The US Grand Prix held at the Circuit of the America’s in Austin Texas was 56 laps of great racing and overtaking! The starting grid looked a little different this weekend after Max Verstappen’s qualifying lap time was deleted and he only started 6th. Charles Leclerc was on pole and lined up alongside Lando Norris in P2. It was Lewis Hamilton in P3, Carlos Sainz in P4 and George Russell who completed the top 5 on the grid.
Lap 1 was home to most of the race action as Lando Norris got the better start of the front row and took the lead of the race! Piastri and Ocon made contact off the start with Piastri’s rear tyre making a large dent in Ocon’s side pod which forced him to retire a few laps later. The contact from lap 1 also forced a retirement from Piastri in the Mclaren.
It was at the mid-point of the race on lap 28 that Verstappen’s pit stop strategy caught him up with former race leader Norris. It was then on lap 39 that Verstappen took the lead of the Grand Prix by overtaking Leclerc who was the only driver to run a 1 stop strategy for the race.
It was only minor incidents reordered by the stewards for most of the race, but none required further investigation. There were black and white flags for Logan Sargent and Alex Albon with Albon ending up with a 5 second penalty.
On lap 50, Alonso and his Aston Martin were forced to retire to the pits after Fridays break issue resurfaced. It was disappointing for the team who had started in the pit lane as they had managed to get both cars into point scoring positions.
With 7 laps to go, Hamilton started his charge and managed to overtake Norris and started his hunt for Verstappen who was reportedly nursing a break issue for most of the race. Hamilton got himself within 2 seconds of Verstappen, but the chequered flag came too soon to challenge for the win. Verstappen took his 50th Grand Prix win and was joined on the podium by Hamilton in P2 and Norris who held onto P3!
It was the drama after the race that is likely to be more memorable than the race itself! Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were put under investigation and later disqualified from the race for a technical infringement! The FIA statement revealed that irregularities were spotted in the cars and after investigation it was found that the skids located within the floor of the car were not compliant with article 3.5.9 e) of the 2023 Formula One Technical Regulations. With the disqualifications removing 2 cars from the points and one from the podium, it means that Logan Sargent in the Williams scored his first points as he moved into 10th place while the other Williams of Albon moved to 9th to secure double points for the team! It also means that Norris’ third place is converted to second and Carlos Sainz joins the podium team.
What are your thoughts on Austin 2023?
Written by Cesca.
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