Starting the weekend in Austin, Texas, is an exciting stop in America.
After an exciting Singapore race, Verstappen is on a roll and determined to keep pushing McLaren to the edge, who also needs to keep their lead.
It’s a busy weekend because it’s a Sprint race on Saturday, so we only have one practice session on Friday before the Sprint qualifying. There’s a total of 33 points up for grabs this weekend.
It’ll be exciting to see who’s gonna be the strong contender for this weekend. Will it be the McLarens or are their competitors finally stepping up?
Let’s begin with the first and only practice session.
Carlos Sainz found himself in trouble due to a gearbox issue, which meant he couldn’t use the practice session. Leclerc also had an oil issue so that he couldn’t complete the session either.
A Quick Qualifying
Moving swiftly onto the sprint qualifying, and there’s a major timing issue as not 1 but 3 cars don’t make it past the line in time to set a final quick lap.
Bortoleto, Ocon, and Tsunoda are out due to traffic and poor management. Joining them in the bottom five is Colapinto, and his teammate Gasly just beat out rookie Bearman, who slots into 16th place.
Lawson’s lap time was deleted, so he plummeted to 15th, and joining him were Stroll and Gasly, joined by two rookies, Hadjar and Antonelli. It was tight between both Ferraris as they both just made it through. Let’s see what they can do in the final round.
A brilliant end to the sprint qualifying as Max Verstappen snatches pole position off both McLarens as they are just behind him. Hulkenberg stays in 4th place alongside Russel and Alonso just behind him.
A mix of Williams and Ferrari drivers finish the top 10, off a brilliant effort from all cars, and a mighty battle it’ll be.
The Electrifying Sprint
Verstappen soars off the line with both McLarens behind him, hot on his tail, but within an instant, there’s chaos at turn 1.
As Piastri goes to overtake Norris on the inside, just as Hulkenberg dives on the inside too, both crash into each other and Piastri goes into his own teammate Norris.
Norris’s wheel flies off, and he’s stationary. Piastri manages to keep moving a little longer, but then he comes to a stop due to a broken suspension, and both McLarens are out of the race. What a disastrous race for them.
Hulkenberg’s front wing comes off, and Tsunoda sweeps it up on his way; Alonso receives damage from the incident, too. Tsunoda has had an excellent advantage from this as he’s gone from 18th up to 7th position.
After six laps, we are back racing as Verstappen shoots off again, but Russel is desperate to hold on with Sainz up into 3rd position, followed by both Ferraris.
Halfway through the Sprint, Russel is desperate to overtake Verstappen and dives down the inside, but then locks up, causing both cars to go off the grid. Hamilton and Leclerc fight a tough battle, and Hamilton pushes through to 4th for now.
Another crash so close to the end between Stroll and Ocon, and we have our 2nd safety car. Stroll dives down the inside but doesn’t manage to make it and crashes into Ocon. Both cars are out.
We finished the Sprint race under the virtual safety car, with Sainz in 3rd, Russel in 2nd, and Verstappen claiming victory and gaining a valuable set of 8 points.
Unfortunately, Stroll receives a 5-place grid penalty for the race due to causing an incident with Ocon in the Sprint race, which is unfortunate for Aston Martin.
Qualifying Take 2
Only a minute into qualifying, we have a red flag because Hadjar crashed into the barriers and lost it on a curb.
After the red flag, we get back on track with Q1. The other 19 cars are eager to advance to the next qualifying round. Both McLarens seem on edge after the disastrous Sprint race, as both cars go wide on their laps.
Joining Hadjar are Albon and Stroll, who both had their lap times deleted due to breaching the track limits. Ocon and Bortoleto join them, just missing out, and Colapinto manages to hold onto 15th and get through to Q2 by the skin of his teeth.
A shaky moment for Gasly as he nearly loses his car on a curb, but he manages to save it as we near the end of Q2. Tsunoda and Hulkenberg aren’t able to make it in the top 10. Unfortunately, both Alpine teammates are out in Q2 alongside Lawson.
The Ferrari duo were struggling in Q3 as Leclerc went for a spin and Hamilton locked up; they’ve got a lot of time to make up.
There’s drama at the end as Verstappen misses out on doing a final lap, but with his provisional pole position, it’s time to see if the other nine drivers can beat his time.
Alonso takes 10th with the other Spaniard, Sainz, just ahead of him in 9th. We have a rookie row with Bearman and Antonelli next to each other, followed by the championship leader in 6th, Piastri.
A good showing for Ferrari with Hamilton in 5th and Leclerc snatching 3rd with Russel splitting the pair. Norris misses the pole and slots into 2nd position, so Verstappen takes the pole.
Yee-Haw Let’s Race!
Time for the race now, and let’s see how the start goes this time. A heavy wind fills the air as the cars complete their formation lap.
