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AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL

Over 100,000 fans are expected to attend the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas. The multi-functional 900-acre site will also showcase music shows by Justin Timberlake and Stevie Wonder, promising fans a “Festival of speed and sound”.

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AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL
Fuente imagen: Google

 

 

 

The anticlockwise track is part of the Formula One calendar since 2012. Designed by Hermann Tilke, the circuit encompasses 5.513 km (3.426-mile).

The title contenders Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton, both hold lap records to date on the track.

Vettel set the race lap record on board his Red Bull, back in 2012, with a time of 1:39.347, while Lewis Hamilton scored the qualifying lap record, setting a time of 1:34.999 with his W07 Mercedes, last year.

Once and again we can expect records to be broken by the 2017 spec´s cars.

 

As Pirelli´s head of car racing, Mario Isola has stated: “For America, we’re once again taking a softer range of compounds that we have done for previous races there, with the ultrasoft available in Austin for the first time-”

This should bring lap times down, continuing the trend we have seen over the course of the season.“

Weather will keep its unpredictable factor as seen during the latest venues. With temperatures expected to raise as high as 30 degrees Celsius during the weekend, storms have not been ruled out of the books just yet.

FORMULA ONE & INDYCAR

When it comes to an American racing driver in Formula One, the living legend of Mario Andretti is the figure that comes to mind.

His successful journey racing in both series- at times, is as remarkable as singular, a story written in gold, a very special chapter in racing history.

Mario Andretti is the last American driver to win a race in Formula One, back in 1978, at the Dutch Grand Prix, while Alexander Rossi (26) is the latest American driver to attempt a career in the series. His made an official debut in 2015 with the Manor Marussia team, making just five starts that season.

The “formula” was condemned to failure. The small team struggled heavily with a constant lack of resources, which finally would lead the team to give its farewell to Formula One by the end of that same year.

By consequence, Rossi left the series to start a career in Indycar (2016) with Andretti Autosport – he went on to achieve great success winning the 100th edition of Indianapolis 500 later that year as a rookie- a partnership to be continued in the years to come. Andretti and Honda have already confirmed the American driver will remain as part of the 2018 line-up, alongside teammates Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti.

"The improvements that we have made this year and the relationships that I have built within the team over the past two seasons created the foundation for a very exciting future." said Rossi.

A home race for HAAS F1 Team

As an American team, having an F1 race on American soil is incredibly important. When we arrived in Austin last year, I think we had proven that we could hold our own with the established teams of Formula One.” Gene Haas said .

The team managed to score a point last season with Romain Grosjean at COTA, finishing his debut year 8th at the Constructor´s championship standings, with a total of 29 points.

The French driver was responsible for scoring all the team points that year, ending 13th at the Driver´s championship. Grosjean´s teammate Esteban Gutierrez scored no point during the season.

The second year of the HAAS-Ferrari team in Formula One has been challenging, but the team face the championship in good will and so far has 43 points in the overall standings, 28 by the hand of Romain Grosjean and 15 by Danish teammate Kevin Magnussen.

When asked about "pay drivers" in Formula One and the team business model, Haas commented: “ ...I think our point of view has always been that we need to score points and that's how we make money moving forward. So that's our business model.”

TEAM IMPRESSIONS AHEAD OF THE UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX

Team Principal, Guenther Steiner said: Last year we scored a point at COTA and we’ll try to do better this year.” “[COTA sees] the last upgrade for our car this year. The modifications are on the bargeboard sides and on the floor of the car. It’s easily recognizable when you see the car what has changed.”

Romain Grosjean

Austin is always a special one for us. It shows that we’re growing up. We’re going there for the second time in our history, and off the back of eighth- and ninth-place finishes, which is pretty good.

I’ve always loved Austin, but since I’ve been a Haas driver, I love it even more. I haven’t had the chance to have a national grand prix – that’ll come next year in France – but Austin is the one where I get to represent America.

Kevin Magnussen

It’s fantastic being on an American team, racing at an American venue. COTA is a really cool track. It’s one of the better new tracks on the F1 calendar. They’ve done a really good job there. The braking zone for Turn 1 is really uphill, so you can brake really late. You can’t see the apex of the exit, but the track is so wide you can choose different lines.”

It’s certainly one of the better tracks for overtaking. It always makes for a good show.

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