Alonso looking forward to American return

The United States Grand Prix, home to this weekend's next round on the 2017 Formula One schedule, has a long and varied history. The race has been staged at 10 different venues since it was first included on the World Championship calendar in 1959, but the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) is the first purpose-built track for the pinnacle of Motorsports.

McLaren's founder, Bruce McLaren, won the country's inaugural race in '59, since when popularity of the sport in the US has been boosted by its two American world champions, Phil Hill in 1961 and Mario Andretti in 1978.

After the Japanese Grand Prix ten days ago, the cars made a quick pitstop at the McLaren Technology Centre, before being flown to Austin. Team personnel flew back to the UK as well, before heading to Austin and for Fernando Alonso, this will be his second trip to the country after partaking in the Indy 500 back in May and he can't wait to return to American shores.

“After a couple of frustrating races where we haven't been able to show the improving pace we know we have in our package, I'm excited to head back to the United States. I had a great time over summer there this year with everything going on around the Indy 500, and I know the fans are incredibly passionate and enthusiastic, so I'm expecting a really good atmosphere around Austin,” he said.

“The COTA track is a really fun track to race on – every sector is different and achieving the perfect compromise with set-up to suit the constantly-changing characteristics of the lap is what makes the challenge there so unique. COTA is also wider than a lot of the circuits we've been to recently so there are usually some good chances to overtake, which hopefully we can make the most of on Sunday.”

“I really enjoy spending time in the States and I have lots of happy memories there. I hope in Austin we can build on the momentum we know we've been gathering behind the scenes, despite not being able to show the results on the final timesheets, and I think there's the potential to score points if we can pull everything together."

"There are a lot of factors to take into account and anything can happen at this race – we've seen quite a lot of drama both on-track and off it over the last few years – but I'm optimistic we can have a positive weekend if we can maximise every opportunity.”