Ahead of the United States Grand Prix, Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One™ Team's CEO & Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer gives his perspective into the Austin weekend.
From growing up in the United States, and a visit to the Detroit Grand Prix in the 1980s that sparked his Formula One passion, Otmar also explains how interest in F1 has blossomed Stateside in recent years.
As an American, I always enjoy returning home for the United States Grand Prix. There's a big Formula One following, and it's great to see that the event is sold out. I'm looking forward to racing in Austin again after we missed out last year due to the pandemic.
The fact that the race sold out so early this year shows that the popularity of F1 in the States is on the rise, maybe a little bit due to the successful Netflix series, Drive to Survive.
Some of our older fans probably now have a better understanding of the goings-on behind-the-scenes, because that's what Netflix is about. And if a fan is watching and says to a non-fan, "There's a really good series, let's watch together," we create more fans and more interest. And I think that's happened.
I first went to a Grand Prix in Detroit in the early eighties: I think 1984 was my first year watching an F1 car. It was a spectacle then, and it's still a spectacle now.
I'd always liked racing. A neighbour's father was a drag racer, and he raced National Hot Rod Association Pro Stock. I enjoyed that type of racing, and all sorts of other stuff, including riding minibikes - anything with a motor in it! But it was the Detroit Grand Prix that piqued my interest in F1.
Guys like Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell were racing. While there, I bought a drinks mug with everybody's name on it. I wish I still had it!
I went to the Detroit race every year, and as I was at university, I couldn't really afford it. I remember it was expensive, over $150 for a grandstand ticket on the main straight for the three days. I had to save up to be able to do it.
Guys like Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell were racing. While there, I bought a drinks mug with everybody's name on it. I wish I still had it!
There was no US GP for a while after the last race [in 1991 in Phoenix, Arizona, where Team Silverstone made its F1 debut].
By the time the Indianapolis race was introduced in 2000, I was working in F1. I always liked it there, Indy has such a history of motor racing, and a lot of Americans go for the Indianapolis 500 as well, so they were familiar with the city.
The last F1 race in Indianapolis was in 2007, and then there was no US GP until we went to Austin in 2012. We're going to make up for that drought when the Miami Grand Prix is introduced next year, as we'll have two races!
The track itself is cool. It's great that you can have four abreast going into Turn One and up the hill! I like the elevation changes, and the high-speed run through Turns Two to Six is spectacular.
They did a good job on the circuit in Austin. It's not that far out of the wonderful city, there’s a lot of good music venues, nice hotels and a variety of great restaurants. It's big enough to be able to handle 150,000 people coming, and the influx doesn't cause gridlock or chaos. The city handles it well.
The track itself is cool. It's great that you can have four abreast going into Turn One and up the hill! I like the elevation changes, and the high-speed run through Turns Two to Six is spectacular. To get a quick car you need to find the compromise between the right amount of downforce and drag.
The track is always bumpy, although they've done some resurfacing since 2019. There were still some bumps that MotoGP faced recently, but they are shaving the tops off by the time we get there.
Austin will be a big weekend, of course, for Aston Martin and all our partners: including Cognizant, SentinelOne, NetApp and Peroni Libera 0.0%. It's an important race commercially, and it will be the same for Miami.
It's an exciting challenge, and we'll do our best to score a good result with both Sebastian and Lance.
Thanks to Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One™ Team's CEO & Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer for making his mark on our team at the track: #IAMRACING.
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