Paul Hembery thinks that the Circuit of The Americas will be tricky for drivers – Formula 1 news
Paul Hembery, who is the motorsport director for the F1 tyre manufacturers Pirelli, has admitted that the new Circuit of The Americas (CoTA) will turn out to be tricky for the F1 teams.
“I think it will always catch a few people out, a new circuit,” Hembery told. “Certainly from the layout it looks very interesting, and from the surface data we have it's certainly not in the group of circuits with a smooth surface - the Korean, Indian and
to an extent Abu Dhabi are all in that ballpark - but it should enable us to get back to a two-stop race.”
The Italian manufacturers, who have been responsible for providing F1 with tyres for many years, have decided to provide the teams with an extra set of tyres at the Friday Practice session ahead of the race. They believe that it will help the drivers explore
the new track. As is the case with all new tracks, it will be hard to decide the way the rubber will perform.
Hembery thinks that the season is at the point where it does not matter what tyres are being used. He said, “I don't think anybody wants us all to be talking about tyres at this point of the season, it's the wrong balance. It's all about cars and drivers
now.”
Pirelli has also admitted that CoTA will be one of the year’s toughest challenges for them as well. They have chosen a combination of hard and medium tyres for the new track which will help in regards of the amount of energy being exerted on the outside
of the tyres. They had used a similar combination in the last race of Abu Dhabi which had turned out to be quite exciting.
The United States Grand Prix is returning to the F1 season after a gap of five years but will be taking place on a completely new track CoTA this weekend. While the F1 community and the fans of the sport have been very excited about the event’s return, Hembery
has warned that the track could take the drivers by surprise.
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