19
October
2015
|
13:51
Europe/Amsterdam

United States Grand Prix Preview: Austin, October 22-25, 2015

P ZERO WHITE MEDIUM AND P ZERO YELLOW SOFT COMPOUNDS FOR UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX, AS WAS THE CASE IN 2014

A WIDE RANGE OF CORNERS AND ELEVATIONS PROVIDES AN ALL-ROUND CHALLENGE FOR THE TYRES

AMBIENT TEMPERATURES VARIABLE IN TEXAS AUTUMN, LEADING TO FLUCTUATIONS IN TRACK TEMPERATURE

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!” Who we’re following on Twitter this week: @baronvonclutch. The ‘Baron’ is a prolific motoring and F1 tweeter, who somehow manages to gain access to behind the scenes photos and news, coupled with his own amusing observations. Definitely worth a look for an alternative view of Formula One. The tyre choices so far this year:

 P Zero RedP Zero YellowP Zero WhiteP Zero Orange
Australia SoftMedium 
Malaysia  MediumHard
China SoftMedium 
Bahrain SoftMedium 
Spain  MediumHard
MonacoSupersoftSoft  
CanadaSupersoftSoft  
AustriaSupersoftSoft  
Britain  MediumHard
Hungary SoftMedium 
Belgium SoftMedium 
Italy SoftMedium 
SingaporeSupersoftSoft  
Japan  MediumHard
RussiaSupersoftSoft  
USA SoftMedium