Formula 1 United States Grand Prix

The 2013 season is coming to a close and the penultimate round of the season kicks off this weekend at the Circuit of the Americas. This tremendous and relatively new race track is a hit with fans and teams. The United States is an important market for Formula 1 and Austin has proved to be a hit. But who will be crowned the head cowboy this weekend? It's going to be an exciting race I suspect, let's dive into the facts.

Circuit Of The Americas
The Facts:
Lap: 5.513 km
Race Laps: 56
Lap Record: 1:39.347
S.Vettel (2012)
2012 Winner: Lewis Hamilton
Race Date: 17.11.2013
Safety Car – Unlikely
Weather – Warm & Sunny
Tyre Allocation – Medium & Hard
DRS Zones: Pit-straight and between turns 11 – 12

2013 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix

After the last race in Abu Dhabi it's hard to bet against Sebastian Vettel for victory in Austin as he clearly aims to match Michael Schumacher's record of 13 wins in a season. With the circuit being so elevated, it poses many challenges. Some refer to this as a greatest hits style circuit, copying great sections of race track from around the world. But it is rather unique and it looks tremendous on the television too. Many of the drivers really enjoy coming here, Jenson Button is one of them. “I had one of my most enjoyable races of the season at the Circuit of the Americas last year – I'd struggled in qualifying, starting 12th, but just got my head down on Sunday afternoon, had a great fight, and eventually finished fifth, which was extremely satisfying. The first sector of this circuit ranks as one of the best parts of a racetrack anywhere in the world. The first corner is really tricky, because it's steep and blind, after that, the circuit just winds through an incredibly fast switchback until the heavy braking for the back straight. After such an intense start to the lap, the straight offers a bit of a breather until you commit once again to the final sector, which is a series of slow-speed, quite technical corners. Again, there's a real variety of corner here, and it's fun to nail the sequence. It's definitely a place where accumulated knowledge of the layout can add to your speed”. The sport is attracting some much needed attention in America, after the disaster of 2005, Formula 1 needs to impress once again and certainly did that last year, this year should be no different.

With the tight and twisty sections of track coupled with high speed and elevation, Pirelli have chosen the Medium and Hard compounds for this race. Paul Hembery explains, “The hard and medium tyres are the best choice for the United States Grand Prix, because it's a circuit that places several high energy demands on the tyres, so you need the most durable compounds in the range. There are some fast corners and many rapid elevation changes as well: in that respect it's a bit like Spa. When you have more energy going through the tyre, you have a bigger heat build-up, which is what increases wear and degradation. Now that we're coming to the USA for the second time we have a better idea of what to expect, whereas last year when we also nominated the hard and the medium, it was much more of a step into the unknown. This year's compounds are softer, so we would expect around two pit stops in the race, depending also on the rate of track evolution. Even though it's November we're still likely to have warm weather, which obviously affects thermal degradation too”. With 2 stops expected to be the strategy of choice, we could see some try to gamble on a one stop like in Abu Dhabi two weeks ago. It will certainly play a major part in the race once again.

Ones to Watch

Lewis Hamilton won here last season and he is certainly one to watch this year, however the main man is of course Sebastian Vettel. Will it be pole position and the race win? I wouldn't be at all surprised. But Mark Webber will surely want to take a victory away from his final F1 season, what about on form Romain Grosjean? There are a number of drivers out there who are real contenders for the victory this weekend.

That is except for Kimi Raikkonen who will miss the final two races of this season for Lotus after having apparent back surgery on Tuesday. People may think and say different things about Kimi's reason for not finishing the season after all the goings on recently. But his replacement is yet to be announced, however according to sources it is unlikely to be Davide Valsecchi. After talking to a member of the team shortly after the news broke, Lotus have apparently approached Nico Hulkenberg who bought himself out of his Sauber contract earlier this year. Stay tuned for the very latest updates via my Twitter account.

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