Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Alonso: COTA 'a different proposition' to Sochi

Fernando Alonso is looking forward to this weekend's United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, which he reckons should prove a better fit for McLaren than the Sochi Autodrom street circuit in Russia.

Despite the fact that the team didn't go into the Russian Grand Prix with the greatest of expectations, both cars made it to the finish and Alonso only narrowly failed to finish in the points after being pipped by Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen in the final laps.

"It was obviously disappointing to lose out on 10th place in Sochi, but considering it was a circuit that we knew wouldn’t suit our package, we can’t be too disappointed with the result and the positive reliability of the car all weekend.

"Now we move to Austin which is a very different proposition.

"Circuit of The Americas is a great racetrack. It has a bit of everything: fast corners, slow corners, heavy braking zones and corners where momentum is crucial. You need good balance in the car to be quick there.

"The track is a hybrid of corners from great circuits all around the world, which makes setting up the car tricky, but a precise, well-balanced car will definitely help you there, so we need to build on those strengths straight away.

"The circuit is really fun to drive because it’s so varied, so you have to keep your focus 100 per cent all the way around a lap. I had some great battles with Jenson there last year and I’m hoping for more of the same against our competitors this weekend.

"We know it’ll be difficult for us in some of the areas we’ve already seen this year, but we will definitely be working flat out to achieve more progress and another positive result."

Alonso is very much looking forward to returning to the United States, and has nothing but good things to say about the city of Austin itself.

"I really enjoy going to Austin – a fantastic atmosphere and a city that absolutely loves its racing," he said. "It should be an enjoyable weekend."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.