The five lights go out, and in an instant, we’re off, and no crashes in the first corner this time. Verstappen and Norris had a good start, but Leclerc made a solid move and overtook Norris, moving up to 2nd position.
A tricky incident between Albon, Stroll, and Bortoleto, and a brief double yellow flag is waved, but soon we’re back racing, and Albon is in last place, trailing behind.
Russel lost a couple of places on the start and is fighting hard to get past Piastri, but Piastri is defending strongly. Norris’ desperation to regain his position from Leclerc has found him caught between them.
Verstappen is storming away already with a 3-second gap from Leclerc, who’s busy defending Norris. Leclerc’s soft tyres have really helped him with the start, but how long will they last compared to all the other cars on medium tyres?
On lap 7, a collision between Antonelli and Sainz, which sees Sainz diving for the corner, but Antonelli doesn’t see him and they collide with Antonelli spinning into the barrier, but he manages to keep going.
However, Sainz is out of this race, such a shame as he showed real promise with the sprint race yesterday. A virtual safety car comes out, and Albon takes advantage and has a quick pit stop.
Piastri seems to be having some issues with his front left tyre, whereas Norris is thriving and gaining on Leclerc with each lap. Verstappen is inching his advantage with each turn as he now builds nearly a 5-second gap to Leclerc after only 15 laps.
Norris tries another overtake on Leclerc, but Leclerc defends. The track limits warnings are coming in hot for Norris, as he’s had three warnings. If he gets a fourth, he could receive a 5-second time penalty. He needs to keep his cool.
Antonelli is gaining on cars, up from last to 15th, a long way to go, but a good comeback for him so far. Stroll is also overtaking cars and is up to 12th.
On lap 21, Norris finally manages to overtake Leclerc after inching closer each lap, and then both Ferraris are fighting for position. A very close encounter between Leclerc and Hamilton, so the team calls Leclerc into the pit and changes his tyres to new mediums.
Halfway through now, Albon manages to overtake Colapinto and move up into 15th place whilst Verstappen, who’s now 10 seconds ahead of Norris, is starting to complain about his tyres.
Piastri is called in to the pit to undercut Russel, and at the same time, Russel had a bad front lock-up and went off track. On lap 33, Norris came into the pit, followed by Verstappen, who pitted just after and was able to come out in the same position a few seconds ahead of Leclerc.
Bearman attempts to overtake Tsunoda but goes off track as Tsunoda moves under braking. Hulkenberg is quick to take advantage of Ollie’s spin and swiftly overtakes him, which leaves Sauber in 8th.
We’re on lap 40 now, and Norris is back on the hunt to overtake Leclerc again after the pit stops. Norris complains that his tyres are gone and that he needs to cool them down, which won’t bode well for his ongoing fight for 2nd place.
Verstappen is also starting to slide a considerable amount, but he is 7 seconds ahead of Leclerc. Piastri is seemingly not able to make much advantage on Hamilton and is also struggling with tyres.
Ocon and Antonelli go head-to-head alongside Alonso and Lawson, fighting for the final available point. Seven laps to go, and Russel has a chance to overtake Piastri as he’s closing in, whittling the gap down to less than 3 seconds.
Although Norris has tyre issues, he’s determined to fight for 2nd position, and he’s within a second of Leclerc, so there’s still a chance for him to get ahead, but his time is running out.
Norris dives down the inside of turn 1, but Leclerc can defend both drivers neck and neck, and Norris manages to overtake him, but Leclerc is all over the back of him.
2 Laps to go, and Colapinto in 18th and Gasly in 17th are told to hold positions, but Colapinto is determined to get past and overtakes Gasly. Bortoleto takes advantage of this and overtakes Gasly, not fighting for points but still for positions.
Max Masterclass
Verstappen races through the final lap as he leads the Austin Grand Prix. Verstappen has won Austin 4 times and has a total of 7 wins in America. He wins the Sprint and the Grand Prix, a brilliant, dominating performance from Max this weekend.
Norris takes 2nd place and Leclerc in 3rd, a fantastic fight between them and a strong strategy choice for Ferrari with the soft tyres.
Hamilton just held onto 4th place as he had a puncture in the last lap, and Piastri was close to overtaking him but couldn’t quite make it and finished his race in 5th.
Russel slots into 6th and Tsunoda sticks to 7th, scoring valuable points for Redbull. An honourable mention to Hulkenberg, who managed to stay in the top 10 and gain some good points for Sauber, followed by rookie Bearman.
Alonso snatched the final point for Aston Martin, managing to hold off Lawson—a fun race with only one car out and a series of spectacular battles.
A thrilling weekend, and it seems it’s all still to play for in the drivers’ championship.
We’ll see you again shortly for an exhilarating race in Mexico.
