AUSTIN, Texas – The Formula One season comes down to this: Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel leads Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso by 10 points with two races left, the first on a track neither has driven before.

The first U.S. Grand Prix since 2007 will be run Sunday on the new $400 million Circuit of the Americas, built a few miles outside of Austin. With so few points separating Vettel and Alonso from winning a third world title for either driver, learning every nuance in elevation, the straightaways and the 20 turns in practice and qualifying could make the difference.

“If you do everything perfectly, you will have a chance,” Alonso said Thursday. “If you make a mistake, you will lose the chance.”