Pre-race Statistics of the United States GP

Despite not ever hosting a race before I actually have a lot of, hopefully, interesting stats of the new Circuit of the Americas and American GPs in general. The circuit is 5.516km long with 20 corners, the fourth most corners on the calendar behind Valencia, Singapore and Abu Dhabi. The race will have 56 laps, unless it reaches the two hour cut off, a race distance of 308.896km, which again is the fourth most on the calendar.

The United States have hosted 62 Formula One races, including 11 Indianapolis 500 races between 1950 and 1960, which only Alberto Ascari entered in 1952 but retired on lap 40 (of 200). There have been F1 races in the States at 10 different circuits if you include the Circuit of the Americas, being won from pole in 25 races and from second in 12 of them. At the 1983 United States Grand Prix West, McLaren finished 1-2 in the race after qualifying 22nd and 23rd, which is the furthest back on the grid that anyone has ever won a GP from.

The actual United States Grand Prix has been held 33 times at 6 circuits, Sebring in 1959, Riverside in 1960, Watkins Glen between 1961-1980, Phoenix between 1989-1991, Indianapolis between 2000-2007 and finally the Circuit of the Americas from 2012 onwards. 22 of the 33 US GPs have been won from the front row, 15 from pole position and 7 from second place. Ferrari and Michael Schumacher are most successful in the US GPs, with Schumacher winning 5 times and Ferrari 7 times.

157 drivers from the United States have raced in F1, most of them from the 11 Indy 500s that were part of the calendar, winning 33 races and two World Drivers’ Championships combined. The 157 drivers have a 998 points combined, the second most number of drivers behind Great Britain with 158 but only the ninth most points.

The race will mark Sebastian Vettel’s 100th Grand Prix, so expect yet another new helmet design from him. It will also be the 500th Grand Prix for Renault Sport engines, who debuted at the 1977 British GP, and possibly their 400th podium. To win the Constructors’ Championship this weekend Red Bull only need to finish in 8th place, but if Ferrari don’t finish 1-2 then Red Bull won’t need to score any points at all to win their third consecutive Constructors’ Championship.

The Silly Stats

You would need 48,258 Big Mac burgers to lap the Circuit of the Americas once, which would weigh 10,327kg, the weight of 16 F1 cars at minimum weight, including the driver and cost around $172,284, almost the price of a single F1 engine.

An experienced unicyclist travelling at 10kph would take 33:05.760 to do a single lap of the Circuit of the Americas, though they may have some trouble getting up the hill for turn 1, especially with the 48,258 Big Macs on the track.