Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc proved untouchable in the Grand Prix (
Formula 1 returned to action in Texas this weekend for the United States Grand Prix and an accompanying Sprint race, and it was a Ferrari 1-2 for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in the main event after Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had dominated the preceding Sprint race.
Just one quick news item before we focus on events at the USA’s Circuit of the Americas. The Audi F1 entry is now being led by the former Ferrari team principal, Mattia Binotto, and the likeable Italian has confirmed that any rise toward the front of the grid is seen as a long-term project, suggesting that Everest is ahead of them but that for now all they can see is the base camp. The outfit will still compete under the Sauber name next season before the Audi moniker officially arrives in 2026, when a set of new technical regulations arrive. Audi has long signed experienced German driver Nico Hülkenberg, who will leave Haas at the end of the current campaign, but filling the other seat has proven to be far more problematic.
Ferrari’s Sainz was the preferred option, followed by Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, but ultimately both the Spaniard and the Frenchman rejected the offers made and opted for Williams and Haas, respectively, as their new 2025 F1 homes. Therefore, it appears that Audi will likely have to choose between the current Sauber driver, Valtteri Bottas, Williams' Franco Colapinto, the Formula 2 Championship leader, Gabriel Bortoleto, and Mick Schumacher.
The 35-year-old Bottas would provide continuity, but having failed to score a single point so far this season, the Finn would surely represent the past rather than the future, whereas Argentina’s young Colapinto and Brazil’s 20-year-old charger, Bortoleto, would be exactly the opposite. The wildcard alternative would be 25-year-old Schumacher, who was dropped by Haas at the end of 2022 but has been the Mercedes F1 reserve driver for the last two seasons and is very keen to reignite his F1 racing career. Add to this suggestion that the main Audi board, following senior personnel changes, may no longer be quite as keen on its arrival into the F1 world and the related costs compared to the early level of success likely to be achieved.
Turning our attention back to Texas, the excellent Circuit of the Americas is located just outside the state capital, Austin, a city that is very much worth a visit regardless of motorsport reasons for heading here. Liam Lawson arrived at the track as the replacement RB driver for Daniel Ricciardo, who was unceremoniously sacked late last month following the Singapore Grand Prix, and the 26-year-old Kiwi has been given the remainder of the season to show the Red Bull/RB senior management just what he can do. Lawson is well aware that if he impresses, he could secure a 2025 seat, and if Sergio Pérez, who is currently under pressure, is dropped, he could potentially secure a seat at the main Red Bull team.
Max Verstappen dominated the Sprint, but had to settle for third in the main event
Somewhat ominously for the Mexican, the Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, emphasised during the build-up to the Texan weekend that it could not put up with a significant performance gap between its two drivers in 2025, as has been the case again this year. Given Ferrari's strong pairing of Leclerc and Sir Lewis Hamilton for the upcoming season, and McLaren's equally strong lineup of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, Red Bull understands that they cannot afford to have a weak teammate alongside Verstappen if they hope to succeed in the prize money-paying Constructors' Championship.
With this being a Sprint weekend, there was only a single free practice session at the Circuit of the Americas, and this simply added to its significance. The session began at 12.30pm local time on Friday, and it proved that the pair of Ferraris and McLarens plus Red Bull’s Verstappen were very much quickest, whereas the latter’s teammate, Pérez, was merely a lowly 16th fastest amongst the 20 drivers. Qualifying for Saturday’s Sprint race followed later on Friday, and it was Verstappen who led the way for the first time since Austria back in June, edging out Mercedes’ Russell by just 0.012s, whilst to their rear, Leclerc and Norris proved to be the best of the rest. Elsewhere on the grid, 11th-placed Pérez again failed to impress, and there was something of a shock result when Piastri was only 16th fastest after exceeding track limits.
Come the start of the 100km Sprint contest, Verstappen converted his P1 grid slot into an immediate lead, which he was never to relinquish. However, to his rear, the 19-lap encounter was full of thrilling wheel-to-wheel action, and the other star performer was Sainz, who moved up from fifth on the grid to second place by the chequered flag. This was helped by a late mistake from Norris, who had blasted past both Leclerc and Russell at the start but ended up third ahead of Ferrari’s Monegasque driver. As a result, Norris lost some ground to Verstappen in their battle for the Drivers' title, but there were still many more points to win in the Grand Prix.
Next on the timetable was Saturday’s qualifying hour for the following day’s main event, and it proved to be quite eventful. Firstly, Ferrari-bound multiple-champion Hamilton really struggled for pace from the very beginning and was quickly eliminated in the opening Q1 period after setting only the 19th fastest time.
Simultaneously, the returning Lawson made a point by going third quickest for RB, but a massive set of power unit-related grid penalties inherited from Ricciardo meant he would end up having to start from the back of the grid.
