2012 Formula One United States Grand Prix

[Hampus Andersson]

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Austin​

The 2012 season sees Formula One racing return to the United States for the first time since 2007 with an all-new venue in Austin, Texas. The Circuit of The Americas (COTA) is the first purpose-built F1 facility in the US designed for any and all classes of racing and was officially opened on October 21, 2012 by COTA ambassador and 1978 F1 world champion, Mario Andretti.

Its signature element is a 5.5-kilometre (3.4-mile) Grand Prix circuit, located in Wandering Creek, southeast of the Texan capital, and designed by Hermann Tilke in collaboration with American architectural firm HKS.

The 20-turn, anticlockwise track, construction of which began in January 2011, draws inspiration from the best circuits around the world, as well as taking advantage of the site's natural topography to include dramatic elevation changes of up to 40 metres.

There is a steep, uphill run into the hairpin Turn One, which is expected to become the venue's signature corner. Turns Three through Six look not dissimilar to Silverstone's high-speed Maggotts/Becketts; Turns 12 through 15 give a nod to Hockenheim's stadium section; and Turns 16 through 18 will mirror the famous, multi-apex Turn Eight at Istanbul Park.

The grandstands, semi-permanent stands and natural seating areas will enable over 120,000 fans to attend the Grand Prix, but the circuit is only one part of the multi-functional 900-acre site.
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Support buildings will include a medical facility, 14 executive meeting suites, a conference centre and a banquet hall, as well as an expansive outdoor live music space. Future proposed amenities include a driving/riding experience, a motorsports driving club, kart track, grand plaza event centre and tower, and a trackside recreational vehicle park.​

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[Hampus Andersson]

I made the vote public and it will close on the Friday of the GP weekend

 

[Michael Brown]

Vettel will win this, because the circuit suits RB well, like all the other Tilke tracks. The track is pretty good, except for the hairpins before the multi-apex corner. It's more reminiscent of Indianapolis than Hockenheim.

 

[TheHemps]

Hmmmmm. So Lotus have already driven the track. I assume they collected data?

This could play well into their hands.

 

[Kartik Sri Harsha]

How many of you think That we can see a Crash at T1 of Lap 1??

 

[Alec Barker]

How many of you think That we can see a Crash at T1 of Lap 1??

Going by what happens in the game F1 2012... I would say that the likelihood is pretty high!

 

[Bradley Vanian]

How many of you think That we can see a Crash at T1 of Lap 1??

Ricciardo damages front wing. Massa rear puncture.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Really looking forward to this GP. The track is good, organization seems to be okay now as well.

Lets hope the Americans embrace this race and finally start appreciating F1.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Lets hope the Americans embrace this race and finally start appreciating F1.

Americans have never had that problem It´s the US Citizens that´s a hard nut to crack

 

[Metalfreaky]

Hmmmmm. So Lotus have already driven the track. I assume they collected data?

This could play well into their hands.

I doubt that. They've only done some slower demo laps on a dirty track with an old car.

 

[TheHemps]

I doubt that. They've only done some slower demo laps on a dirty track with an old car.

Very true.

 

[Grzesiek Zabielski]

Formula One drivers, drove many hundreds of laps at this track using their simulators. I bet that new track it's no any problem for them

 

[Dmitry Zaharov]

This circuit is NOT designed by Tilke, he only did a minor job on making it up to FIA standards. Layout is made by Tavo Hellmund and Kevin Schwantz

 

[Eric Parker]

I wonder how many cities in the USA Fox won't broadcast the race so that their local football teams can be seen live.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

This is what Tavo and Kevin wanted. They did a rough sketch Tilke has removed or added his own flavor here and there.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Kimi is hilarious lol. He´s bought 500 T-shirts that says "leave me alone, i know what i´m doing"
And handed them out to every Lotus employee

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/20267305

 

[Ketnix]

I need to get me one of those shirts.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

 

[Diego Lopez]

Sadly, watching slow cars go in around circles for about 3 hours is ultimate adrenaline and enterntainment, all you have to do is eat vagisil and drink beer and drive, if not mistaken those are the requirements for NASCAR, no wonder there is a crash within seconds.

This is why I hate nascar, never even watch it, wait il take that back, I forced my self to watch some in 2011 because of how boring F1 became last year.

if your an alcoholic and a man slut, Austin will embrace you, Im flying out to Austin thursday and staying at a buddies place. Hopefully Kimi will go to the "ugly coyote bar" and get drunk there.

Anyways, the long straights will not satisfy RB, most of the circuit is a hckenheim and Silverstone mix with a hint of Istanbul, it might prefer the Ferrari, since they do well in the tracks mentioned, but who knows, Il be there with a banner of red vs blue.

Ferrari vs Redbull
Red vs Blue
Republicans vs Democrats
Coke vs Pepsi
Sprite vs 7 up

get the pattern?

 

[Markus Neumann]

Sadly, watching slow cars go in around circles for about 3 hours is ultimate adrenaline and enterntainment, all you have to do is eat vagisil and drink beer and drive, if not mistaken those are the requirements for NASCAR, no wonder there is a crash within seconds.

This is why I hate nascar, never even watch it, wait il take that back, I forced my self to watch some in 2011 because of how boring F1 became last year.

if your an alcoholic and a man slut, Austin will embrace you, Im flying out to Austin thursday and staying at a buddies place. Hopefully Kimi will go to the "ugly coyote bar" and get drunk there.

Anyways, the long straights will not satisfy RB, most of the circuit is a hckenheim and Silverstone mix with a hint of Istanbul, it might prefer the Ferrari, since they do well in the tracks mentioned, but who knows, Il be there with a banner of red vs blue.

Ferrari vs Redbull
Red vs Blue
Republicans vs Democrats
Coke vs Pepsi
Sprite vs 7 up

get the pattern?

James Allen disagrees with you:
http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/11/austin-looks-like-a-real-red-bull-circuit/

Both Istanbul and Silverstone are RB circuits. Last year, Vettel obliterated everyone in Istanbul. They would have won in 2010 too if, well, you know...
Same goes for Silverstone. Alonso won last year because the FIA had disallowed the blown diffuser for that one race (and Vettel still might have won if they hadn't screwed up his pit stop). This year, he almost won because it was wet in qualifying. However, it was Webber who ended up winning, and he also did in 2010.