USA 2017 - GP Preview - Williams Mercedes

Round 17 of the 2017 Formula One World Championship takes us to The Circuit of The Americas, a purpose-built race track designed to take Formula One to a new level in America. 2017 will be the sixth consecutive year the US race has been held at COTA, a favourite amongst drivers for its 5.5-kilometre anticlockwise track. The circuit, which can take up to 120,000 fans and boasts 20 corners, is known for its radical elevation changes which, coupled with 2017’s new generation cars, should make this year’s US Grand Prix a race to remember! Whether you’re in it for the Texans and their Stetsons, or the sunshine and steaks, you can’t ignore the magic of the US Grand Prix.

For the United States, Pirelli has made available the soft, supersoft and ultrasoft tyres.

Paddy Lowe

The teams all enjoy going to Austin as it is such a fun city. Formula One fans from across the USA and other neighbouring areas make this a destination event. The Circuit of the Americas itself has a very spectacular layout and has created some fantastic races in its short history. It contains some very challenging sequences and is a good all round test of the aerodynamics, power unit, suspension and of course, the driver. We have been showing better performance during the last couple of races and we hope for this pattern to continue into this race weekend. Our ambition, as always, is to score points with both drivers and we believe this is a realistic target.

Felipe Massa

Austin is definitely one of the best new tracks on the calendar. Although I love the classics like Suzuka and Spa, Austin is also a very nice track to drive. It’s a nice town, with nice steaks, so you always enjoy going there. It’s a place that I enjoy racing at but I also like to visit because the people are very welcoming. It’s great to see all the people in Downtown Austin enjoying themselves and having fun, there is a really nice atmosphere. I’m really looking forward to having a good race there and enjoying myself in Texas.

Lance Stroll

I am really looking forward to going to Austin and also spending a bit of time in America. From what I have seen, racing in the States, and particularly in Texas, is a lot of fun and then you have the barbeques and cowboy boots that they are famous for. The track itself has a great flow to it. There is the first sector with the esses and the elevation going up into Turn One is quite impressive. I think driving a lap there should be a lot of fun.