A.R.S.E.

2017 FORMULA 1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX




Circuit of The Americas
Lap data
Lap length 5.513km (3.426 miles)
Race laps 56
Race distance 308.728km (191.835 miles)
Pole position Right-hand side of the track
Lap record* 1’39.347 (Sebastian Vettel, 2012)
Fastest lap 1’34.999 (Lewis Hamilton, 2016, qualifying three)
Maximum speed 333kph (206.917 mph)
DRS zone/s (race) First and second straight
Distance from grid to turn one 364m
Full throttle 59%
Longest flat-out section 1090m
Downforce level Medium
Gear changes per lap 66
Fuel use per lap 1.88kg
Time penalty per lap of fuel 0.071s

UK Times
Friday 20th October 2017
United States Grand Prix Free Practice 1: 10:00-11:30 (UK time: 16:00-17:30)
United States Grand Prix Free Practice 2: 14:00-15:30 (UK time: 20:00-21:30)
Saturday 21st October 2017
United States Grand Prix Free Practice 3: 11:00-12:00 (UK time: 17:00-18:00)
United States Grand Prix Qualifying: 16:00 (UK time: 22:00)
Sunday 22nd October 2017
United States Grand Prix: 14:00 (UK time: 20:00)

Previous Winners
2016 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
2015 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
2014 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
2013 Germany Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
2012 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes


Videos

Vettel 2013 onboard


Patrick Depailler onboard 1978 Long Beach


Facts from the previous race

Surely the most bizarre stat from the Japanese Grand Prix was the symmetry between Lewis Hamilton’s pole position time and race-winning time.

In qualifying he did one lap of Suzuka in one minute, 27.31 seconds. The next day he completed 53 laps in one hour, 27 minutes and 31 seconds. Throw in the fact that 1+27+31 equals 59, which is Hamilton’s championship lead over Sebastian Vettel, and it’s enough to make your head explode.

The championship has swung dramatically in Hamilton’s favour. Sunday was the second time in three races he’d scored a maximum, 25 points while Vettel came away with nothing.

It’s reminiscent of the huge points swing which cost Hamilton the championship ten years ago, when a win was worth ten points and Kimi Raikkonen came from 17 down with two races left to take the title. Cases like this give Vettel some cause for comfort.

There are many ways to illustrate how tough the last three races have been for Vettel. Perhaps the most striking is that in that time he’s scored just 12 points, the same as Stoffel Vandoorne.

But while Vettel has undoubtedly had a tough three races, it doesn’t tell the whole story in terms of the championship. He signed a new three-year contract with Ferrari ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix and since then has led exactly three laps.

Vettel has only headed the field in three of the last ten races and in two of those he was ahead for just three laps. Hamilton has now led more than twice as many laps as Vettel this year.

This was Hamilton’s 61st career win, leaving him 30 shy of Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 91. His last 30 wins have come over the course of the last two years and 341 days. If he continues at his current rate of victories, Hamilton could tie with Schumacher some time in late 2020.

Hamilton’s eighth win of the year means he has now won twice as many as Vettel and no one can win more races than him this year. More importantly, it means he can clinch the drivers’ title in Austin and Mercedes can win the constructors’ championship too.

Ferrari were leading the constructors’ championship ten races ago but now they face a growing threat from Red Bull who’ve out-scored them in all of the last three races. They are 92 points behind with 172 available over the remaining races

Red Bull got both cars on the podium in the last two races, something they hadn’t done since the V6 hybrid turbo era began. They ended the V8 era with double podium finishes in each of the last three rounds.

Hamilton took his first Suzuka pole position at his ninth attempt on Saturday. Hamilton has now started from pole position at least once at every track on the calendar, and Baku remains the only venue where he is yet to win. Of course both of these stats will change next year with the addition of Paul Ricard to the 2018 F1 calendar.

For the third race in a row the qualifying battle between the Red Bull drivers was incredibly close. Max Verstappen prevailed in Singapore and Malaysia by 0.026s and 0.054s respectively but in Japan it was Daniel Ricciardo’s turn to shine, coming out ahead by 0.026s. This was despite the pair running substantially different downforce levels on their cars which meant Ricciardo was 4kph quicker on the straights but Verstappen gained almost all of that back in the corners.

