This weekend the Texan city of Austin will welcome the F1 circus to the Circuit of Americas for the first time. The brand new track is a 5.5km, 20 corner rollercoaster. With pictures from Octane Photographic Ltd take a lap for the track on foot, without leaving your chair. Click on pictures to see a larger version of the image.
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From the start line drivers climb towards turn one. The hairpin has become an early signature corner for the track and coupled with the unusual approach the corner is sure to play host to some lap one contact in the years, if not the days to come.
Beyond turn one the track plunges back downhill (to the right in this image) towards turn two.
Taking the apex at T2 – in the foreground – the laps enters a series of fast bends modelled after the Maggotts, Becketts and Chapel sequence on the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit.
The sequence – turns three, four, five and six – which completes the first sector of the lap is flanked by typical FIA tarmac run-off painted in the stars and stripes of the American flag.
Having been descending almost continuously since leaving the apex of the first turn the track starts to climb again through the right-left chicane of turns eight and nine.
Turn 10 is a daunting looking downhill, left handed kink that points the circuit towards the turn 11 hairpin, one of the primary overtaking opportunities on the lap.
Away from turn 11 down the long, undulating straight towards turn 12 is the lone DRS zone on the lap…….
…….meaning the drag race to this apex at turn 12 at the far end of the straight is likely to be one of the most action packed part of lap.
Now starting the final sector of the lap turns 13 and 14 are both right handers before drivers will swing out wide for this left-hander – turn 15 – before starting to turn to the right again around the multiple apexes of turns 16, 17 and 18.
With luck avoiding a trip over more red, white and blue run-off around the outside of turn 17 – in the back ground here – drivers will avoid at the penultimate corner of the lap……
……before easing back uphill towards the final corner, a tighter than 90 degree right hander that completes the lap and points drivers back towards the hill up to turn one. Sunday’s Grand Prix will be 56 laps long.
