Qualifying…
Q1:
The Haas’ were the first to leave the pit lane, as they often are, on Saturday afternoon. Mazepin set the first time of the session; it would be deleted only moments later for exceeding track limits. Schumacher’s time was then sat at the top, though once the other drivers started setting times, it was swiftly pushed down the order.
Leclerc’s first lap got him P1 for the session but the speed of Max Verstappen was too great to keep the position. Verstappen’s first lap was purple in all sectors, his time being 1:34.521. Perez, in his unofficial second home race, was nearly matching his teammates pace.
Valtteri Bottas had his first flying lap compromised by traffic but still ended up finishing only 0.138 seconds behind Verstappen. Hamilton finished his first lap 0.276 seconds behind Verstappen.
The McLaren’s also seemed to be performing quite strongly with Ricciardo going purple in sector one and green in sector two. His time from that lap took P1, 0.114 seconds ahead of the man in P2, while Norris ended up third on one of his laps. These times eventually wouldn’t be good enough to keep their positions as the Red Bull’s and Mercedes cars stil, hadn’t used all of their power.
Traffic was an issue throughout the session, particularly in the esses section where midway through, Mazepin didn’t move out of the way fast enough for Vettel. In true Vettel fashion, he was on the radio ranting in profanity about the situation.
The last laps set really jumbled the order. Leclerc went fastest, with a time of 1:34.153. Verstappen and Perez were 2-3. The McLarens were 4-5, with Ricciardo setting the fastest time of the two. Sainz was 6th, Gasly was 7th. In a twist, Hamilton and Bottas were 8th and 9th. Luckily for them, Q1 doesn’t determine the order of the starting grid and they would get another chance. Vettel, Tsunoda, Russell, Ocon, Alonso and Giovinazzi (despite a spin on his final flying lap) complete the top 15. This leaves Stroll, Latifi, Raikkonen, Schumacher and Mazepin in the elimination zone.
Q2:
The mediums were the tyre of choice for Q2, as this was the tyre the drivers would set the fastest times on and secure a spot in Q3.
Bottas was first to set a time in this session (1:33.959). His teammate, Hamilton, was quick to beat his time, being nearly 2 tenths faster. Verstappen would soon take P1, being 0.333 seconds faster than his rival. He would remain at the top when the session finishes. Leclerc’s first flying lap of the session put him in P3, splitting Hamilton and Norris. Perez was initially in P4, but his time was deleted for exceeding track limits at turn 19.
Ricciardo was only able to complete two flying laps during the session, the first was deleted for exceeding track limits at turn 9, and his second lap was set at the end of the session and was only good enough for 9th position.
Russell and Vettel were on their first and only flying lap when the chequered flag was waved. While these two, along with Alonso, were not in contention for the top spots, they still had to fight for the fastest time as they would all be going to the back of the grid come Sunday for engine penalties. Their qualifying times would determine the position they started at the back. Vettel won this battle, he would be starting P18. Russell would’ve started P19 had he not exceeded track limits and had his time deleted. He would start the race P20, with Alonso beside him.
Drivers eliminated in Q2 were Ocon, Vettel, Russell, Giovinazzi and Alonso. Tsunoda was through to Q3 for the second week in a row. Many suggested that his mentoring sessions with Alex Albon were beginning to pay off.
Q3:
Session three was underway with Hamilton setting the first time of 1:33.564. This time would soon be beaten by Bottas who went nearly a tenth faster. Norris was third to set a time and was in third place. Ricciardo and Sainz would eventually go ahead of Norris.
Leclerc’s first flying lap put him in 4th. On his first lap, Verstappen hit purple sectors in the first and third, with a green sector two. He crossed the line with the fastest time at that stage of 1:33.199. Perez pipped P1 from Verstappen only moments later, only 2 hundredths of a second faster.
Bottas was the first to see the chequered flag for the session, his time didn’t change. Hamilton crossed the line next and took provisional pole off of Perez by six hundredths of a second. Gasly was next, he stayed in ninth position. Norris moved up to P6 but Ricciardo would take this position for him and send him down a place. At this stage, we were beginning to get reports of a light drizzle coming down in the pit lane and on the final corners of the circuit. Leclerc’s final time put him in 5th, ahead of Sainz. Both Ferrari’s had outperformed the McLaren’s. Verstappen took provisional pole, the only driver yet to cross the line was his teammate, who was unable to move from third. Verstappen took his 8th pole position in the least 11 races.
The starting grid for Sunday was VER, HAM, PER, BOT, LEC, SAI, RIC, NOR, GAS, TSU, OCO, GIO, STR, LAT, RAI, MSC, MAZ, VET, ALO, RUS.
The Race...
