Lewis Hamilton has confirmed he is concerned about starting the United States Grand Prix on the dirty side of the grid, which will yield a lot less grip when the lights go out at the start. After securing pole position, Sebastian Vettel will start the race from the clean side of the grid, which is also the racing line.
However, at start of the weekend Jenson Button explained how he thinks starting from 2nd on the grid could be more beneficial. With the opening corner at the new Circuit of the Americas featuring a steep incline and a relatively blind apex, there could well be carnage at the start as many drivers jostle for position and miss the apex of the corner.
"You want to qualify well here because I think people will be trying some unusual things into turn one," explained Jenson Button to ESPN on Friday. "We’ll all get there and we won’t have a clue where the apex is because the only car that will know will be the one on the inside. He’s the only one that’s going to see it because the rest will be in a bit of no-man’s land. A good start is important and I think P2 is actually better than P1 round here because he’s got a little bit of a flatter run before the hill whereas P1 is straight into the hill."
Despite Jenson Button thinking that qualifying 2nd could be more beneficial than qualifying from pole position, Lewis Hamilton remains concerned that he could be at a slight disadvantage once the lights go out signaling the start of the 56-lap race. The Briton completed a launch start from the dirty side of the grid at the end of practice three, and immediately discovered a significant lack of grip.
“I’m not really concerned about the first corner, I’m more concerned about the dirty side of the grid.” Admitted Lewis Hamilton, when asked whether he was worried about Turn 1. “I did a launch from it earlier on in P3 and it was quite slippery. No, hopefully tomorrow is just about getting a good start. It’s so wide in Turn One, I don’t think really much can go wrong there generally... I might be wrong. But obviously I don’t want to get in the way of Sebastian’s race. However, I do want to win, so I’ll try my best to get through cleanly.”
Whilst Lewis Hamilton challenged Sebastian Vettel for pole at the end of qualifying, Jenson Button suffered from another mechanical issue and was eliminated after Q2. The 2009 World Champion will therefore start the race from 12th on the grid, which is incidentally on the dirtier side of the grid.
Follow me on Twitter - @AndyYoungF1