tightly controlled as they are at McLaren - is worth enough for Hamilton and XIX to consider it a better option.

McLaren has a number of extensive commercial tie-ups with companies like Hugo Boss that limit the personal sponsorship possibilities that are open to its drivers.

However, as Hamilton's current deal with Reebok shows, there is scope for personal deals to be part of a McLaren package. And sources suggest the outfit may be willing to be more flexible in what it allows Hamilton to do if it guarantees securing his future.

The financial situation is also further complicated by the fact that any deals Hamilton could get at Mercedes may not be as much as win bonus possibilities he could have at McLaren.

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh said over the Singapore Grand Prix weekend that he felt Hamilton appeared more focused.

When asked by AUTOSPORT whether there were any worries that the disappointment of retiring from the race would impact on Hamilton's decision about his future, Whitmarsh said: "I have to say that Lewis has been incredibly strong.

"I've spoken to Lewis first hand and he is in a very focused frame of mind. He came around, thanked everyone in the team for their efforts this weekend and it was a much stronger-minded Lewis that we have seen before.

"He is very focused, he knows there are 150 points that are available and he knows we are going to work hard to collect all of them, or as many as we can."

Other team members were equally keen to praise Hamilton's attitude over the Singapore weekend.

The situation for Hamilton is also further complicated by suggestions that Mercedes may be poised for a management shake-up.

Speculation in the Singapore paddock pointed to the Mercedes board pondering a reorganisation of how the outfit is run, having finally given agreement to a deal that will commit it to Formula 1 until 2020. A decision could come at a board meeting that is scheduled for this week.

Sources have suggested that former world champion Niki Lauda could even be drafted in to take a role with the team, following his successful involvement in negotiations between Mercedes and Bernie Ecclestone to frame a new Concorde Agreement deal.

Lauda himself denied that he had a firm offer in place from Mercedes, but did not dismiss the possibility completely.

"I've not been asked," he told AUTOSPORT about speculation of a role at Mercedes. "It would be wrong of me to say anything because I haven't been talked to about it.

"The only thing I did was help Mercedes with the Concorde Agreement discussions, and that was just to get the ball rolling between the two parties."

New doubts have been raised over the planned 2013 New Jersey Formula 1 street race after Bernie Ecclestone revealed the existing contract for the race had been annulled.

The provisional 2013 schedule circulated during last weekend's Singapore Grand Prix had the second American event slated for a mid-June date.

That was despite previous suggestions of the New Jersey project encountering difficulties, and the departure of its chief Tom Cotter in August.

Ecclestone was quoted by the Guardian as saying New Jersey organisers "have not complied with the terms and conditions of the contract which is now gone anyway. They don't have a contract."

But although the 2013 calendar is set to be finalised at an FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting on Friday, Ecclestone said there was still hope for New Jersey.

"We are pretty close to the final deadline," he said. "We have got a world council meeting coming up.

"I think if somebody got behind them it could happen in 2013 because they have come a long way with the circuit."

F1 will return to America after a five-year absence with the inaugural race at Austin's Circuit of the Americas in November.

[LUKIE]

I raced on the new US circuit in F1 2012, and it seems like it will be a fantastic race. Awful track to actually drive on though.

[Lineker]

The Circuit of the Americas has been declared ready to host the United States Grand Prix by Formula 1 race director Charlie Whiting.

Whiting visited the Texan circuit as part of the scheduled pre-race inspection and granted the track the Grade 1 status it needs to host the Formula 1 grand prix.

Whiting had already visited the track in June.

The circuit is scheduled to host its first race on November 18.

"Everything that I've seen so far has been absolutely first class, and the progress that's been made since the last time that I was here is amazing," Whiting said.

"The guys have done an awesome job - it really is quite fantastic! It's built to the highest quality, exactly as we expected, and I've got absolutely no complaints whatsoever."

Whiting believes the track will provide plenty of opportunities for overtaking.

"There are 3-4 corners that are very likely to see overtaking," Whiting added. "If you look at Turn 1, you'll see that the turns have been designed so that they're extremely wide and the apex is very short.

"It's a very modern approach to slow corners where we hope overtaking will take place. So I'm very confident it will work well.

"Turn 1 is awesome. It's the only word I can think of to describe it, and I think drivers and teams coming here for the first time will say the same thing."

Whiting will conduct the final inspection on November 12.

Melbourne officials want to keep the Australian Grand Prix beyond its current deal, but have admitted they are not comfortable with the current financial terms.

Tourism Minister Louise Asher said on Wednesday the government had subsidised this year's event by $56 million despite an increase in the number of tickets sold.

Melbourne has a contract to host the grand prix until 2015, but has been under presser from F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone to turn it into a night event.

Asher said Melbourne wanted to secure a new deal, but not under the current terms.

"I'd love to have the race beyond the 2015 contract, but the contract that we discuss has to present value for taxpayers and I'm not comfortable with this level of subsidy," Asher was quoted as saying by The Age newspaper.

"The Brumby Labor government signed off on a contract that is too expensive for the taxpayer in my opinion. This is a very, very expensive race and I personally am not happy with this level of subsidy."

She admitted she expected further losses unless cost-cutting measures are put in place.

"You can reasonably expect that without significant further cost-cutting from the (Australian) Grand Prix Corporation, the subsidies will go up," she said.

Peter Logan, a spokesman for the Save Albert Park group, told the newspaper that the grand prix could not continue under the current financial deals.

"This is a failed business model ... every other event in Melbourne is run by people who know what they're doing with very little government subsidy in purpose-built venues," Logan said.

"The grand prix is run by the government on the most expensive model you could invent and that's why it costs so much money. And it's on a secret contract as well."