Month: October 2024

Charles Leclerc achieved his third win of the 2024 season at the Circuit of the Americas, finishing ahead of Carlos Sainz giving Scuderia Ferrari a double podium. Lando Norris lost out on third position following a five-second penalty in a tense battle with Max Verstappen.

The Ferrari driver made a perfect start to jump on the battling front-row duo of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, cutting back down the inside of Turn 1 and escaping through the sweeping corners with the lead.

He immediately gathered a 1.6-second lead at the end of the first lap to hold off the threat of Verstappen with DRS, as the Red Bull driver had benefitted from a conservative approach from Norris into the first corner to pick up second.

Leclerc then had to defend from Verstappen after a safety car brought out midway through the third lap, caused by Lewis Hamilton spinning off at Turn 18 and beaching his Mercedes in the gravel to end a nightmare weekend.

Although Verstappen stuck with Leclerc on the restart, the Ferrari driver covered off the Red Bull through the Turn 2-8 complex of corners to ensure there was no threat from behind.

Having gone long into the race on a one-stop, which proved to be the most popular strategy, Leclerc emerged from the pits after his lap 26 stop behind the long-running McLarens as Norris and Oscar Piastri sought to gather a tyre offset into the final stages of the race.

Leclerc resumed the lead once the McLarens stopped, but this was now over teammate Carlos Sainz; the Ferrari had successfully batted away an earlier power issue to stay with Verstappen and then undercut the Red Bull with a stop four laps sooner.

Sainz occasionally ate into Leclerc’s lead, cutting a seven-second advantage down to under six seconds, but Leclerc had the legs over Sainz in the final laps and cemented his victory from fourth on the grid.

But the box-office action emerged in the battle for third, where Max’s struggles on the hard tyre and Lando’s pace on a six-lap younger set of white-walled Pirellis pitted the two into a dramatic battle for the final step on the podium.

Norris cut down a six-second advantage and got within DRS range of Verstappen by lap 45, setting up a series of attempted overtakes as their championship battle became a pure joy to watch.

Verstappen’s defence was excellent and he kept Norris contained; Norris struggled to get within the half-second needed to make a real attempt to pass on the back straight and into Turn 12.

The moment became critical on lap 52, where Norris tried to make a move on Verstappen down the outside – but both drivers went wide and Norris passed off-track to be ahead. Hoping to cover off the threat of a five-second penalty, Norris tried to drop Verstappen but only built up an advantage of 4.1 seconds.

The race stewards gave Norris the five seconds for passing off-track, ensuring Verstappen made it onto the podium by just 0.9 seconds.

Piastri was a further 1.5 seconds behind Norris in the final race times to collect fifth, 34 seconds clear of George Russell – who converted a pitlane start in the wake of his qualifying crash into sixth, thanks to a late pass on Sergio Perez.

Nico Hulkenberg took eighth to ensure Haas could put two points between it and RB in the fight for sixth in the constructors’ championship, although Liam Lawson celebrated his return to Formula 1 with ninth place with the contra-strategy of starting on hards.

Franco Colapinto collected the final point having also benefitted from starting on the hard tyre, eight seconds ahead of Magnussen – whose impressive race was undone by having to stop twice.

So a fantastic result for Ferrari with this 1-2 at the United States Grand Prix and it was a perfect drive to win for Charles Leclerc. And yet all talking points is the battle between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris and, with the former extending his points as the latter received a post-race penalty for gaining a track advantage.

United States Grand Prix, race results:
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:35:09.639
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +8.562s
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull +19.412s
4 Lando Norris McLaren +20.354s
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren +21.921s
6 George Russell Mercedes +56.295s
7 Sergio Perez Red Bull +59.072s
8 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +62.957s
9 Liam Lawson RB +70.563s
10 Franco Colapinto Williams +71.782s
11 Kevin Magnussen Haas +79.782s
12 Pierre Gasly Alpine +90.558s
13 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +1 lap
14 Yuki Tsunoda RB +1 lap
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1 lap
16 Alexander Albon Williams +1 lap
17 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +1 lap
18 Esteban Ocon Alpine +1 lap
19 Zhou Guanyu Sauber +1 lap
20 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes DNF

Lando Norris delivered a quality lap to take pole position at the Circuit of the Americas, beating Max Verstappen to the top grid position as George Russell’s crash prevented the sprint winner in challenging for P1.

The session was already a shocker for Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton having been eliminated in Q1.

Norris and McLaren will head the grid at Austin in a stunning turnaround from the sprint race, where Verstappen and the Ferrari drivers seemed to have a clear edge.

After the first runs in Q3, Norris lead Verstappen by 0.031 seconds – staying ahead despite a massive snap through the penultimate corner largely thanks to a strong middle sector.

