Hot Texas Nights Bring Motorsports to Austinites

 // More photos in the gallery

What do you get when you mix a hot new venue with a lively international bunch and one of the oldest automobile manufacturers in the sport of Formula 1? Another successful event creating buzz about Formula 1 and motorsports in Austin.

// Javelina

Javelina is the first restaurant to open up in a popular part of Austin - Rainey Street. This recognized historic district is now Austin's newest entertainment district, situated close enough to a highway (IH-35) but closer yet to Lady Bird Lake in southeast downtown. The majority of the bungalow-style homes have been renovated and repurposed as bars with food trailers sprinkled throughout the 120 acres, but when Javelina opened earlier this winter it became the latest laid-back Austin bar to offer cocktails uniquely paired with in-house prepared bites.

What makes it uniquely Austin is its ample patio space: lining the lot line is a very rustic, very Austin untreated mesquite wood fence, lined with just the right amount of twinkle for hot Texas nights. Speaking of heat, even though we hit 100' F as guests started to arrive at 6:00 PM, the conversation, crowd and vibe was so great it wasn't a point of contention. An equally inviting indoor space provided relief for guests until the sun set, with a newly installed shuffleboard table providing entertainment for guests.

Javelina prepared light hors d'oeuvres and offered a $5 "F1 Burger" (or veggie burger) for the event, but one of my favorite stories from the night comes from Adam Moorehead of Legion Firearms. He joined a table of guests and started learning about the dynamic international makeup of the group. Adam prepared a plate with chips and queso - a Texas staple - and others at the table did not know what queso was. Adam took advantage of the opportunity to introduce the group to the melted cheese appetizer that is served in nearly every restaurant in Texas, especially of the Tex-Mex variety, and they (of course) loved it! This is a small example of friendly Texans sharing and teaching others, this time over food.

With queso and cocktails flowing, Javelina's General Manager, Carlos Gacharna, noticed everyone having a good time. He said it was great to see all the name tags with countries from all over the world.

// EuroCircle

That's a unique feature of EuroCircle events that many enjoy: Kaisa Kokkonen, who is originally from Finland, founded EuroCircle in New York in 1999 and is now an Austin resident, prepares the nametags which list the guest and their country of origin. This proves to be an instant conversation starter as you quickly get a sense of the true diversity of the crowd. Guests easily connect with others by reading the country listed on their nametag and greeting each other in their native language.

You may recall we joined forces with the largest networking group with an international influence a few months ago. We had such a positive experience that we wanted to do it again, and this time we invited a new partner to join us to make the connection to motorsports even more apparent.

// Mercedes Benz of Austin

If you're an F1 fan you are already familiar with Mercedes' involvement in Formula 1 - the Mercedes AMG Petronas team had a great showing at last week's European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain. Arguably the most well-known F1 driver of modern day, Michael Schumacher, completed his first podium finish since returning to the sport in 2006 after a short retirement. His teammate, Nico Rosberg, won this year's Chinese Grand Prix, took second place in Monaco, and is currently 5th in the Formula One World Championship with a total of 75 points.

For Austinites not yet familiar with Mercedes AMG, the event proved to be another experience to teach others in a social environment. Patrick Van den Nieuwenhuysen of Mercedes Benz of Austin provided the hosts with stylish white, turquoise and silver Mercedes AMG Petronas hats (team colors) so guests could easily identify us among the lively crowd. Our helpful event ambassadors, Jenny Tynes, Mike Boone, Allison Berguin and Mike McKinnon greeted guests at the entrance and mingled throughout the night while sharing their working knowledge of motorsports with fans of every experience level. They also distributed Mercedes' gifts of embroidered bags, key chains and tire pressure gauges to guests which were appropriately themed for the event.

Patrick also invited Will Hardeman of Continental Automotive Group to experience his first EuroCircle event and showcase one of the slickest cars on the road right now - the Mercedes E Class. Javelina had a perfect space in front of the raw-mesquite fence out front to position the car for guests to check out on their way in to the event. It also proved to be an opportunity for passersby to peek in and join us.

