• US Grand Prix

Construction work resumes in Austin

ESPNF1 Staff
October 5, 2011 « Ecclestone looking forward to problem-free Indian GP | Button signs new multi-year contract with McLaren »
Work on the new circuit outside Austin is back underway © Sutton Images
Enlarge

After several weeks of delays, construction has resumed at the Circuit of the Americas, which will host the return of the US Grand Prix next year.

Reports in recent weeks revealed that vertical construction of the circuit buildings had been put on hold, amid rumours that a change in management might be round the corner. But on Tuesday the local newspaper Austin American Statesman quoted construction manager Max Chapman as saying: "We just started back today."

Chapman added: "It was going great guns for a while. For the last couple weeks, until we got our bookwork done, it was a trickle, and it slowed almost to a stop the last three or four days."

The paper reported that work on the building foundations would begin in a week and a half while additional soil is being trucked into the site in order to complete "fill work" for the track itself. The asphalt will then start to be laid in December as Chapman insists the Texan weather means it is possible to "lay asphalt year 'round in Austin."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
ESPN Staff Close