On the second attempt on new softs late in the final segment, Verstappen ran ahead of his title rival, having only just avoided a pitlane collision with Pierre Gasly exiting his Alpine garage.

But Verstappen’s attempt to challenge Norris was halted when Russell crashed at the penultimate corner – the Mercedes heading the pack for the final laps.

Russell lost the rear of his W15 through the rapid, plunging left-hander at Turn 19 and spun off through the gravel trap on the outside to hit the barriers hard, with the resulting double yellow flags meaning no drivers were able to complete their laps.

Verstappen and Norris had finished the first sector of their final lap and the world champion had edged a near 0.2 seconds advantage – without getting to the sector where the McLaren had been faster on the first Q3 runs.

The order behind was preserved with Carlos Sainz third for Ferrari, ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri in the other McLaren and Russell.

Gasly, who faces a post-qualifying investigation for the pitlane incident with Verstappen, took seventh ahead of Fernando Alonso and Kevin Magnussen, while Sergio Perez was only P10 after losing his first time for running too wide out of Turn 9.

In Q2, Yuki Tsunoda could not progress even with the heavily penalty Liam Lawson giving him a tow down the main straight on both his runs.

Lawson, who was third-fastest in Q1, was never going to compete in the middle segment given his grid penalty for another change on the car Daniel Ricciardo had previously been racing.

The other fallers were Nico Hulkenberg in P12 after a Turn 1 lock-up and exit oversteer snap, plus Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll, who could not match Alonso’s jump from the drop zone and into Q3 on their final Q2 fliers for Aston Martin.

In Q1, Hamilton made a shock exit – not gaining time as Russell, who progressed in fourth, did when Mercedes went with the rest of the frontrunners and switched from used to new softs.

Hamilton ended up being shuffled down to P19, with his main time loss coming in an oversteer snap exiting Turn 12, and shipping 0.5 seconds compared to Russell.

Magnussen and Stroll jumped from the drop zone with their final laps right at Q1’s end, which shuffled down Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto for Williams, while the Sauber pair also exited despite personal bests on their final laps – Valtteri Bottas taking P18 ahead of his former teammate and Zhou Guanyu P20.

So the two title contenders are starting on the front row. It will make the United States Grand Prix an exciting race so may the best driver wins on Sunday. Game on!

United States Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:32.330
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:32.361
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:32.652
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:32.740
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:32.950
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:32.974
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:33.018
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:33.309
9 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:33.481
10 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:33.020
11 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:33.506
12 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:33.544
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:33.597
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:33.759
15 Liam Lawson RB 1:33.339
16 Alexander Albon Williams 1:34.051
17 Franco Colapinto Williams 1:34.062
18 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:34.152
19 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:34.154
20 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:34.228

Max Verstappen maintains his perfect sprint record this season by winning after leading from the start and building a gap over his rivals to take success at Circuit of the Americas.

The Red Bull driver clinched victory with a 3.9-second margin over Carlos Sainz, who made a last-lap pass on Lando Norris at Turn 1 to snatch second position.

Norris had thrown his McLaren down the inside of Charles Leclerc at the first corner, and then maintained enough momentum to sit on the outside of George Russell at Turn 3 to assume the inside line for the next corner to move up to second place.

He then stayed in DRS range of Verstappen for the opening laps, closing in on the lengthy back straight but without enough pace to test his championship rival with a move into Turn 12.

But Verstappen stabilised and built a plus-one-second margin to ensure Norris could no longer use DRS, which threw the McLaren driver into the clutches of George Russell.

This set Norris back a further second in defending from the Mercedes driver; Russell’s challenge subsided as he struggled with tyre wear, and Norris then attempted to get back into Verstappen’s wheel tracks for the second half of the 19-lap race.

Although Norris started to close the now two-second gap and got as close as 1.2 seconds behind, Verstappen was able to add more pace from an improved Red Bull and reclaimed his advantage, tacking on a few further tenths to fully ward off a late-race challenge from Norris as the McLaren driver dropped off.

Carlos Sainz then capitalised; the Ferrari driver had brought himself into play having passed teammate Leclerc on the fifth lap with a well-judged move at Turn 15 and let Charles run out of road. The ailing Russell was then easy prey for Sainz, who then began to catch Norris.

Having homed into DRS range of Norris, Sainz stayed close in the final sector of the penultimate lap and pounced on Norris at the uphill Turn 1, forcing his former teammate into a lock-up that ensured the Ferrari driver came up for air with second.

Norris held onto third just, nearly coming to blows with Leclerc at Turn 15 on the final lap as the Ferrari driver was surprised by his early braking into the tight left-hander.

Russell fell to fifth, eight seconds behind Leclerc, to finish ahead of teammate Hamilton – who endured a quiet race in the Mercedes as his pace faded away in the heat; the W15 rather eating up its rear tyres to cost pace in the final stages.