Thank you to Mercedes Benz of Austin for providing the light hors d'oeuvres and goodies for our guests and Javelina Bar for hosting us for the evening. We'd also like to thank Mike Boone and Jenny Tynes for welcoming the 200+ guests and Kaisa Kokkonen and Allison Berguin for insuring EuroCircle Austin members came out and enjoyed the evening.

// We look forward to seeing everyone at our next event!

 // More photos in the gallery

Feature: A Closer Look at the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team

Sunday race action - Nico Rosberg of Mercedes AMG Petronas at the 2012 European GP. Image courtesy of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team.The following is a feature by Austinite Mike Boone. Mike is an avid F1 fan and he prepared this information to educate guests at tonight's networking event with EuroCircle at Javelina. We think it will be a great primer for new F1 fans, so we'll have copies to distribute at the event.

// What do you need to know about the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 team? Here are some helpful facts:

The first Mercedes involvement in Formula One came four years after the first race in 1954. Mercedes has also served as an engine provider to other teams with their engines winning two constructors and four driver’s championships. The current team has been competing since 2010 after the purchase of Brawn GP.  As a constructor Mercedes have won two drivers championships and ten races in Formula One.

Mercedes' drivers for 2012 are Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, although it is now known that Schumacher is retiring at the end of 2012 while Lewis Hamilton, currently at McLaren Mercedes is joining Rosberg at Mercedes AMG Petronas.  Also, Mercedes AMG currently supply McLaren and Force India with engines.

The name for the Mercedes constructor in was changed for 2012, the team removed the GP from their name and added AMG, the high performance division of Mercedes.

At the China race this year Nico Rosberg won first pole position for Mercedes since Fangio last did it in 1955.  Rosberg went on to win the Chinese Grand Prix this race which was the first win in China, in 57 years.

// About the Team

Full name: Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team (2012 – )

Base: Brackley, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom

Team Principal: Ross Brawn

CEO: Nick Fry

Technical Director: Bob Bell

Website: www.Mercedes-AMG-F1.com

Previous name: Brawn GP Formula One Team

// 2012 Formula 1 Season

Drivers: #7 Michael Schumacher and #8 Nico Rosberg

Test Driver: Sam Bird

Chassis: Mercedes F1 W03

Engine: Mercedes-Benz

Tires: Pirelli

// F1 World Championship Career

Debut: 1954 French Grand Prix

Latest Race: 2012 European Grand Prix (photo above was taken there)

Races completed: 57

Constructor's Championships: 0

Drivers' Championships: 1954 and 1955

Race Victories: 10

Pole Positions: 9

Fastest Laps: 9

The information above was compiled from the Mercedes AMG Petronas website and Wikipedia.

European GP: Race Review

There is only one word that is fitting to describe the European Grand Prix this past weekend in Valencia: Thrilling.

There were expected-winner starting on pole, the guessing games on strategy, racing incidents galore, safety car (!!),  botched pit stop by McLaren (again!), 2 front-runners' cars failed in late stages, crash-out in last lap, unexpected podium and incredible joys of unlikely victory. Utterly unpredictable, and completely action-packed, I loved every minute of the intensity at the Valencia race.

Here's how it all went down - Vettel was on pole, if you recall my pre-race prediction, Vettel has won twice consecutively last two years, he was a sure-in to grab the win. And for the most part, I was right until lap 34 of the 57-lap race.  Vettel was leaving everyone in the dust with comfortable margins, no one was close enough to catch him, he was so ahead that he went in for his pit stop, came back out and there was no traffic to slot back in, that's the kind of lead he was having.

Unfortunately for Vettel, his car failed him in lap 34 after the safety car had to come out to clean up Vergne-Kovalainen crushed bits on race track. Oddly enough, another Renault-engine car also failed unexpectedly. Grosjean was chasing Alonso down and doing a brilliant job catching up at the last few laps of the race, then suddenly, car failure and end of race for Grosjean.

