Formula 1 News: 2024 USGP at COTA in Austin preview

Formula 1 heads to America for the second time this season to kick off the USA-Mexico-Brazil tripleheader weekends at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) for the USGP.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix (USGP) has had several different locations throughout its distinguished history but since 2012 the event has been held at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA). A purpose-built facility was constructed on the periphery of Texas’ vibrant capital, Austin, and the event has gone from strength to strength as Formula 1’s popularity grows in the United States, with a weekend attendance of 440,000 registered in 2022.

The Circuit of The Americas has delivered thrills a plenty since it joined Formula 1’s roster in 2012 and its layout, which has been partially repaved for 2024, has been acclaimed by drivers. The opening corner, the Big Red hairpin, towers over the venue due to the steep rise from the start/finish line, before the circuit plunges into a sequence of high-speed esses, the design of which were inspired by sections of track at Silverstone and Suzuka. A long back straight facilitates overtaking opportunities that frequently continue through a technical sequence of corners that allow for multiple lines and side-by-side racing. A long-radius multi-apex right-hander leads into a couple of left-hand turns that complete the lap.

For the second successive season, COTA will play host to F1 Sprint, the fourth of six outings in 2024 for the alternative race weekend format. COTA also begins a run of three events in three weekends, with trips to Mexico City and São Paulo following in quick succession, marking a crucial phase in the Constructors’ Championship battle.

The city of Austin always embraces F1’s arrival and delivers a brilliant atmosphere throughout the race weekend, making it one of the favored stops on the season’s calendar for many team members.

The race isn’t just a popular one with spectators, either, as many of the drivers list it as one of the best circuits on the calendar thanks to its undulating first corner, high-speed changes of direction and challenging finish to the lap. On top of that, there are a number of overtaking spots that make it a good all-round test that often provides exciting racing.

Hot Weather Forecast

A zero percent chance of rain is forecast at the Circuit of the Americas Thursday through Sunday.

Temperatures will be in the high 80s with light winds. It will be hot.

Fact File: United States Grand Prix (USGP)

• The Circuit of the Americas is one of the bumpiest tracks of the year due to subsidence.
• The bumps also tend to move and change year-on-year. The track is regularly ground down and resurfaced to try and smooth these challenges. Much of it was resurfaced again this year
• Several corners at COTA were inspired by iconic turns from European tracks.
• These include Turns 3 to 6, which are modelled on the Maggotts and Becketts section of Silverstone. Turns 12 to 15 replicate Hockenheim’s stadium section and Turns 16-18 are similar to Turn 8 at Istanbul Park.
• The track requires moderately high downforce and has a large DRS effect. That allows teams to run reasonably large wings as a result.
• The first sector is incredibly challenging and technical. A lot of time can be gained and lost through the interconnected series of corners.
• COTA is one of nine tracks on the calendar that is fully anticlockwise. The others are: Jeddah, Miami, Imola, Baku, Singapore, Interlagos, Las Vegas, and Yas Marina.
• It is one of the busiest laps for gear changes, with 70 recorded across one circuit. That is the third highest total of the year, behind only Bahrain and Baku.
• The entry to Turn 1 features the single biggest corner elevation change of the season. The track has a man-made climb 30 meters upwards in just over 200 meters of track.
• For comparison, COTA’s Observation Tower measures in at 77 meters tall.
• Several corners feature wide entries to encourage different lines and promote overtaking. These include Turns 1, 11, and 15.
• The latter also forces the drivers to brake whilst the car is turning at the same time. This can cause lockups if pushing the tire over the limit of adhesion.
• The weather in Texas can be unpredictable, particularly the temperatures. They can vary from single digits on cool mornings to reaching into the 30s on the very warmest days.

Unlocking the USGP Lap

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 percent 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 tire 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 tire degradation are factors that all come into play.

A lap begins with a climb of 90 feet 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 tires 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.

Kevin Magnussen on the infamous Turn 1

They say everything is bigger in Texas and Turn 1 certainly lives up to that statement. With a steep uphill approach, how do you master that on lap 1 and manage to overtake during the race without losing the place back through Turn 3 – 6?

“It’s a pretty unique corner. It becomes very wide towards the apex, you can’t actually see the track as it’s over a crest, and it’s super wide. The apex itself is very narrow so it creates opportunities for a lot of different lines. Overtaking there is a big opportunity with it being straight after a DRS zone as well. There aren’t many corners that have that sort of width to it. It’s kind of easy to lock-up towards the apex because you go over that crest but as you hit the brakes, you’re on that hill so you can brake very hard because of that. After Turn 1, you go downhill again into those ‘esses’ and that’s where following becomes a bit tricky so if you’ve got the position, it’s pretty easy to keep it afterwards because of the high-speed corners.”

