United States preview & essentials

America is next! Hosted at the incredible Circuit of the Americas, the United States Grand Prix makes it’s fourth appearance since returning to the F1 calendar in 2012. The 5.5-kilometre (3.4 mile) circuit has a hairpin Turn One as signature corner, turns Three to Six similar to Silverstone’s Maggotts/Becketts, a Hockenheim-ish stadium section, and over 120,000 fans to make it a unique spectacle. For this occasion, Pirelli takes the P Zero Soft and Medium tyres.

Pirelli
Paul Hembery

"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."

Last year’s strategy to win

Lewis Hamilton used a two-stop strategy to win from Nico Rosberg in what was Hamilton’s 32nd victory. Hamilton raced on the soft tyres and completed two stints on mediums to win by four seconds: a strategy also echoed by his team mate. A safety car on the opening lap prompted a number of drivers into the pits, changing strategies, out of which it was Sebastian Vettel with a 'different' strategy - four stops - that eventually placed him seventh.

Lotus F1 Team
Romain Grosjean

"It’s a pretty amazing country and there’s so much to explore. The people are really friendly and it really seems to be a place of opportunity. Certainly it’s a place with great opportunity for me in the future!

"It looks great and the first time I walked around it in 2012 I thought wow! The gradient up to turn one is really something and it makes for a fun first corner when you’re in the car. It’s a really well presented facility with an interesting circuit layout. It’s great to be at a race where the local character is very evident and that’s certainly the case in Austin, with the fan reception and the American way of presenting events."

Grand Prix: United States
Race Date: Oct 25 2015
First Grand Prix: 2012
Circuit Name: Circuit of the Americas
Circuit Length: 5.513 km
Turns: 20
Laps: 56
Race Distance: 308.405 km
Lap Record: 1:39.347 Sebastian Vettel (2012)

Schedule
Practice 1 - Fri 10:00 - 11:30
Practice 2 - Fri 14:00 – 15:30
Practice 3 - Sat 10:00 – 11:00
Qualifying - Sat 13:00 – 14:00
Race - Sun 14:00 — 16:00

Last year’s winner: 2014 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), 1:40:04.785.