There were a couple incidents throughout the race, three big ones to be exact. First, there was Vergne and Kovalainen. Then there was Kobayashi and Massa. Lastly, the most gutting of all incidents of the day, Maldonado and Hamilton at lap 55. I definitely feel for Hamilton, to be SO close to the finish line and suddenly losing it all.

Misfortune for some means gain for others. For this race, the lucky benefactor is Schumacher, who leaped to 3rd place on the podium. Well done for him, however unlikely this was a win for him, Schumacher fought hard through race after race and nothing like regaining glory to re-boost his confidence and drive.

Despite all the drama, in the end the best, the triumph, and the crown goes to the Alonso. I am not always the biggest fan of Alonso, but he raced the Ferrari from 11th to P1, never losing sight of the finish line and kept hustling lap after lap. He commanded and deserved all the respect and congratulations from not just the home crowd in Valencia but F1 fans everywhere. Well done!

So who wins the Best Post-race hair at the European Grand Prix, you ask? It goes to none other than Alonso, who also showed some real emotions on the podium with real tears. And what of the Grid Girls? It's another classy but boring showing - Ferrari-red dress with white bow as belt, reminds me of Christmas present. Are the Valencia Grid Girls the Spanish gifts to the world? Where are all the fashion designers - Grid Girl outfits need some excitement! I'm holding out some hope that the Grid Girl outfits will get better in the next race. It's been an unbelievably exciting Grand Prix weekend in Valencia, can't wait for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on July 6-8!

Race Review: Monaco Grand Prix

Tag Heuer grid girls atmosphere. Monaco Street Circuit 26/05/12. ©2012 WRI2. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: www.wri2.net

Beautiful location, Check. Royalties, Check. Challenging street circuit, check. The Monaco Grand Prix is like no other Grand Prix. Drivers who have won here show an extra twinkle in their eyes when they recall their win. The prestige of winning here is priceless.

Much of that, surely, is due to the mental and physical demands of racing at top speeds for 78 laps, where smallest of errors through the narrow streets can bring the race to an abrupt end; another part is that legends are made on this track. Ayrton Senna won 6 times at this track. Schumacher 5 times. All the championship top contenders for this season have won once or twice around this track before.

This year is no different. One particular contender, Mark Webber, often overlooked and over-shadowed by double World Champion teammate, came out a-blazing and took home the Gold medal. Vindication through victory has never been sweeter. It was as if stars were aligned for Webber to win at Monaco.

First, Schumacher lost the all-important pole position after qualifying due to a 5-place grid drop penalty, resulted from running into Bruno Senna in the last race. It must have been bittersweet for Schumacher to come so close to leading the race to fighting all the way, and ultimately out of the race due to car troubles. The luck continued for Webber when Vettel qualified 9th. With a pole position at hand on a track where it's nearly impossible to overtake, raindrops that teased but never came until after the race, Webber sealed the win with a spectacular well-deserved drive. He also won the Best Post-race Five o'clock shadow in my books. Rosberg still won Best Post-race hair though, someone please find out what shampoo he uses!

I didn't see too much of the grid girls on the race coverage, but the few shots I saw left me wondering where is the glamour and classy factor in the outfit. An upside-down triangle cutout near the bosoms in a white top over black shorts? I didn’t know what to expect but I certainly expected more from Monaco! Well, hopefully the grid girls outfit will improve in the Canadian Grand Prix on weekend of 6/8!

Formula 1: Man Versus Machine

If there's a consistently insisted, single line of criticism of Formula 1 leveled by fans of other racing series or sports, it's that F1 is all about the technology and the strategy, but the driver is essentially an afterthought; it lacks the human component that drives so much of the drama in NASCAR… It's racing for nerds. That assumption illustrates probably the largest single hurdle the sport faces in coming back to America.

