The penultimate race of this season brings us to the USA, and the state of Texas at the rather grandly titled 'Circuit of the Americas'. But in the two week interval between Abu-Dhabi and this race the driver's market has been run through the blender and all kinds of nonsense has fallen out the bottom. A while back I questioned whether F1 was broken - this time I merely ask - what on earth is going on? Some more line-ups have been confirmed and others thrown into complete disarray, and god knows what Bernie has been up to but it sounds nefarious. To kick start out plunge into the unknown this weekend, the world was made aware that a certain Mr Raikkonen is not going to turn up - under the current excuse of back problems - but frankly he's just buggered off. I'd imagine the ongoing dispute about who isn't paying who is more of plausible reason for Kimi's absence... I mean it's not as if Raikkonen is in dire need of a salary to add to the assumed millions he already has. But this caused a problem for Lotus as they needed a new driver for the final pair of races, and to maintain the championship battle, conventionally you'd bring in the third driver - Davidi Valsecchi. Apparently not, Lotus also have connections with the former Renault Squadron drivers: Squadron Leader Heidfeld, Wing Commander Petrov, and Bruno Senna... none of them got the call. The team even asked two-time retiree Micheal Schumacher if he wanted the seat, at this rate I was expecting a call, but out of nowhere Lotus have selected Heikki Kovalainen. Now I have no problem with Heikki at all, it is almost a straight swap, one Finn for another, but it seems odd - considering Heikki effectively works for Caterham and they already have a reserve driver...
Is that all, oh no not by a long shot - remember at the start of the season when we remarked on the chance Sergio Perez had been given at McLaren... well they've now fired him... The car has been less than exemplary and neither him nor Button have been able to do anything with it - so what did Perez do wrong. There is a chance that the key factor may be money... again... and the state of Sergio's funding what ever that may be. So they've brought in Kevin Magnussen from FR3.5 - there is no doubt that Kevin is fast and whatnot and is in the McLaren development program, the same one Hamilton came from - so it might work but that leaves Perez without a ride. Further back Williams have adopted Felipe Massa after Ferrari gave him the boot to partner Valtteri Bottas in 2014. This adds Maldonado to the refugee pile with Perez, and with the likes of Hulkenberg, Sutil, Di Resta and Guterrez also looking for drive confirmation it's going to get messy. Then we come to Sauber who have an abundance of drivers - currenly Nico and Esteban, but there is Sirokin and his Russian money and fresh rumours of GP2 driver Felipe Nasr in the running, it is getting chaotic. Next season's grid could be the most misshaped melee in several years, all strapped into unknown redesigned machinery... it's a recipe for madness, and I like madness.
The Track
As to this weekend however I predict a significantly smaller quantity of madness, if any at all, that said the return of the US GP last season went down rather well considering it is after all another monolithic modern circuit. Conventionally that very sentence would bring with it a sense of disappointment and disillusion especially considering that we've just finished the race in Abu Dhabi which is another Tilke-drome. But fortunately this venue is ever so slightly different because when the designers sat down to discuss the track one of the first things that came mind is that they wanted to make a racing circuit based on classic features from other tracks around the work. That has been fused with the modern scale of newer circuits and facilities to form a track which is decent to drive around, and keep Bernie and the influential folks up at the FIA.
Despite the European inspiration behind the track it doesn't feel out of place in America - it has the Texan nature for grand scale built into it, the first indication is the mountainous cliff that leads into turn one. Many circuits have elevation changes and some steep climbs, but this incline is massive, and at the top past the clouds somewhere there is the apex at the peak. Yes it is a generic hairpin, but the way it has been implemented is novel and interesting. After this mountain and the altitude sickness, there lies nine brilliant corners - a sequence which is based on the Maggots/Becketts sector at Silverstone. But that only really has four corners, and this being America and Texas it has been ramped up to nine - and it is brilliant idea, decorated with some very patriotic run-off space... which will probably result in some more track limit investigations.
At the end of the first sector is another raised hairpin - not to the same level as the first - which feeds onto a huge back straight which is a little unnecessary, but considering how far away all those chicanes took the lap from the start it can be forgiven. Unfortunately all that good work in the first sector starts to come undone at the end of the back straight - again the designers took inspiration from Europe and this time the Hokkenheimring's stadium section. But there is a catch, the German version is so much better, because the corners are cambered well and it starts the Mobil Curve is brilliant - Austin's equivalent...well isn't. It has been installed as DRS based overtaking spot. Furthermore the remainder of the stadium section is completely flat and a little too clumsy, full of angles and what not.
Luckily this downer doesn't last long, because the final section of the lap is also rather good, starting off with a replica of Turkey's infamous turn 8 - admittedly it is not quite as good because the entry speed is lower and it isn't banked. But it is still a great feature which tightens slightly on the third of the three apexes. The penultimate corner of the lap seems on appearance to be a simple medium speed corner, but as the track falls away on the exit threw a lot of cars off into the tarmac run-off space, very deceptive. To end the lap there is another hairpin, but considering it is the end of the lap and because it sort of fits - I'll allow it... this time...
The Form Guide
Well looking at the manner with which the teams are attacking the driver market it seems that they are starting to lose interest in the remainder of this season - which is making it all too easy for Vettel to vanish out front every week. Which is why we're all paying more attention to what happens behind them in that battle for second in the constructors championship. Raikkonen's disappearance naturally is going to hamper Lotus' efforts to regain the ground on Ferrari and Mercedes. How well Heikki will fare as the replacement is doubtful - remember how far off the pace Fisichella was when he replaced the injured Massa in 2009. Then there was D'Ambrosio replacing the banned Grosjean at Monza neither are success stories. Therefore the advantage is handed to Ferrari and more so to Mercedes in that fight.
With the mid-field set to implode in a cataclysmic wave of uncertainty this is the final couple of races of stability as they duel for all important prize money places in the constructors championship - money which could very well decide the final driver allocations for next season. Right now Sauber have the pace advantage, but Force India have better tyre conservation during the races - one-stopping in Abu-Dhabi to get both cars in the points. Williams are a longer way back, with Torro Rosso somewhere in between having the opposite problem to Force India - strong qualifying and weaker race pace.
At the very back the duel between Marussia and Caterham seems vary from one weekend to the next - in the mid season Marussia were glued to the back row... and more often than not Chilton still is... But Bianchi versus the Caterhams is a closer battle, not that any of them are going to secure any points this weekend.
In COTA's debut year it provided some great racing and made an instant impact on the season, defying expectations of being another dull generic racetrack this modern facilities seem to turn into. Importantly after the inane level of DRS passing in Abu-Dhabi - Austin showed that the majority of the second half of the lap can support overtaking and decent racing. And frankly the work of F1 needs a bit of energy after the spate of Vettel induced domination we've had to weather recently - and the American GP might be able to deliver all of that.
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