Norris lost ground to title rival Verstappen in both Texan races
Out front, the top ten shootout began with Norris claiming provisional pole position ahead of Verstappen, with the remaining ten drivers all due to make one final attempt to improve. However, Russell completed a poor day for Mercedes by crashing his W15 car into the barriers at the penultimate corner, and the resultant double yellow flags stopped all the following drivers, including Norris and a flying Verstappen who was very much set to take pole from Norris, from completing their laps at full speed. So, this left Norris and his close friend Verstappen set to line up on the front row for the Grand Prix, with the pair of Ferraris just to their rear. Pérez was only 10th quickest and yet again not close enough to his teammate to be of any assistance. Russell had posted a sixth fastest time before his accident, but the extensive repairs required for his car meant that Mercedes had to break overnight parc fermé rules, and so the highly likeable Brit was forced to start from the pit lane. This left Hamilton to start the race from 17th on the grid.
.With much of the track resurfacing since last year and with the Americans really knowing how to put on a show for the packed grandstands amidst a 27C air temperature under beautiful clear blue skies, there was a great atmosphere around the circuit as the 2pm local time start of the Grand Prix neared. Frontman Norris knew he had to make a great getaway to improve his chances of taking much-needed points off Verstappen come the chequered flag, but, as he and his title rivals fought into the wide, uphill Turn 1 for the first time, they allowed the Ferrari of Leclerc to sneak up the inside into the lead, followed by Verstappen and Sainz, and with Norris ending up down in fourth position.
More drama was to follow on lap three as a low speed error from Hamilton saw him spin off into the gravel at Turn 19, beached and out of the race, with his bad weekend having just got so much worse. This caused a temporary Safety Car intervention to remove his stranded car, and, after racing resumed, Leclerc started to extend his lead over the reigning champion. Meanwhile, with Hamilton out of the running and Russell only 14th, the latter received a five-second penalty for forcing Bottas off the track while overtaking him. In my humble opinion, the punishment from the stewards did seem harsh, and the Mercedes team boss, Toto Wolff, was far from impressed, referring to the penalty as “a total joke.”
After Sainz, Verstappen, and Leclerc had subsequently made their first and only pitstops to switch from medium to hard specification tyres, this left the yet-to-stop Norris and Piastri out front, but when they too had pitted, the running order was Leclerc, followed by Sainz, Verstappen, and Norris.
The struggling Lewis Hamilton had one of his worst weekends in a long time
At this stage in the race, Norris set about closing the gap to third-placed Verstappen, and their battle for the final podium position created great excitement for all the fans at the circuit and for the massive worldwide TV audience. With the pair of Ferraris still comfortably in control, the ongoing Verstappen/Norris scrap was compelling to watch, and it came to a head with four laps remaining when Norris ran wide and swept past his title rival into the final podium position. Verstappen and his Red Bull team immediately called for the position to be given back, but, after McLaren had refused to do so, the stewards gave Norris a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an unfair advantage. This resulted in Verstappen regaining the final podium position behind Leclerc and Sainz and further extending his Drivers’ Championship lead over Norris.
So, the McLaren duo ended up fourth and fifth ahead of sixth-placed Russell, who had put in a brilliant recovery drive from his pit lane start. Pérez, who started from the back of the grid, finished only seventh, while Lawson stood out with highly creditable points, finishing ninth.
Alpine’s 18th-placed Esteban Ocon ended up setting the fastest lap of the race but failed to earn the extra point due to finishing outside the top ten. Interestingly, we will abandon this aspect of the points scoring system, introduced in 2019 to add extra spice to the ontrack proceedings, at the end of the current season, as it has not delivered the expected results and has been open to abuse.
Texas has been the first part of a three-round series of Grands Prix on consecutive weekends, with everyone and everything within the F1 travelling circus having to relocate without delay to high altitude Mexico City before then heading further south to Brazil’s sprawling São Paulo and its iconic Interlagos circuit, which will also host a further Sprint race. Bring it on. Mexico will of course be the struggling Pérez’s home race, but, apart from the significant funding he brings to the Red Bull team, his local fans are passionately opposed to any suggestion that he is no longer quick enough and should be dropped. Red Bull's senior management is facing challenging times, but they will eventually need to make crucial decisions regarding their 2025 lineup, and they will closely monitor Lawson's performances.
2024 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix
1 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1hr35m9.639s
2 Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +8.572s
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 Pérez (Red Bull) +59.072s
8 Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) +1m2.957s
9 Liam Lawson (RB) +1m10.563s
10 Franco Colapinto (Williams) +1m11.979s
11 Kevin Magnussen (Haas) +1m19.782s
12 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1m30.558s
13 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) Lapped
14 Yuki Tsunoda (RB) Lapped
15 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) Lapped
16 Alex Albon (Williams) Lapped
17 Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) Lapped
18 Esteban Ocon (Alpine) Lapped
19 Zhou Guanyu (Sauber) Lapped
20 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) Retired
2024 Formula 1 United States Sprint
1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 31m6.146s
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 Hülkenberg (Haas) +26.588s
9 Sergio Pérez (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 Alex Albon (Williams) +44.564s
18 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +46.807s
19 Zhou Guanyu (Sauber) +52.842s
20 Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) +54.476s
2024 Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship
1 Max Verstappen 354
2 Lando Norris 297
3 Charles Leclerc 275