SEPTEMBER 26, 2012

Thumbs up for 'awesome' Austin

The Cicuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, has been declared ready to host the United States Grand Prix on November 16-18 after the latest visit from FIA race director Charlie Whiting.

The Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, has been declared ready to host the United States Grand Prix on November 16-18 after the latest visit from FIA race director Charlie Whiting.

Whiting joined representatives of the track, Austin Commercial and F1 circuit architect Hermann Tilke on his latest inspection of the track and facilities and was highly impressed by what he saw.

"Everything I've seen so far has been absolutely first class, and the progress made since the last time I was here is amazing," Whiting said.

"The guys have done an awesome job -- it really is quite fantastic. It's built to the highest quality, exactly as we expected, and I've got absolutely no complaints whatsoever."

Whiting walked the 3.4-mile track, which is now fully paved, and was especially impressed with the layout, especially Austin's signature Turn 1.

"There are three or four corners that are very likely to see overtaking," he added, "If you look at Turn 1 you'll see that the turns have been designed so that they are extremely wide and the apex is very short. It's a very modern approach to slow corners where we hope overtaking will take place. I'm very confident it will work well.

"Turn 1 is awesome! It's the only world I can use to describe it and I think the drivers and teams coming here for the first time will say the same thing."