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With 17 rounds of the F1 championship completed, we see Austin's Circuit of The Americas providing the venue for the 18th round of the season. Below is what some of the drivers and team principals are feeling ahead of this year’s United States Grand Prix.
Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo loves coming back to the U.S.A and will be hoping for a better race this season after his retirement in last years race due to engine issues. Ricciardo said,
"Damn, I love the city of Austin and the country of America, I think it’s beautiful. Firstly, I think it’s one of the best circuits we go to on the calendar for racing. You can pass in four different places. There’s some tracks you struggle to pass on once, so to have four different opportunities with the shape of the corners and the apexes, everything just creates a real good atmosphere which encourages you to battle."
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Ricciardo's teammate and third-place finisher in Suzuka last time out, Max Verstappen loves coming back to the US.
He said, “As always I am really looking forward to getting back to the US. COTA is really fun to drive, it has long fast straights, slow tight corners and quick flowing sectors, all you want from a race track in one. The trickiest part is probably Turn 1 as you are blind to the apex coming up the hill. When we race in America it is always unique to any other round, as you saw last year with the driver presentation they always go the extra mile."
Haas F1 is the only American team in the sport and Romain Grosjean is hoping for a good performance for the teams home race.
Grosjean said, “We’ve made a good step this year. I think 2017 was maybe the year where we underperformed, but in 2018 we’ve come back to the route being planned out since the start of the team. The team has been growing a lot and improving in every single area. There’s still room for improvement, which is amazing to know and to see.It’s special being here. It’s like when I’m in the French Grand Prix, I get an extra feeling, something special. At COTA, it’s the same thing. You expect a lot of fans to be coming and cheering for you. You can see them there wearing the Haas colors, T-shirts, caps, scarfs, whatever. It’s just great to know that it’s not always about, say, Lewis (Hamilton) or Max (Verstappen), but that it’s about Haas F1 Team as well."
Fernando Alonso, who will be racing this circuit for the last time in F1 said,
“I’m very happy to go back to the US. I obviously raced there in January at Daytona, and then I went to Barber in Alabama a few weeks ago for the Indycar test. Now, I’m going to another circuit – one of my favourite ones, Austin – for the last time in Formula 1 in the US.
I’m ready to enjoy the magic atmosphere there. For me, it’s always very nice to race in front of the American fans. Hopefully we can get back into the points that we need for the constructors’ championship, to help the team and to give us a boost in motivation.
We had a good race in Singapore a few weeks ago, but we weren’t in the points in the last two races, so in Austin we want to change that. It’s going to be a fun weekend and I’m also looking forward to seeing a lot of friends there.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is still adamant that the championship is far from over, even though Lewis Hamilton could win the drivers championship this weekend.
"We could not have asked for a better result from the back-to-back races in Russia and Japan" said Wolff.
"We were able to extend our lead in both championships and the entire team delivered to a very high level."
"While we didn't have the fastest car in the summer, we've seen the performance swing in our favour recently; however, it is closer than it looked in recent races. Ferrari have a strong car and they will keep on pushing until the very last corner in Abu Dhabi."
"They have been worthy opponents in the past 17 races and we have no reason to believe that this will change in the next four; just like us, they will fight fiercely for every point and position."
"The battle is far from over, so we approach Austin the same way as every other race: take it one step at a time, focus on our job and make sure we bring performance and reliability to the track."
"The Circuit of the Americas has been a good track for us ever since it was introduced in the F1 calendar, but past results have no impact on the current championship."
"Everyone in the team knows that we cannot take anything for granted, so we will be as diligent as ever, keep our heads down and work hard to get a good result in Texas. This championship fight has been exhilarating and we can't wait for the next chapter in the epic battle of silver and red."
Lewis Hamilton heads into the U.S Grand Prix in Austin, Texas with a 67 point lead over closest rival Sebastian Vettel. Will he wrap up the driver's championship this weekend?