Two drivers started their final races with their current teams. For Jolyon Palmer his 35th race for Renault may also have been his last in F1.

Carlos Sainz Jnr, who will take his place, bowed out of Toro Rosso after 56 starts for the team. He is their second longest-serving driver of all time with one more start than Sebastien Buemi and two less than Jean-Eric Vergne. However Daniil Kvyat will surpass the lot of them if he returns for the team next year.

While Sainz failed to score a point on Sunday Esteban Ocon did, making it his tenth points score in a row. He was also a classified finisher for the 25th race in a row since the beginning of his F1 career, equalling the record set by Max Chilton in 2014.

Current Standings



Drivers’ Chosen Tyres

Comedy gold

DarrenM wrote:Comedy gold

No longer funny.

What times are the sessions in Culburra Beach time?

pixelboy wrote:What times are the sessions in Culburra Beach time?

1st Practice is 2am AEDT I believe.
2nd Practice is 6am?

Hartley will start from the back after a complete power unit change.

Sainz showing Palmer how it's done. Comfortably in the top 10.

Decent drive for Hartley. I think his endurance racing will show in the race itself. Sky said he's used a lot less fuel than Kvyat in the practice sessions.

Terrible terrible Indy car style driver introductions. It was toe curlingly embarrassing. Let's hope that won't be a regular thing.

Really shows you how much a driver can matter, might not take you from last > first but does heaps.

Sainz is on for top 6, Massa has smashed Stroll and Vet/Ham look in another league

Horseshit, got up at 5am, watched race and went gym with a nice $100 profit.. Came back and he got robbed...

Over taking while off the track is an understandable penalty. What surprised me is in qual I didn't see anyone get pinged for running way out wide between the last 2 corners.

So did fucktard take a knee?

Who cares?

He said in the days leading up to it that he probably wouldn't, and given it's not come up on Reddit i'd say he didn't.

No, I watched the anthem and everyone was standing as far as I could see.

Some very dubious decision making at the end of the race there, and the kind of thing F1 has got much better at recently. Can't help but think somebody plays more golf with representatives of Ferrari than Red Bull.

I find it easier removing the names. 4th cuts corner taking 3rd place on the last lap.

Or sometimes it's just as interesting to replace the names, change Max with say Palmer or Magnussen. Ding ding, that's favouritism.

Max's problem was that he overtook on the INSIDE whilst off the track. Going wide on corners is a slightly different issue I think.

Look at it this way, if it was a hairpin with all tarmac for 10 metres back on the inside and he cut across 5 car lengths before the apex we'd all call him a cheat for missing the corner. The inside white line has to be there for a reason when passing someone else. I know they were all skipping the inside at about turn 4 but that wasn't overtaking.

He'd driven well enough to earn that podium and it was a shame but I don't think it's as big a deal as RBR are making out.

Norbs you might have to like Lewis just 0.01% more now

This is from the pole lap

But that's not overtaking on the inside of a corner.

I know there's inconsistency but overtaking is different in my opinion.

Indeed it should of been penalized, Max wouldn't of made the pass without going outside track limits.

Bigger issue is that the tarmac existed in the first place. The extra 3m they have on every corner is stupid and shouldn't be there in the first place. Tarmac run-off's I support (as much as many of you don't), but there is no reason for that part to be. I hope they put speedbumps or something there to get drivers off it next year.

Yeah I think they'll have to add some sausage kerbs next year. The big tarmac runoffs are a bit of a double edged sword. They had a lot of races in the old days where not may cars finished because once they were in the gravel that was it. One consequence of adding the big tarmac areas (as well as preventing cars digging in and rolling) was to give them a get out of jail free card. There's little to no consequence for it. They need to come up with something to stop them using it unless it's an 'emergency'.

Big Kev wrote:But that's not overtaking on the inside of a corner.

I know there's inconsistency but overtaking is different in my opinion.

I was referencing Lewis in the video saying the new generation will use those bits.

They need to get rid of the red apron beyond the curbing and just go to grass. Fixes that problem.