In 2004, Michael Schumacher won the last of his record seven world championship titles in F1. Schumacher holds more F1 records than any other driver, from wins (91), to wins at a single circuit (five at Monza), to pole positions starts (68). His lifetime win percentage is a staggering 31 percent. Yet, at the height of his reign, the criticism of him, his Ferrari team, its boss Ross Brawn, and the FIA were at fever pitch. The "Red Parade" was ruining the sport, according to fans and critics. Imagine Sebastian Vettel's ludicrously dominant 2011 season lasting for five consecutive years.

Schumacher already had something of a bad reputation going into his five season championship streak, thanks to a race ending but championship deciding crash with Damon Hill in 1994, and a similar incident in 1997 with Jacques Villeneuve that resulted in him being the only driver in the history of F1 to be disqualified from an entire season due to dangerous driving. Many fans and members of the press, including the legendary Gordon Murray, still have not forgiven him for actions that in other racing series would likely qualify him as the most entertaining driver, like, for example, Dale "The Intimidator" Earnhardt. For hardcore fans, Michael's reign was stultifying, but F1 has never experienced such a surge in global interest as the years when he and his Ferrari were unbeatable. Even in America, by the way, with both Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan publicly and repeatedly expressing their admiration for him.

Regardless of the frenzy, Michael won, frequently and repeatedly, by simply outdriving everyone else, including his Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello. The point is, that just as in any other racing series, the driver matters. In fact, the driver is key. Coming to that conclusion could be as simple as looking at the final standings for any given season. In 2011 for example, Sebastian Vettel won the championship by a colossal margin, while teammate Mark Webber, ostensibly driving identical Red Bull RB7 chassis, finished in a distant third, with McLaren's Jenson Button, who was the 2009 world champion, in second. Button's teammate, Lewis Hamilton, who was the 2008 world champ, finished fifth, behind Fernando Alonso of Ferrari. Alonso's teammate, Felipe Massa, possibly suffering from Steve Blass Disease after almost being killed by an errant suspension component during qualifying for the 2009 Turkish Hungarian Grand Prix, came in sixth, but 109 points behind Hamilton. If, as some contend, the driver doesn't matter, or at least doesn't matter as much as the car, the team and the race strategy, then why the disparity?

Formula 1 drivers are physically fairly uniform creatures. They are lean, they are fit, they are as highly tuned as the machines they pilot, and to a degree they're fairly interchangeable. But so are most athletes. Mid-season trades don't throw a baseball team into chaos. Usually. The players adapt to the new teammates, the new roles, and they continue to do what they've trained to do. Most professional athletes are also genetically dispossessed of a certain sense of self-preservation. Think about Pete Rose leveling Ray Fosse at the plate in the 1970 All-Star game. No rational person would even think about attempting that. Professional athletes are programmed to compete and to win regardless of risk.

You do have to accept the fact there are F1 teams that aren't as well funded as others, and therefore don't have cars that are as advanced, or mechanics that are as experienced, or drivers that are as mentally and physiologically perfected. Also accept that the heavy hitters like Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull, will absorb as much talent (not necessarily drivers, but designers and engineers) as is available simply due to their ability to pay for it, leaving the backmarker teams to fight over "scraps". It's the same as with the New York Yankees, simultaneously the most successful and most hated team in all of professional sports (at least in the States). Most true fans despise those unsavory aspects of the business of sports, and the governing bodies do what they can to level the playing field, but what can you do? You accept it and root for the underdog, in most cases.

So the assumption now has something of a premise… Do the underlying principles of business that make a sport like F1 possible denigrate the role of driver?

That brings us back to Schumacher during the Ferrari years, aka the Yankees of F1. But what if he'd been stuck in a wheezy Pacific-Ilmor, that in '94, out of 16 races, only managed to qualify for seven between both cars, and finish none of them? He'd have lost. A lot. But would he have given up and tried his hand at touring cars, or would he have shown enough raw talent that he'd have still ended up with a winning career? The question is, can a great driver in a mediocre car can transcend the machine's limitations, and maybe even win with it? If you can honestly answer no, then you’re right, the driver doesn’t matter.

