I'm back ! with Austin wrapped

Mama…a blog post behind you 💜

Well, it's been a while—like a while! I've been so busy over the past few months that writing fell by the wayside. But I've missed it, and I'm back! And wow, what a banger race to come back to.

After what felt like an eternity-long three-week break, the Formula One fanfare returned to the States, more specifically, the Circuit of Americas, for the USGP. To make the weekend even sweeter we were treated to not one but 2 races as this was the 4th sprint race of the season (with Brazil and Qatar still to come). It was an enthralling weekend with 2 different pole sitters and 2 different race winners, so let's have a look at how things went down. 

Sprint Qualifying

SQ1

With all 20 cars rolling out for the first competitive session of the weekend, It was the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton which led from the front, reflecting their promising form which was anticipated before the weekend. 

Missing out in this session were the Saubers of Zhou and Bottas. The Williams of Albon who, despite pulling off an impressive save, had a spin which cost him his fastest time. Additionally, the Alpine of Ocon was out and, most shockingly the session saw Piastri in the McLaren lose out on Q2 ultimately qualifying in P16. This was due to track limit infringements a prominent issue across the weekend which I will get into later. 

 SQ2

With the field down to 15, it was Carlos Sainz in the scarlet Ferrari who topped the session. Although perhaps the biggest shock of the session was Yuki Tsunoda's advancement meaning he out-qualified Sergio Perez whose seat at Red Bull looks increasingly under threat for next season. The session saw another set of impressive results for the Haas cars with both advancing to SQ3 as well as newcomer Colapinto who seems to have settled into the F1 swing rather convincingly.

In a session littered with track-limit infringements both Aston Martins of Alonso and Stroll fell victim qualifying P15 & P14 respectively. Also out of the session was the Alpine of Gasly, the RB of Lawson, and as mentioned the Red Bull of Perez. 

SQ3

With a tight field at the top, it was Russel in the Mercedes who looked prime to take pole, yet in a familiar return to form it was Verstappen who swooped in taking pole for the sprint race on Saturday, followed by Russel and Leclerc making up the top 3. 

Sprint

The sprint race was only 19 short laps yet the race was not short of action. A bad start for Russel meant Norris was able to move up to P2, bringing him closer to his championship rival Verstappen, who was able to hold onto the lead. 

Further back, the on-track battle between the two Ferraris in P4 & P5 led by Leclerc, however after some failed switching undertakes Sainz was eventually able to overtake his teammate moving himself up to P4. 

With this momentum, Sainz was able to charge on overtaking Russel for P3 on lap 9. Not long after his teammate in a similar fashion overtook Russel for P4, with the Mercedes tyres struggling to hold out. 

Further back in the field woes for Perez continued, with his main fight being Tsunoda in the sister RB. Despite a staunch defence, Perez was able to eventually make his way past however he still missed out on points finishing P9. 

As the race neared the end action near the front started hotting up as both of the Ferraris had arrived on the tail of Norris’ McLaren. In a thrilling climax, a lock-up for Norris on the final lap opened the door for the Ferraris, an opportunity which Sainz did not pass up moving up to P2, a move which his teammate was unable to replicate. 

This left the final podium as P1. Verstappen P2. Sainz P3. Norris, with Verstappen picking up his 4th out of 4 sprint wins this season. What was also notable was the DOUBLE POINTS FINISH for Haas!! A team that really looks to be consistently on the up. 

Qualifying

Q1

After his sprint race win earlier in the day, it was Verstappen who led the field in Q1 with Red Bull seeing a return to form across the weekend. It was also a successful session for the wider Red Bull family with Lawson in the sister RB making his way to P3 in the timings at the end of the session. 

In the elimination zone, track limit woes continued, this time hitting the 7X world champion Hamilton who was only able to qualify P19 ahead of Zhou in the Sauber. Also out in this session were Bottas and the two Williams of Colapinto and Albon. 

Q2

It was Verstappen again who topped Q2, in what was a fairly routine session. What was most striking was the Haas team battle with Magnussen outqualifying Hulkenberg, an uncommon occurrence this season. 

With Lawson incurring a 60-place grid penalty for his first race back, his job this session was to give his teammate Tsunoda a tow, however, this didn't play out with both RBs being eliminated. They were joined by Stroll, Ocon and Hulkenberg. 

Q3 

 In the first part of the session, it was Norris who was the fastest yet with the tight times in the previous sessions it was looking to be an exciting set of final laps. 

With the cars peeling out of the Garage, Verstappen was setting purple sectors around the track, until a yellow flag appeared. This was due to Russel in the Mercedes having a spin into the gravel trap with the car hitting the barrier. As such the circuit was neutralised meaning it was Norris’ earlier lap which gave him pole, followed by Verstappen and Sainz. 

The Race 

With 19 cars lined up on the grid, and the Mercedes of Russel in the pits, it was lights out at COTA. Despite previous mishaps, Norris got a good getaway from pole, however, a late lunge from Verstappen pushed both cars wide, opening the door for Leclerc to move up to first place on the opening lap. 

As Leclerc was beginning to pull a gap on the cars behind, an uncharacteristic spin from Hamilton brought out the first safety car since Canada neutralising the race on lap 3. With the driver ok and out of the car the race was able to resume, however, it looked as if those few laps under the safety car allowed for a more promising attempt at the one-stop strategy. 

Hamilton out at turn 3

Further back in the field, the weekend-long battle between world champion Alonso, and the returning Lawson was continuing, with both drivers battling away until Lawson was eventually able to make his way past at turn 11 up into p11

It was then on lap 22 when Sainz pitted from p3 opting for hard tyres in an attempt to pull off the undercut on Verstappen, it would be 4 laps later when Verstappen pitted eventually coming out behind the Ferrari meaning the Scuderia were now looking to score their first 1-2 finish since Australia. 

As the race continued, the Ferraris looked to be convincingly pulling away at the front. Thus, the key battle was between championship rivals Verstappen and Norris for the last podium position. With Norris getting closer lap by lap it was on lap 52 where he was finally able to strike. It was turn 12 when Norris was able to go around the outside of Verstappen to get the move done up into P3. 

However it was not as smooth as it may sound, Verstappen immediately hoped on the radio to claim that Norris had overtaken off the track, a sentiment which the team agreed with. Comparatively, McLaren argued that Norris was ahead at the apex making the corner his and thus seeing no reason for Norris to give the place back as well as the fact that both cars had gone off at the turn. A replay of the move clearly showed Verstappen slightly ahead of the apex and it was because of this that the FIA deemed it right to hand Norris a 5-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Despite pushing Norris was unable to make up the gap in the remaining laps meaning Verstappen was promoted up to p3, extending his championship lead.

Norris vs Verstappen in the closing stages

With the race over, it was a joyous weekend for Scuderia Ferrari, gaining points in what looks to be a close constructors championship. Ferrari now sits only 8 points behind Red Bull in P2 after another sub-par performance from Perez who finished in P7.

Austin was the first instalment of the triple header with Mexico and the Brazil sprint weekend still to come. Both are much-loved tracks so we can hope for some close racing and maybe some change atop the constructor's championship. 

I’m so glad to be back, and if you got this far I hope you enjoyed and have a great day 🙂

TTYL

Bx