Kevin Magnussen clinched seventh as his Haas teammate Nico Hulkenberg claimed the final point; Magnussen defied an order to let Yuki Tsunoda repass earlier in the race as he felt the RB driver had pushed him off in an attempt to pass.

Tsunoda then defended hard from Sergio Perez and Oscar Piastri in the latter stages of the race, but ultimately got passed by both drivers despite his stout defence and fell out of the top ten. Piastri held onto P10 despite a five-second penalty for forcing Pierre Gasly off the road.

So a frantic 19-lap sprint race and yet the defending world champion achieved a well deserved win. Been a while since Max Verstappen last won a race so this result is important in terms of the championship.

United States Grand Prix, sprint race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 31:06.146
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +3.882s
3 Lando Norris McLaren +6.240s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +6.956s
5 George Russell Mercedes +15.766s
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +18.724s
7 Kevin Magnussen Haas +25.161s
8 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +26.588s
9 Sergio Perez Red Bull +29.950s
10 Oscar Piastri McLaren +37.059s
11 Yuki Tsunoda RB +38.363s
12 Franco Colapinto Williams +39.460s
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +41.236s
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine +41.995s
15 Esteban Ocon Alpine +42.804s
16 Liam Lawson RB +44.008s
17 Alexander Albon Williams +44.564s
18 Fernando Alonso Aston Marin +46.807
19 Zhou Guanyu Sauber +52.842
20 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +54.476s

Max Verstappen takes pole position for the sprint race at the Circuit of the Americas n his Red Bull, edging ahead of George Russell in the Mercedes. Charles Leclerc will start P3 while Verstappen’s title challenger Lando Norris is P4.

On a tricky day for Red Bull given the controversy over its front bib ride height adjuster, the defending champion scored his first pole (sprint or Grand Prix) since the Austria round back in June.

But it was mixed fortunes for Red Bull, as Sergio Perez was knocked out in SQ2, while it was a similar story for McLaren, as Oscar Piastri failed to make it through the other session where the drivers were obliged to run medium tyres.

On softs in SQ3, Russell had looked the favourite to come out on top as Mercedes ran early in the final segment and he found 0.7 seconds over his personal best in SQ2, while Lewis Hamilton struggled.

Russell’s lap time of one minute, 32.845 seconds was good enough to see of Leclerc, Norris and Carlos Sainz when they ran with the majority of the other SQ3 runners near the session’s end, before Verstappen surged to the top.

Verstappen did not set a purple sector in any of the Austin track’s segments, but his lap time of one minute, 32.833 seconds moves him to top the field as the Red Bull driver looks to extend his run of winning every sprint race so far in 2024.

Nico Hulkenberg beat Hamilton to sixth, with Kevin Magnussen eighth on what was a very good day for Haas.

Yuki Tsunoda took ninth, while Franco Colapinto did superbly to make SQ3, but then spun at Turn 12 at the end of the track’s main straight when he was running with the Mercedes cars early in the final segment, so ended up P10 for Williams.

Perez was the biggest faller in SQ2, with his final lap coming well ahead of the chequered flag but only good enough for P10 at that stage, after which he was knocked out by Tsunoda’s late improvement.

Fernando Alonso looked to have been eliminated in P12, but he and his teammate Lance Stroll lost their only times – set late in SQ2 – for going too wide out of the penultimate corner.

Liam Lawson was also hit with a track limits violation on his only lap, with the RB driver running too wide out of Turn 1.

He therefore dropped behind Stroll and Alonso as they ended up finishing P13, P14 and P15, which boosted Pierre Gasly to P12.

SQ1 had a dramatic and controversial end, as Alex Albon put his Williams into a dramatic 360-degree spin exiting the penultimate corner on his final flier and was eliminated in P18, while Piastri lost his best time to a track limits infringement at the same corner.

His previous personal best was only good enough to be P16 and so he was eliminated ahead of Esteban Ocon, Albon and the Sauber duo Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.

So welcome back to the sharp end of the grid for Max Verstappen. This grid is only for the sprint but its a significant as the defending champion is several positions ahead of his title rival Lando Norris. Roll on the sprint race.

United States Grand Prix, sprint qualifying results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:32.833
2 George Russell Mercedes 1:32.845
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:33.059
4 Lando Norris McLaren 1:33.083
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:33.089
6 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:33.183
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:33.378
8 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:33.398
9 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:33.802
10 Franco Colapinto Williams 1:34.406
11 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:34.244
12 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:34.363
13 Lanco Stroll Aston Martin 1:34.324
14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:34.436
15 Liam Lawson RB 1:34.617
16 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:34.881
17 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:34.917
18 Alexander Albon Williams 1:35.054
19 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:35.148
20 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:36.472