Welcoming F1's new American home as Alonso keeps the title fight alive for Brazil

Austin and The Circuit of The Americas has gone straight to the top of F1 racing venues for many who have been 'on tour' over the years and decades.

What a race it turned out to be. Side-by-side action all the way, occasional banging of wheels but I don't recall a single nose cone being changed. It's easy to give designer Hermann Tilke some stick if you don't know all the hoops he has to jump through, usually with a year less than he needs in some faraway place. It's easy to criticise some of his early tracks even if you do know, but he really seemed to get this one right again. I asked him why so many of his tracks are anti-clockwise and he hadn't actually seemed to have noticed that. He said it's more about where the pits and turn one needs to be. I suspect he instantly decided such a natural hill would make a handy turn one. It was so important for F1 to put on a good show in the USA for the future of the sport. We have to keep improving and expanding because other sports will. I see there is a World Sportscar race in Austin next year. I fancy doing that and I'll be jealous if I can't and my boy Alex can. So for the first time in his 100 races we had Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso on the same podium. With Jenson Button's mechanically-affected poor grid slot and Mark Webber's Red Bull breaking down, Alonso would probably have finished third anyway from his original grid slot providing he didn't have contact early on. Their Stetsons on that podium will become an iconic image. It was very impressive that Red Bull took their third consecutive Constructors' title. At the age of just 39, Christian Horner has done an incredible job, not least being very smart in attracting Adrian Newey and then making sure that he's totally happy in his environment. Alonso must be on the podium this weekend to have even a chance to take the championship, and anywhere in the top four will seal it for Vettel. Interlagos can be so unpredictable though. MB