Last Year’s USGP – Verstappen defeats Hamilton for 3rd straight year

With the top drivers all on different strategies, the 2023 USGP was intriguing from start to finish, but in the end, Max Verstappen won again.

Starting 6th, Red Bull put Verstappen on a Medium-Medium Hard tire strategy that did not turn out to be optimum, but Verstappen drove the wheels off his Red Bull and held on for his 50th career win by 2.225s over Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.

On Lap 29 of 56, Verstappen took the lead with a dive down the inside at Turn 12.

Lewis Hamilton was on medium tires for his final stint, and he was flying, closing on Verstappen and Norris at the front, who were on hard tires, and setting the fastest lap time of the race at the time.

Hamilton was able to out duel Norris for 2nd, passing his fellow Brit with 7 laps to go.

Then the charge was on.  Could Hamilton run down Verstappen with the faster medium tires?

A tenth here, a tenth there, Hamilton was coming as Verstappen struggled with fading brakes.

The two greats of Formula 1, Verstappen and Hamilton, were driving the wheels off their cars.  Who would win it?

Hamilton was taking chunks out of Verstappen’s lead. The gap was down to 2.0 seconds as they started their final lap.  Would Verstappen’s brakes and hard tires hold on?

Verstappen was struggling, but ultimately it was Verstappen beating Hamilton for the third straight year at the USGP and 15th win of the year.

“The whole race I was struggling with the brakes, which definitely made my race a bit tougher,” said Verstappen.

“You could see, it was really close at the end. It’s incredible to win my 50th Grand Prix here, very proud of course, and we’ll keep on trying to push for more.”

TV Times

All Times Eastern

Pirelli Tires

This year’s United States Grand Prix (USGP), the first leg of an all-American triple-header also sees changes to the track at COTA (the Circuit of the Americas) as much of it has been resurfaced, completing the work begun two years ago. This includes the sections between turns 9 and 12 and 16 and 3, which thus includes the two longest straights where DRS can be used.

The abrasiveness of the track could therefore have changed since last year, given that a new layer of bitumen is usually smoother than an old track surface. This adds to the importance of acquiring as much data as possible during the one and only hour of free practice, early on Friday afternoon as the Sprint format returns for the Austin weekend.

Other changes include the use of fake gravel for the run-off areas at some corners, as already seen at other tracks, Zandvoort for example. This has been done to alleviate the controversy that can arise over exceeding track limits, without the problem of real gravel being thrown onto the track. The new surface should also have dealt with the problem of the small bumps that have developed on the racing line at some points over the years, which made life hard for the drivers and upset the car’s handling.

The dry weather compounds chosen are the same as those used for the past two editions of the Austin round, namely the C2 as Hard, the C3 as Medium and the C4 as Soft. COTA really does have a bit of everything, partly because the track designed by Hermann Tilke takes its inspiration from some of the most demanding and much loved tracks such as Silverstone and Suzuka (turns 3 to 6), Hockenheim (a sort of Motodrom from 12 to 15) and the section from 16 to 18, which owes something to the never-ending turn 8 at Istanbul’s Otopark.

However, COTA’s stand-out feature is the steep climb off the line to the first corner, which is very wide and therefore sees drivers taking a variety of lines through it, which always makes for spectacular viewing.

In terms of the forces exerted on the tires, the loads for the USGP are fairly evenly distributed between the front and rear axles and are more lateral than vertical. Usually, degradation is thermal and is therefore linked to the ambient temperature, which in Texas in October can fluctuate considerably from one day to the next.

In terms of strategy, one will need to wait and see how this might be affected by the new surface, keeping in mind that Saturday’s Sprint should provide plenty of useful data. In last year’s short race, the Medium was chosen by the majority of drivers, although some risked using the Soft, which was then only used in the final stages of the following day’s Grand Prix in an attempt to secure the additional point for setting the fastest race lap.

Normally, a two-stop has always been the quickest here, especially as a one-stop involves a lot of careful degradation management, to the obvious detriment of performance. In 2023, the most used compound was the C3, which was more effective than the C2 and now it will be interesting to see if the new asphalt could bring the Hard back into play.