Except it happens all the time. And if I'm honest, that's why I am a fan. If you still hold the belief that the driver doesn't matter in F1, then you discount the accomplishments of Ayrton Senna in an otherwise hopeless Toleman in the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix, or just a few weeks ago, Fernando Alonso piloting a generally disappointing Ferrari chassis to victory at Sepang. All of the amazing come from behind victories, the perfect drives, when the driver seems to be possessed by God. Or a god.

I personally think the misconception that drivers are perfectly interchangeable, and that winning just comes down to the car, at least with regard to American racing fans, is three-fold. First and foremost, lack of familiarity with the sport means assumptions about the drivers’ role come down to preconceived bias. It's just like anything else, really. If you're predisposed to like riff intensive, Zeppelin-esque rock, but cringe at high pitched, whiny lead vocals, you're going to have a hard time listening to Rush even if it's more or less your kind of music. But you can still learn to like Rush if you're a drummer, a bassist, or a Canadian. There's almost always an in. So it goes with F1 for fans of other racing series, or of sports in general. It's competitive. It has history. It's loud. It's fast. Most sports fans have an in.

Which brings us to issue number two: drivers that we as Americans can relate to. Right now, there really are none. That might soon change. Alexander Rossi, a 20-year old Californian with a solid record in several European race series, was named a test driver for Caterham this season. We'll be following Rossi as the season progresses. Time will tell if he's the next Phil Hill. The funny thing is, when you're abroad, F1 drivers are fairly ubiquitous in the public eye. Maybe not quite as famous as football stars, but more or less relative to the fame of NASCAR drivers on these shores. Fernando Alonso's face is plastered on everything from ice cream to buses in Spain, and Jenson Button sells you Head & Shoulders in France.

Which is really a segue to the third point. Drivers are celebrities in most parts of the world. They're endorsing products, speaking about "habits of a winner" to youth conventions, appearing in cameos on television, or being interviewed on a morning chat show. You recognize them, you know something about them, and to some degree you're invested in their success based on their personalities or their personal lives. That's the basis for celebrity anywhere you go in the world.

Unfortunately for American audiences, we don't have passive access to the drivers. If you want to know about Mark Webber, you have to actively seek out that information. At that point, it's something of a chicken or the egg scenario, where you need to be a fan of the racing to discover which drivers you most connect with, but you probably won't become a fan unless you're able to somehow connect with the people competing.

So here's a bold hypothesis, even if it's not that original - if Formula 1 racing is going to be successful in America, then Formula 1 needs to find ways to create access to the drivers. The driver is once again the key. Speed Network's Seat Swap was and is always a stellar way to demonstrate the differences between two very different forms of racing and the machines, but also the similarities, particularly with regard to the drivers. Tony Stewart and Lewis Hamilton trading rides, trading barbs, and hanging out? Why can't we do this every week? And I don’t for a second believe that F1’s European roots hobble it for American audiences. If that’s the case, then how do you explain Top Gear?

Americans need somebody to root for. This is undoubtedly a reason Caterham picked Rossi as a test driver (which is also a way of saying reserve driver who can be subbed in or even take over for a faltering Heikki Kovalainen or Vitaly Petrov), and why we might begin to see other teams signing young American drivers. To be fair, it's going to be a tough sell for a young, talented driver with a professional manager who wants to actually make money to sidestep NASCAR and its many feeder series in favor of politically and financially volatile Formula 1. It's going to require a driver with mammoth talent, patience, and the devil may care sense of competitive adventure of drivers like Dan Gurney to succeed in what was and will likely remain a Europe-centric sport. But where one leads, hopefully others will follow.

Racing has been a part of human society ever since man first jumped onto the back of a shaggy goat and goaded Grog to catch him. Grog slow like sloth. Formula 1 likes to sell itself as the pinnacle of motor racing, but in reality, it's racing like any other. If you can get over your bias regarding its innate European-ness or its lack of "rubbing", or even just be willing to put it aside in favor of everything you love about racing or competition in general, then just like Rush's Moving Pictures, you can learn to say F1 rocks.

And in case I lost you along the way, yes, the driver matters. Not just to victory, but the overall success of the sport.