Toto Talks Austin
This weekend marks the start of an intense run to the end of the year. We have six races over the next eight weeks, ending with the season finale in Abu Dhabi. Although we are not in contention for the championships, there is still plenty to fight for and the opportunity to create a few highlights along the way. We want to end this year as strongly as possible, build momentum for 2025, and bid farewell to Lewis in the best way possible.
We have therefore been hard at work since Singapore analysing our performance and how we can improve. We bring our final update package of the season to Texas and our aim is to close the gap to the front. It will also provide useful information that will help guide our development direction for 2025.
The Sprint format returns this weekend, and we will have to be at our best to introduce the update package effectively. The Circuit of the Americas is a fantastic track but one that caught us out last year. Its high-speed layout, combined with its bumpy surface, make it a challenge for both the car and driver. It is one we are looking forward to.
Fact File: United States Grand Prix
The 2024 US Grand Prix will be the 300th for Mercedes in F1 since the marque returned as a works team at the start of the 2010 season.
It will also therefore mark the 300th Grand Prix for PETRONAS as our Team Title and Technical Partner.
COTA is one of nine tracks on the 2024 F1 calendar that is fully anti-clockwise, alongside Jeddah, Miami, Imola, Baku, Singapore, Interlagos, Las Vegas and Yas Marina.
It is tied with Baku for the second-most corners on any F1 2024 track, with 20, behind Jeddah (27).
The incline from the starting grid to the apex at Turn One is 134 feet, one of the highest elevation changes on the whole F1 calendar.
Drivers generate over 5G under braking for Turn 12, one of the biggest of the season - a driver weighing 70kg will experience around 350kg of centrifugal force when they brake.
No one has more wins at COTA than Lewis Hamilton (5). Lewis also clinched his third (2015) and sixth (2019) F1 titles at the track.
The team has five wins at COTA – more than any other Constructor. Lewis has four of those, while Valtteri Bottas also has one US GP win, coming in 2019.
For the second year in a row, the circuit will host an F1 Sprint race on Saturday. Lewis finished the 2023 edition of the Sprint format at COTA in P2.
In 2024, COTA will host the fourth of six F1 Sprint races during the 2024 season.
