Last Updated on October 20 2024, 4:31 pm

The Circuit of the Americas is a modern day classic motorsport venue with more high speed corners than the longest F1 track in Spa Francorchamps together with more slow corners than Kart style Hungaroring.

Being the first ever circuit purpose built for Formula One in the USA, the history behind the creation of the track is one mired in intrigue and double dealing. At one point during a halt in construction in 2011, Bernie Ecclestone threatened to cancel the F1 contract with the various COTA owners who quickly resolved their dispute in an out of court settlement.

One of the reasons COTA is such an impressive motor racing venue for Formula One is that its design borrows significantly from other epic sections from historic circuits in Europe. The layout requires high levels of downforce through sector one which is then complimented by one of the longest straights in F1.

 

 

 

COTA becoming permanent Sprint venue

So despite the high speed nature of the track, the F1 teams pile on the downforce when coming to Austin, Texas. One of the more important pieces of data which emerges each time F1 visits COTA are the speeds the cars hit through at various places on the track.

The official FIA monitored speed trap is placed at the end of the back straight before turn 12 where Mercedes’ George Russell had a huge crash towards the end of Grand Prix qualifying. Yet the speed along the start/finish line is also critical given turn 1 is a prime spot for overtaking.

The USGP appears to be establishing itself as a permanent venue on the F1 calendar for one of the six Sprint race weekends held each year. These weekends at times make for organised chaos, given the teams and drivers have just one hour of Friday practice before the competitive sessions begin.

Sprint weekends have become a little easier to manage this season since the decision was taken to cancel parc ferme after the Sprint and before Grand Prix qualifying. Now the teams can apply some of their learning from the two Sprint track sessions and have one last opportunity to fine tune the setup of the car before the final Saturday afternoon GP qualifying session.

COTA resurface criticised by Pirelli

 

 

 

Surprising speed trap times in Sprint

The times recorded on Saturday made for interesting reading and provide something of a view as to how the Grand Prix may play out. Yuki Tsunoda recorded the fastest time in qualifying clocking 334.2kmh yet the margin between the quickest and slowest covered just 7kph as the teams seek to find the best setup for COTA’s undulating and high speed first sector.

Following Grand Prix qualifying, Lando Norris described his pole position as coming from the “the best lap in my career.” Yet Max Verstappen was on course to beat the McLaren time on his final run, only to be thwarted by a huge crash from George Russell which ended the session.

Norris later admitted he wasn’t sure if he wold have retained pole position had Verstappen been allowed to finish his final push attempt.

The fact that Verstappen is only fifteenth quicker through the FIA speed trap reveals how much downforce Red Bull believe they need for the high speed sector one. When comparing this to the speed trap across the start/finish line, there Max is less than 2kph slower than Alonso who was quickest.

Verstappen mind games to destabilise McLaren

 

 

 

Ferrari dark horses

Yet the real backstory from Saturday’s on track running is how the Ferrari’s went. Leclerc initially lost out to Lando Norris who went sailing up the inside into turn one passing both the Ferrari and Russell’s Mercedes to run in second place.

Carlos Sainz was then to harry his team mate for lap after lap before finally making a move in the slow section at the end of the lap which caught Leclerc off guard. The pair continued to race hard throughout the race with little regard to tyre management as Sainz revealed after the Sprint.

Having cleared his team mate, Carlos average lap time over the remaining distance was a mere 0.009s slower than that of winner Max Verstappen. The Spaniard caught and passed Lando Norris on the final lap of the Sprint, to claim second behind Max Verstappen.

So the race is setup nicely, with Norris on pole and the Red Bull driver alongside him. Then come the Ferrari duo with Sainz ahead of Leclerc, much to the Monegasques displeasure. So as Verstappen and Norris battle for the race lead, the Scuderia cars will be lying in wait.

Hamilton explains SHOCK F1 exit

 

 

 

Playing a waiting game

Even though much of COTA has been resurfaced this year delivering a pole time over two seconds quicker than last year, tyre degradation is always key at this Grand Prix venue. The race is almost always a two stop strategy call, with the drivers running one set of medium tyres and two sets of the C2 hards.

With just a twenty second loss for a pit stop, this year Verstappen and Norris may be tempted in to removing all worries of tyre degradation and attempt a three stop strategy. Ferrari don’t need to consider this given their superior tyre wear and may find the race comes to them, rather than having to push hard on track to make overtakes.

Marko belittles McLaren protest

 

 

 

Zak Brown put back in his box by FA official

This weekend’s Formula One drama surrounds Red Bull Racing and the potential for them doing something outside the rules as laid down by the FIA. Prior to the USGP F1’s governing body had issued a clarification over a certain component which all the teams have on their cars.

Of course this ignited the fires of indigence under Zak Brown who has taken the reigns from Toto Wolff as Red Bull Racing’s biggest critic. Brown believes the FIA should launch an investigation to see if Red Bull has used this ride height adjuster during parc ferme which is illegal.

Yet the context of this particular mini spat appears to clearly reveal Red Bull have not in fact been ‘cheating’ given the information provided by the FIA… READ MORE