Yesterday I arrived in Austin from Los Angeles, excited to visit this fun city, spend some time with my sister and her husband, catch up with friends from high school, and….attend the Formula 1 U.S. Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas this weekend!

We attended the first USGP (U.S. Grand Prix) at COTA (Circuit of the Americas) in 2012 and had a blast. Our schedules have not allowed us to return, until now.

When I arrived at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport yesterday afternoon (a really cool airport, by the way. Live music, a Longhorn fan store, free WiFi for 1.5 hours, lots of plugs for charging and eats from The Salt Lick Bar-B-Que and Amy’s Ice Creams to name a few highlights), I was greeted with ads from Mobile 1/Honda/McLaren.

I like this one on the stairs leading up to the airline club lounges. Note also the Dell signs to the right. Apparently there’s a Dell conference of some sort this week (Dell headquarters are in Round Rock, north of Austin), and their ads were quite clever.

After I picked up my bag, I checked my twitter feed and I saw something about Manor F1 driver Alexander Rossi cooking/serving at the Chi’Lantro BBQ truck starting at 2:00 PM. I still had to retrieve my rental car, but I thought I might be able to get there.

I rushed over, arriving slightly after 3:00 PM to learn that the truck was closed for the day. Bummer. But, sitting at the picnic tables in front of the truck was Alexander Rossi.

Recently, Rossi, who was a reserve driver for the Manor F1 team, was named a driver for Manor F1 at several of their final races for this season. There has not been an American F1 driver since 2007 when Scott Speed raced for the Toro Rosso team. As this is the US Grand Prix, there is a quite a bit of excitement for an American driver to race in front of American fans at Circuit of the Americas!

Meeting Alexander Rossi

Rossi was talking to the crew from NBC Sports as they had just concluded an interview with Will Buxton and Jason Swales. I was able to chat with him for a few minutes before he had to leave for more PR engagements, and we talked about the sound of the new engines. He said that you can hear different things now that the engines are quieter, like the tires. I’m excited to hear the cars tomorrow during the first two practice sessions.

He graciously posed for a picture with me – I couldn’t believe how tall he is once he stood from the table. He said he’s 6’2″!! That is quite tall for a racer.

I also asked to pose with Will and Jason, who were fully decked out in Texas attire!

Three years ago at the first USGP, Will hosted, “Buxton’s Big Time Bash,” at a local bar. It was a fun time meeting fellow F1 fans before the race weekend. I was excited to meet the man behind the fake Charlie Whiting twitter account, and I also met Will! It was fun to see him again yesterday, and he said that we must attend his fourth annual bash as there are many drivers planning to attend and surprises in store. The bash is tonight at the Rattle Inn. More information can be found here.

Here’s a photo of me and Will at the first bash in 2012.

To cap off my drop by Chi’Lantro, I met Blair Soden, the executive producer of the NBC Sports show, “Off the Grid,” and a Penn alumna! We had a bit of a moment when Will asked us about Penn State!

Needless to say, but I was quite excited to meet all these folks yesterday afternoon. We are looking forward to the Formula 1 Fan Forum and Will’s bash tonight, and then tomorrow the fun begins on the track with practice sessions (fingers crossed the predicted rain holds off).