It’s lights out and away we go in Austin, and whilst Verstappen gets a great start from pole, Hamilton gets an even better one and can take the lead from Max from Turn 1, as the RedBull runs wide into the runoff area, though, his teammate, Perez yields second place to him. Also, into Turn 1, Stroll is hit by the Williams of Latifi, sending him down the grid, though he can continue the race.
Lap 1 is proving to be quite chaotic, with both Norris and Sainz battling it out and both go off the track, leaving Ricciardo to take 5th whilst Sainz struggles on the soft tyres.
Meanwhile, George Russell has made it up to p14 from last by lap 3, though his teammate has fallen from p14 to p19 after hitting Stroll on lap 1.
Onto lap 4 now, with a very early pitstop from Ocon onto the hard tyres, presumably due to damage to his front wing from a very fast overtake from Giovinazzi. Though, the next pit stop didn’t take too long to follow, with Latifi pitting on lap 6 also due to front wing damage from his collision with Stroll on lap 1. He is able to exit the pits just in front of the Alpine of Ocon.
Hamilton has been able to keep his lead on Verstappen out there so far, but on lap 8, the gap is 0.7seconds – it seems that the RedBull may be able to take first again very soon.
The Ferrari-McLaren battle is really heating up now too, with Sainz overtaking his former teammate, Norris, only to be told by his team to give the position back – something he is not happy about.
The Alpha Tauri of Yuki Tsunoda is the next to pit on lap 10, getting his softs replaced for hards – then returning to the track in p14.
Surprisingly, Verstappen is the next to pit on lap 11 due to him complaining that his tyres are overheating. He exited the pits in p5, just behind the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo. Though this doesn’t last long, as the Dutchman takes his former teammate on lap 12 with the help of DRS.
RedBull clearly have a strategy to double undercut Hamilton here, with the team pulling Perez in for a stop onto medium tyres on lap 13. The stop is more on the slow side than expected, but it is now clear that he is on a two-stop strategy. This clearly puts pressure on Hamilton, who pits not long after, onto a set of hard tyres and comes out 6 seconds behind Verstappen – the fight is getting intense. Onto lap 16, and Hamilton still hasn’t got his tyres up to temperature, so the gap between the two is now up to 6.7.
Pierre Gasly’s Alpha Tauri also seems to be having issues, with the car making a lot of noise and him complaining about the car earlier on in the race. He pulls into the pits and retires the car. Bottas also pulls into the pits from fifth and returns to the track in p11.
Outside of the pitlane, Raikkonen and Alonso are battling it out into turn 1 – something most F1 fans have missed seeing, and the Alfa Romeo pulls out just ahead.
Both Ferrari’s also pit, both for hard tyres. Leclerc makes it back onto track in p4, and Sainz in p7.
Onto lap 17, and we have contact between the Alfa Romeo of Kimi and the Alpine of Fernando, with the latter pushing Kimi wide – it seems like a racing incident.
The two Aston Martin’s are the last to pit, both doping so on lap 18 (Vettel) and 19 (Stroll), who come back out in behind Tsunoda and Bottas. As for the incident between Kimi and Fernando, race control have deemed it a racing incident and no penalties have been dished out.
Lap 20 shows Bottas easily pick off Yuki Tsunoda with the help of DRS, though he has quite a while to make it up to Norris in front, who is still fighting with Sainz.
Out in front, Verstappen is still more than 5 seconds in front – and everyone is unsure whether Hamilton is just looking after his tyres or Max is just too fast for him out there. Both of them have now overtaken Mazepin and have mostly clean air, for now.
Into lap 22, and there is drama. Alonso overtakes Giovinazzi, but he is off track. The team back at Alfa are having discussions with the FIA to ask if this is okay, and they firmly tell them that it is not. Meanwhile, Hamilton is beginning to cut the distance to Verstappen with only a 4.7 gap now, with Perez 8s behind him, in third (lap 24).
The battle between Alonso and Giovinazzi continue with Alonso reluctantly giving Giovinazzi the position back, only for them to continue battling, and Giovinazzi going wide at turn 12. This leads Alfa to tell him to give the position back. It is really going backwards and forwards between the pair out there.
Lap 26 and 27 show Hamilton really cutting the gap down now, from 3.4 seconds to 2.7, as Norris is told to ‘let his talent shine’ and take Sainz for 6th with the gap closing to 3.7 seconds.
Lap 27 and 28 have a very brief virtual safety car presumably due to the damage from Raikkonen’s car after the collision with Alonso, but after a marshal collects it, the VSC car is gone and the race continues. However, the VSC definitely did not lend a hand to Mercedes, as Hamilton lost .5 of a second. Though the RedBull of Perez also is not looking good with the heat up to 39 degrees and he is (for now) without a drinks system.
