Austin, TX this weekend... Yeeeehaaaw!
Race Preview 2013 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX 14-17 NOVEMBER 2013 For the penultimate race of the 2013 season, Formula One makes it way to Texas and Austin’s Circuit of the Americas, the second time the sport has visited the 5.513km track. Immediately popular with most F1 drivers on its inauguration last year, the counter-clockwise circuit is an intriguing blend of corner types, with sections modeled on famous stretches of some of the world’s most celebrated grand prix tracks. The first sector in particular was singled out for praise by many drivers due to the challenge presented by its first corner, approached up a steep hill and featuring a blind apex, and because of the rapid changes of direction through turns four to six, said to resemble the Maggots-Becketts complex at Silverstone. Sector two contains a long straight ending in a good overtaking opportunity at Turn 12, while the final sector is a more technical stretch similar in style to Hockenheim’s stadium section and the tricky Turn 19, a downhill medium-speed left-hander which many branded the toughest corner on the track to get right. Last year’s race was notable for high track evolution over the weekend and cold weather that made getting tyres up to optimum working temperature difficult. With Sebastian Vettel and his Red Bull Racing team untouchable in the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships attention turns to the runners-up spots, particularly in the teams’ competition. There, Mercedes, on 334 points, have an 11-point lead over Ferrari. However, the momentum is marginally with the Silvers Arrows, who have scored 67 points over the last four races compared with the Prancing Horse’s 49. In the driver’s battle, with third-placed Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus set to miss the final two rounds of the season, second-placed Fernando Alonso of Ferrari looks certain to claim the runners-up spot.