19/10/2017
NEWS STORY
There have been a number of changes at the Circuit of the Americas ahead of this weekend's United States Grand Prix.
Firstly, the kerb on the exit of Turn 9 has been replaced by a double kerb through the addition of a 50mm negative section behind the existing kerb. Furthermore, three additional bumps have been installed downstream of the existing bumps on the exit of Turns 11 and 20.
Finally, additional TecPro barriers have been installed in parts of the barriers at Turns 1, 4, 6, 12 and 19.
There are two DRS zones, the detection point of the first is 150m after Turn 10, with the activation point 320m after Turn 11.
The second zone's detection point is 65m after Turn 18, with the activation point 80m after Turn 20, on the start/finish straight.
Tyre compounds this year are ultrasoft, supersoft and soft, a step softer than last year when the medium, softs and supersofts were avaialable.
Lewis Hamilton won last year's race on a two-stop strategy, starting on softs, before further stints on soft and then mediums. Second placed Nico Rosberg, opted for a soft-medium-medium strategy, while third-placed Daniel Ricciardo went supersoft-soft and medium.
Fourth-placed Vettel was one of five drivers to try a three stop strategy, the German starting on supersofts before switching to softs, mediums and then back to supersofts.
Check out our Thursday gallery from Austin, here.