Race week Review
Max Verstappen had already clinched the driver’s world title in Suzuka, this time in Austin, Texas, the goal for Red Bull was to leave with the Constructor’s Championship They needed to outscore Ferrari by 19 points.
It had been announced over the weekend that Leclerc (10), Perez (5) and Alonso (5) would be taking grid penalties for new engine components. Other news in the paddock came from Ricciardo riding into the paddock on a horse named Horsey McHorse (who had it’s own VIP pass) to complete his cowboy look and show off his love for the US GP.
Practice
Five drivers who were not on the 2022 grid had the opportunity to drive for certain teams in FP1; they included IndyCar drivers, ex-F1 drivers and F2 drivers: Alex Palou, Antonio Giovinazzi, Logan Sargeant, Robert Schwartzman and Theo Pourchaire.
Antonio Giovinazzi’s time to impress was very limited as he was into the barriers less than 10 minutes into the session and brought out a red flag. Aside from the usual Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull domination that we are used to seeing, Lance Stroll slotted himself into P4 among the big 3.
In FP2, the top 3 was slightly unexpected with Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo joining Charles Leclerc high up on the leader board. It was a reasonably good practice for Magnussen whose car had been repaired in time for him to participate in FP2- he took P11.
Verstappen topped the charts ahead of the two Ferraris in FP3. Ricciardo complained about brake issues as he found himself in P15 as Schumacher was caught out with technical issues and Zhou’s issues were yet to be determined at the time.
Before Saturday’s qualifying session; Jost Capito announced that Logan Sargeant would join the F1 2023 grid as long as he obtained the necessary super licence points. He has also been given the opportunity to run Free Practice Sessions in Mexico and Abu Dhabi to help this process.
Qualifying
It was announced shortly before the start of the session that co-founder of the Red Bull racing team, Dietrich Mateschitz, had passed away aged 78. Verstappen and Sainz paid tribute to him after the session. Talks about the Red Bull cost cap breach were put on hold out of respect for Mateschitz.
Red Bull and Ferrari have made it a more common practice to do only one run in Q1 and this was enough to see them through to the next part of the session. Hamilton’s final run saw his lap time deleted, but the Brit was safe in P4. Ricciardo and Ocon were unable to set good enough lap times and were therefore eliminated in Q1 in P17 and P18 respectively. Also following them out was Magnussen in P16, Schumacher in P19 and Latifi in P20.
Once more, the Ferraris and Red Bulls were confident enough in their times that they sat out a second run in Q2, Russell too stayed in the pits after one run. Vettel had his first lap time deleted because of track limits and sat last with only minutes to spare. Zhou who was almost set for a Q3 appearance alongside his teammate Bottas, had his hopes dashed out the door when his lap time was deleted, promoting Norris to P10 and into Q3. Knocked out of Q2 were Albon, Vettel, Gasly, Zhou, Tsunoda
Saturday’s main event had finally arrived when the shootout for pole position came along. At the end of first runs it stood: Leclerc, Sainz, Hamilton, Verstappen (who was on used soft tyres) and Perez. Ferrari had never taken pole position at COTA before; but, Carlos Sainz was the man to do it for them, clinching pole position ahead of his teammate, Charles Leclerc by 0.065s. Verstappen could only manage P3 (but would benefit for the race start from Leclerc’s grid penalty) and Perez found himself in P4 but would drop to P9 because of his penalty. Stroll would take a marvellous P7, his best start of the season ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris while Alonso and Bottas finished up the top 10.
The starting grid for Sunday’s race: Sainz, Verstappen, Hamilton, Russell, Stroll, Norris, Bottas, Albon, Perez, Vettel
Race Report
Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez claimed the World Constructors’ Championship for their team by finishing P1 and P4. Verstappen had a slightly more difficult path to his victory than normal when he passed Sainz at the race start, but an 11 second pitstop put him behind Leclerc and Hamilton who he had to overtake for the lead. Perez meanwhile fought his way up from his P9 start to a P4 finish.
It was mixed emotions in the Ferrari garage in Texas: Carlos Sainz, for the second time in two races did not make it past Lap 1. Contact from an eager Russell at the start ended the Spaniard’s race very early. It was more positive on Leclerc’s side of the garage- the Monegasque driver benefitted from the first safety car and landed himself a P3 finish.
Mercedes had themselves a solid U.S. GP; Lewis Hamilton was consistent throughout and had led the U.S. GP for a number of laps, looking on course for his first victory of the season before Verstappen overtook the Brit and he had to settle for P2. George Russell earned a five second time penalty for his tangle with Carlos Sainz and had a relatively quiet race, finishing P5.
Also like Ferrari, McLaren had some smiles in the garage but also some disappointing frowns. Lando Norris took home P6 for the Papaya team; he was P12 with about six laps to go and went on an overtaking spree to get himself a nice haul of points. On the other hand, Daniel Ricciardo’s race was one to forget: the Aussie found himself in P16, only finishing ahead of Latifi.
Alpine will see their weekend as a disappointing one. They ended up with one point come Sunday evening. Ocon did a good job making his way through the field as he took a penalty and started from the pitlane but he finished P11. He only gained a world championship point when Alonso was penalised post-race. Alonso was involved in a big crash with Stroll but was able to continue the race, he impressed as he climbed through the field and crossed the line in P7. After the race he was dropped to 15th place after being given a 30 second time penalty (equivalent to a 10 second stop -go penalty) for being sent back on track in an unsafe condition due to a protest by Haas.
Aston Martin will be happy to leave Austin with points, another top 10 finish for the team. Sebastian Vettel was on course for a possible P6 finish when he benefitted from the safety car, but a 16 second pitstop towards the end of the race saw him drop to P14 with only a couple of laps left. The four time world champion then made lots of overtakes to claim 8th place, which was eventually bumped up to 7th with Alonso’s penalty. Lance Stroll’s crash with Alonso was the end of his race and the incident was investigated after the race which saw the Canadian receive a three place grid penalty for the Mexico City GP.
Haas earned some points with Magnussen’s P9 (soon afterwards P8) with his one stop strategy. Schumacher’s two stop strategy did not work in his favour, he finished the race in P15 (eventually P14).
In the AlphaTauri camp, Tsunoda finished P9 once the penalty was applied, having himself a solid race as he started at the back of the grid when he took a penalty. Gasly would go home unhappy as his race went from bad to worse; receiving a time penalty relating to the Safety car period which was not served correctly; he was P13 in the end.
Valtteri Bottas was the first to bring out a safety car. The Alfa Romeo driver spun on Lap 18 and ended up in the gravel. Zhou Guanyu crossed the line in P13 and was later bumped up to P12 when Alonso’s penalty kicked in.
Alex Albon kept himself in the mix, he was among a DRS train in the latter part of the race. The Thai driver just missed out on points when Alonso’s penalty was applied; nonetheless, he had a decent race. Latifi was the final car to finish the race.
Part 2 of the double header takes place in Mexico where the fight for P2 in the Driver’s championship and Constructors’ championship continue.
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