Round 17 of the 2017 season takes us to the United States, home to the Circuit of the Americas since 2012, a place which has seen great battles up and down the field, Stetsons on the podium, hurricanes and even crowned a world champion in 2015 in the shape of Lewis Hamilton.
As the points table stands with four races left in the world championship, Hamilton holds a 59 point lead over his nearest rival Sebastian Vettel after a calamitous race in Japan which saw the German fail to finish two races in three weeks allowing the British driver to have obtained such a vast lead in the standings.
Should Hamilton win his fourth consecutive race in the US and Vettel fail to finish in the top five, the drivers’ title will be won by the Briton, Vettel will be going all out to prevent that outcome, while Hamilton has said he won’t be taking silly risks in order to win the title at the earliest opportunity.
Mercedes also have the opportunity to claim its fourth constructors’ title on the bounce should both cars secure a top-four finish, regardless of what Ferrari is able to do.
Red Bull can also consolidate a top three finish should it outscore fourth place Force India by 16 points, but the eyes of the Milton-Keynes based team are towards Ferrari after closing the gap down to just 92 points.
Aside from the title opportunities at the front of the field, there has been a rather large game of musical seats in the midfield pack with three changes taking place between Renault and Toro Rosso. Carlos Sainz Jr has moved to Renault early to replace the departing Jolyon Palmer in order to get comfortable with the team ahead of his 2018 season with the team.
Pierre Gasly has also vacated a seat at Toro Rosso as he heads to Japan to compete for the Japanese Super Formula title for Honda who will be powering the team in 2018, this has left room for Daniil Kvyat to come back to the team, but with Sainz’s move to Renault still leaving a vacant seat, the team have brought called upon former Red Bull junior and World Endurance Champion Brendon Hartley for his first ever grand prix start.
Haas is heading to its home race having come off the back of a superb result in Japan where it managed its second ever double points, it is clear the American outfit has moved forward from its 2016 season having scored more points than it did in 2016 with still four races remaining in the season.
With just 24 points separating Williams, Toro Rosso, Haas and Renault, every result is now crucial for each of them with so little left of the season remaining, all four teams are so closely matched it could take just one mistake, especially with McLaren joining the party with its new-found pace.
Nothing is decided ahead of the US grand prix, but it could all be over after the 56 laps that await the 20 drivers come Sunday, this is one race you will not want to miss.
