United States GP - Sliding back into the USA
Austin, 16 November
On Sunday, for the penultimate round of this year’s Formula 1 World Championship, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa will have to complete 56 laps of this stunning new Circuit of the Americas. Today, both men already exceeded that total, the Brazilian by three laps and the Spaniard by eight. It’s inevitable on a new circuit that drivers are keen to familiarise themselves as much as possible with a track layout they have only seen previously on a simulator, while the engineers need as much data to validate the predictions they made in terms of car configuration based on those simulations, prior to coming here.
Like all the newest tracks on the calendar, COTA, to give it its abbreviated name, is the work of Hermann Tilke and if practice makes perfect, then this American track is certainly gaining plaudits from everyone in the paddock. Its 5.5 kilometres seem to contain every type of corner known to man and some visually stunning sections like the steep hill that rises from the end of the pit straight, as if the climb of Eau Rouge has moved from Spa in Belgium to Austin in Texas. Formula 1 has not exactly captured the public imagination in the United States in recent years, so it was also gratifying to see that even Friday practice drew quite a big crowd on the sport’s return to the land of Stars ‘n Stripes after a four year absence.
The first conundrum confronting all twelve teams was the fact that, even allowing for this being a brand new track surface, it was slipperier and offered less grip than expected, which made it difficult to assess the worth of new updates brought here and aggravated the task of finding the best balance on the cars as they were sliding around through the corners. In addition, any “European” preconceived idea of Texas always being hot has certainly been proved false, as F1 personnel have been unpacking their heavy jackets for the first time since the aforementioned Belgian weekend. This has added to the difficulty of finding grip and getting the Medium and Hard Pirellis working as they should.
At the end of the day – one that started with FP1 at 9 in the morning rather than the more usual 11 – Fernando Alonso was third fastest, while Felipe Massa was sixth. Quickest in both sessions was the man who leads the Spanish Ferrari driver by 10 points in the classification: this afternoon Sebastian Vettel took his Red Bull around the track in a time that was an impressive seven and a half tenths quicker than anyone else, starting with his team-mate Mark Webber. In between Fernando and Felipe on the time sheet, in fourth and fifth places is the McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.
On Sunday, for the penultimate round of this year’s Formula 1 World Championship, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa will have to complete 56 laps of this stunning new Circuit of the Americas. Today, both men already exceeded that total, the Brazilian by three laps and the Spaniard by eight. It’s inevitable on a new circuit that drivers are keen to familiarise themselves as much as possible with a track layout they have only seen previously on a simulator, while the engineers need as much data to validate the predictions they made in terms of car configuration based on those simulations, prior to coming here.
Like all the newest tracks on the calendar, COTA, to give it its abbreviated name, is the work of Hermann Tilke and if practice makes perfect, then this American track is certainly gaining plaudits from everyone in the paddock. Its 5.5 kilometres seem to contain every type of corner known to man and some visually stunning sections like the steep hill that rises from the end of the pit straight, as if the climb of Eau Rouge has moved from Spa in Belgium to Austin in Texas. Formula 1 has not exactly captured the public imagination in the United States in recent years, so it was also gratifying to see that even Friday practice drew quite a big crowd on the sport’s return to the land of Stars ‘n Stripes after a four year absence.
The first conundrum confronting all twelve teams was the fact that, even allowing for this being a brand new track surface, it was slipperier and offered less grip than expected, which made it difficult to assess the worth of new updates brought here and aggravated the task of finding the best balance on the cars as they were sliding around through the corners. In addition, any “European” preconceived idea of Texas always being hot has certainly been proved false, as F1 personnel have been unpacking their heavy jackets for the first time since the aforementioned Belgian weekend. This has added to the difficulty of finding grip and getting the Medium and Hard Pirellis working as they should.
At the end of the day – one that started with FP1 at 9 in the morning rather than the more usual 11 – Fernando Alonso was third fastest, while Felipe Massa was sixth. Quickest in both sessions was the man who leads the Spanish Ferrari driver by 10 points in the classification: this afternoon Sebastian Vettel took his Red Bull around the track in a time that was an impressive seven and a half tenths quicker than anyone else, starting with his team-mate Mark Webber. In between Fernando and Felipe on the time sheet, in fourth and fifth places is the McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.
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