19/10/2022
NEWS STORY
Seb: "I made my Formula One debut at the US Grand Prix, at Indianapolis, 15 years ago. It is always a great feeling to return - especially to such an exciting track, with lots of really challenging sectors. As ever, it is tough to predict exactly where we will be in the midfield battle, but recent races have shown we can regularly challenge for points positions, so I feel confident. We want to carry our positive momentum all the way to the end of the season."
Lance: "Austin Is an incredible city that has an electric atmosphere throughout the F1 weekend, I am really excited to get lapping at Circuit of the Americas. We have shown great pace in recent races and I believe we will here as well. Additionally, we now find ourselves in a fight for sixth position in the Constructors’ Championship after a couple of strong team results, so we will be looking to pick up more points and close that gap in the standings."
Insight and Speed with Cognizant
Overtaking: COTA tends to feature a good number of overtakes - with 40 on average being made outside of the first lap and restarts. Some 72 per cent of passes are made using DRS - with the two zones being situated on the runs to Turns One and 12, the latter being the preferred spot for moves.
Safety Cars: The Safety Car has not been used here since 2015 and has only made an appearance four times in total. Virtual Safety Cars are a bit more common, with five uses since its inception. The VSC rate is above average and is also in part due to a retirement rate above the norm.
Strategy: The middle selection of tyre compounds - the C2, C3 and C4, will be used for the first of three consecutive race weekends. This is not usually a one-stop race. Ease of overtaking, a short pit-lane delta and high tyre degradation are factors that all come into play.
Unlocking the Lap
A lap begins with a climb of almost 30 metres as the cars approach one of the most iconic hairpins on the whole calendar - Turn One. Uphill braking shortens the slow-down distance for the corner, but a very wide entry massively aids wheel-to-wheel battling. The apex is tough to spot, and the exit is tight and tricky as the cars head back downhill.
This immediately feeds into the fast, sweeping sector that takes inspiration from Silverstone's Maggotts and Becketts sequence. This is a series of seven bends in quick succession, each with their own challenges on the tyres and the car. Each is important to lap-time, with the final twist of the sequence deceptively tight.
At the end of the long back straight is Turn 12, another challenging hairpin. This is where most of the passing will happen, aided by a long DRS zone. Judging the braking point for this corner is tricky, and running wide is easy to do. Doing so then compromises the tricky sequence of corners that follow.