Latifi leads the second round of pit stops, with the Canadian coming in for another set of hard tyres. This is followed by Verstappen, who, on lap 30, also pits for hard tyres. He comes out 2.8 seconds behind Perez and down to p3. Sainz is the next to pit from sixth - and it is a slow one, with the right rear not wanting to come off. He comes back onto the track in p11, behind Bottas who is struggling to make it up the grid. Meanwhile, Perez once again yields to his teammate and Verstappen is up into p2.
Into lap 31, and Hamilton has just set the new fastest lap, with Verstappen 17 seconds behind. Leclerc is now third after Perez takes his second pit, along with Daniel Ricciardo and Norris, who both pit for hard tyres, likely in an attempt to take advantage of Sainz’s very slow stop.
Out on track, Perez is fourth, followed by Bottas (neither of the Mercedes have pitted a second time yet) and then Ricciardo, Sainz then Norris. Though, the latter is catching up fast to Sainz due to a fast stop.
Strategy is really beginning to matter into lap 33, as Verstappen continues to eat away at Hamilton’s lead. This means that when Hamilton pits, he will be behind Verstappen undoubtedly, but he will also be on fresher tyres.
Lap 34 and Leclerc and Tsunoda take their pit stop, both for the hard compound. They come out 4th and 11th respectively. Lap 35 also brings Bottas into the pits, who has been struggling to make anything happen out there on his old tyres from 5th.
It’s getting more tense out front, with Verstappen easily getting close to Hamilton now, with only a 13.6 gap – and the knowledge that a pit stop is going to take at least 20 seconds in total.
AND FINALLY! Eight laps after Max, Lewis pits for hard tyres, coming out in second, 7.8 seconds behind Verstappen. Onto lap 41, and the gap is now 8.1, with both the front runners having to take on traffic. Perez is sitting comfortably in p3, with Leclerc struggling to make the pace of the front three.
Lap 42, and the Alpine of Ocon unexpectedly retires – with his engineer saying they will explain later. Despite not being in the points, he drove well today and this is very disappointing to hear. There is even more drama on lap 43 as Max tries to lap Tsunoda who doesn’t move out of the way very fast whilst Sainz tries a move on Ricciardo for fifth, resulting in contact between the two, but Daniel managing to hold on to his place, only just.
Lap 44 and number 44 is only 4.4 seconds behind Max, but Hamilton is very worried about his tyre temperatures, with his rears getting very hot – but his engineer tells him they aren’t a worry, yet. Lap 45 shows Hamilton is faster than Verstappen, and they have both cleared the traffic…
Verstappen is told on lap 47, by his own team, that Hamilton will likely catch him – but Max isn’t finished fighting yet. On lap 48, Hamilton is only 2.5 seconds behind him, and catching up fast. Lap 50, and it goes down again to 1.9.
Amidst, the battle out front, Alonso retires his car on lap 51 – he was also out of the points and had some close battles, but he retired due to a rear wing issue.
The positions are looking pretty stable out there, but the battle between Hamilton and Verstappen just keeps heating up, with Verstappen pulling everything he can out of his tyres and holding Lewis off by 1.7 seconds. Though, in the dirty air, Lewis is struggling, and the gap goes back up to 1.9.
Raikkonnen spins off track at turn 6, which promotes Vettel to the points – but the attention of the crowds quickly turns back to the front two, as the gap decreases to 1.5 in lap 54, then quickly down to 1.2…
Although, the Mercedes is beginning to slide out at the corners and with 3 laps left, this is getting tense all around the track.
Onto the penultimate lap and the gap is now less than a second, with the wind picking up – explaining the sliding. BUT, as they both come up to Schumacher, Verstappen is able to over take him and cross the line first.
AND IT IS THE DUTCHMAN WHO WINS THE AUSTIN GRAND PRIX.
Lewis crosses the line second, and the other RedBull of Perez brings home a double RedBull podium! This leaves the standings ridiculously close, with Max now on 287.5 points, and Hamilton on 275.5.
And the results are:
1 – MAX VERSTAPPEN
2 - LEWIS HAMILTON
3 – SERGIO PEREZ
4 – CHARLES LECLERC
5 – DANIEL RICCIARDO
6 – VALTTERI BOTTAS
7 – CARLOS SAINZ
8 – LANDO NORRIS
9 – YUKI TSUNODA
10 – SEBASTIAN VETTEL
11 – ANTONIO GIOVINAZZI
12- LANCE STROLL
13 – KIMI RAIKKONEN
14 – GEORGE RUSSELL
15 – NICHOLAS LATIFI
16 – MICK SCHUMACHER
17 – NIKITA MAZEPIN
RETIRED:
FERNANDO ALONSO
ESEBAN OCON
PIERRE GASLY
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