Inspired by Spa-Francorchamps, Silverstone and Hockenheim, the Circuit of the Americas is a celebration of Formula One’s greatest hits – and has become one of the sport’s most exciting and anticipated events. Against the backdrop of the city of Austin, a touchstone for music and culture, you have all the ingredients for a great Grand Prix.
- Sectors
- Turns
- DRS
Featuring high-speed sections, technical corners and overtaking opportunities, the Circuit of the Americas is one of Formula One's most popular modern venues. Analysing recent car performance and historic data, our Title Sponsor Cognizant presents the challenges expected in the United States Grand Prix.
Cognizant's Keys to the Race
Designed to evoke the majesty of corners such as Maggotts and Becketts and Istanbul's Turn Eight, there are many highlights across a lap of the Circuit of the Americas. Our official Cyber Security Partner SentinelOne presents the key challenges behind a lap of Austin.
Unlocking the lap
Blasting along the start/finish line at 300km/h (186mph), drivers are met with the first key moment of the lap: an incline to Turn One that's steeper than Spa’s Eau Rouge/Raidillon.
Braking starts while driving uphill, and the entry is largely blind, meaning it's easy to lock-up. The sharp-left corner then tightens, offering multiple points of attack and defence, but the narrowing exit can be a flashpoint in the race.
Next up is the slaloming high-speed run through Turns Two to Six, which is inspired by the Maggotts-Becketts-Chapel complex at Silverstone, taken at an average of roughly 260km/h (162mph). Entry speed, finding the flow, and throttle precision are key to this section.
Turns Seven and Eight are modelled on Interlagos's Senna Esses, and Turn Nine ends the quick-fire right-left transitions.
Unlocking the lap
The circuit begins to open up when drivers reach the elevation change of Turn 10, which is followed by a hairpin and then the longest straight on the circuit at 1,016 metres. It’s one of the best overtaking spots on the lap, and boosted with DRS ahead of a hard braking zone conducive to passing.
The slower and technical Turns 13 to 15 evoke Hockenheim's Stadium Section. It begins with a hard-braking point, with speeds dropping to as low as 97km/h (60mph).
Turns 16 to 18 are modelled on Istanbul's Turn Eight. It’s a sweeping multi-apex corner where any errors are compounded in lap time due to the length of the corner.
Turn 19 is the last challenge of the lap, where running wide is often punished with lap time deletions or in-race warnings, before the final corner brings the drivers back onto the start/finish line to end the lap.
I love racing in Austin, and it's great to be able to spend some time at home in Canada to recharge ahead of the Grand Prix.
Lance's preview
"I love racing in Austin, and it's great to be able to spend some time at home in Canada to recharge ahead of the Grand Prix. It's a critical race for the team, and we'll be giving it everything in pursuit of more points. It's a challenging track with the first sector having a flow element in contrast with the final sector which demands precision, making it quite easy to run wide. We'll be pushing the limit to find the limit in the build-up to Sunday."
We're looking to bounce back in Austin.
Sebastian's preview
"We're looking to bounce back in Austin. As we've seen in recent races, we have the pace to fight in the midfield, but it's such a close fight, and it's very easy to miss out on points. This circuit really tests the set-up of the car, so the key is to maximise practice and build on it going into qualifying and the race."
From sweeping elevation changes to quickfire changes of direction, the Circuit of the Americas packs a punch. Global Partner NetApp delves into the United States Grand Prix archives to bring you the best stats and facts from Austin.
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