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Inaugurated in 2012, the Circuit
of the Americas is the 10th venue to have hosted a Formula One grand prix in
the United States, and it has proved to be extremely popular since its
inception. The track is well known for its spectacular elevation changes of
up to 40 metres, with an uphill run to the distinctive Turn 1, which is a
hairpin bend and the signature corner. The track contains an ample variety
of corners, which incorporate some of the best elements from other circuits,
making it a wide-ranging challenge that tests every aspect of tyre
performance. The weather is equally variable, with warm conditions common
during the afternoon but frequently cool temperatures in the mornings,
making it reasonably hard to get an accurate read on track conditions. This
year, as was the case in 2014, the versatile medium and soft P Zero tyres
have been nominated.
Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director: “The United States always
offers us a very warm welcome and a fantastic race weekend. Like all the
other stakeholders in Formula One, America is a crucial market for us so
it’s very important for us to have a race there. It’s a track that contains
a bit of everything in terms of what it asks from the tyres, so we’ve
brought the soft and medium compounds, which are versatile enough to cope
with a wide range of demands and weather conditions. With the
driver’s championship entering a decisive phase there’s obviously going to
be a lot of attention on the race, and we can think of no better place to
showcase Formula One. The track configuration and tyre choice offer plenty
of opportunities for overtaking and strategy, with a reasonably short pit
lane time loss too, so we could be on for quite an unpredictable race, which
is what people want to see. It’s rarely an open and shut competition, as we
saw from the wide variety of strategies used last year.”
The biggest challenges for the tyres:
In total there are 20 quite varied corners, including a tricky uphill
braking area for the unusual turn one (the highest point of the track),
giving the anticlockwise circuit a distinctly different feel for the
drivers.
The track limits are deliberately wide at the corners, in order to encourage
different lines and provide opportunities for overtaking.
There are three long straights that tend to cool down the tyres, making the
braking areas critical, as tyre temperature will have dropped slightly. This
also then affects the turn-in into fast corners, as the compound has to get
back up to temperature very quickly. In the past, track temperatures have
varied from 18 to 37 degrees centigrade within one day, making tyre
temperature management a vital skill.
The set-up tends to be medium downforce with an emphasis on mechanical grip
from the tyres; especially at the front to aid a rapid turn-in during the
fast direction changes that characterise the first half of the lap. There is
roughly 60% full throttle and 10 braking events: about average for the
season.
Last year’s strategy and how the race was won: Lewis Hamilton won for
Mercedes from second on the grid with a two-stop strategy (in previous
years, the winning strategy in Austin was a one-stopper).
He started the 56-lap race on the soft tyre and then pitted for mediums on
laps 16 and 33, although an early safety car affected his strategy.
Expected performance gap between the two compounds: 0.8 seconds per lap.
The Pirelli team choose their race numbers: #13, Greg Thomas, GP2 engineer
“That’s easy: 13. It’s often avoided in the motorsport world as people think
it’s unlucky. But I believe that you make your own luck. And in Italy and
China, 13 is considered as a lucky number anyway!” |
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