Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo is eager to get to the Circuit of the Americas for the United States Grand Prix next week, as he looks for more end-of-season success over the dominant Mercedes team.
Ricciardo had finished in second place four times this year before finally landing victory of the season in Malaysia last month. Sixth place in the following Grand Prix in Japan was one of his weaker results of 2016, and the Australian is hoping to bounce back to form and challenge for the win in the next race.
"The track in Austin is sick, I love it," said Ricciardo as he prepared to fly out. "It has a lot of unique features like the wide apex at turn one, you could fit about four cars side by side through there.
"There are loads of opportunities to overtake and have fun throughout the whole track. It has fast flowing sections and hairpins, pretty much everything I like in a track."
Ricciardo added that he was also looking forward to the social side of the weekend.
"Austin city is also awesome, I really like its character," he explained. "It’s raw and authentic which makes it cool without trying to be.
"The old school bars and music venues which are super cool just makes it work. Pete’s Piano bar and Rainey Street has a lot of local music which is a really nice vibe and I want to check out Hotel Vegas this year."
The United States Grand Prix is the first of three consecutive races to be held in the American continent followed by Mexico and Brazil, before Formula One returns to the Middle East for the season finale in Abu Dhabi on 27 November.
2017 F1 driver line-ups so far
Scene at the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix
Japanese Grand Prix - Quotes of the week
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