The second of this season’s three races in the United States takes place this weekend at Circuit of the Americas. But unlike Miami and Las Vegas, this race in Austin has the distinction of holding the historic title ‘United States Grand Prix’.
This will also be the fourth sprint event of the year, meaning teams must be on their game from the moment the green light appears at the end of pit lane for the sole practice session on Friday.
McLaren tied up the constructors’ championship at the last round, despite being beaten to the chequered flag by Mercedes and Red Bull. But while Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris lead the fight for the drivers’ title they cannot overlook Max Verstappen looming ever larger in their mirrors.
Verstappen outfoxed Norris at this track last year, out-scoring his rival after a controversial clash at turn 12. That incident prompted a rewrite of F1’s racing rules, as well as calls for the track operators to install more gravel traps to discourage drivers from running wide.
Can we expect more fireworks between Verstappen and the McLaren drivers – or even the team mates in orange – as the championship points situation continues to close up? Here are the talking points for this weekend’s round.
Verstappen closing in
After Verstappen finished second in Singapore he pointed out he still has a lot of ground to make up to be considered a threat in the championship. But the fact remains he has out-scored both McLaren drivers for the last three rounds in a row, cutting his deficit from 104 points to 63.
With more points (arbitrarily) on offer at this weekend’s sprint race, he has the opportunity to take a bigger bite out of their advantage. Verstappen may dislike F1’s sprint events but he has a strong record in them: he won the last one at Spa and the previous two held at this circuit.
Of course, the key question will be how competitive Red Bull are at a conventional road circuit which tests every aspect of a car’s performance. But the team shows no sign of letting up in the development race: while other teams are increasingly focused on next year’s new rules, it has brought updates to every race since the end of June, and team principal Laurent Mekies hinted more are coming.
If the RB21 can rival an MCL39 at a track like this – with low to high-speed corners, short to long-radius turns plus a substantial back straight – then Red Bull should fancy their chances at any of the remaining tracks.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Gloves off at McLaren?
McLaren have successfully defended their constructors’ championship to become the undisputed kings of the F1 grid. With the team’s ambitions achieved, Piastri and Norris can arguably afford to be a little more selfish over the final six rounds of the championship as each strives to win their first title.
In Singapore the generally constructive team spirit between the McLaren drivers was tested once again, when Norris pushed his team mate wide at the start after making contact with Verstappen. Piastri was clearly unimpressed at the time.
Will he have softened his stance since the debrief? Their partnership is likely about to face its greatest strain yet.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Sprint shake-up
For the first time since the Belgian Grand Prix back in July, just before the summer break, Formula 1 will have a sprint race this weekend in Texas.
The three sprint races so far this year have produced pole and race winners from different teams each time. Lewis Hamilton enjoyed his best day in a Ferrari so far by winning the sprint race from pole in China.
Miami produced another unexpected pole-winner – Andrea Kimi Antonelli for Mercedes – but Norris won the rain-hit race thanks to the appearance of the Safety Car. At Spa Piastri started from pole but Verstappen immediately slipstreamed past him at the start and the Red Bull was never headed after that.
Among those results, championship leader Piastri’s lack of a sprint race victory stands out. But so does the possibility someone other than the three championship contenders could get involved in the fight for victory.
Hard tyre questions
F1’s official tyre supplier Pirelli has added a further complication. As at Spa, it has opted for a non-consecutive selection of tyre compounds. The C4 and C3 will serve as the soft and medium respectively while the hard will be Pirelli’s most durable rubber – the C1.
With only an hour of practice, teams will have little opportunity to evaluate which compound will be best suited to the 56-lap grand prix or one-third-distance sprint race.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Will Mercedes go back-to-back?
As George Russell was the first to admit Mercedes did not expect to rock up in Singapore and challenge for pole position – let alone take pole and then go on to win the race.
After out-pacing both Verstappen and the two McLaren drivers around the humid street circuit, Mercedes returned to their Brackley factory with their first mission being to try and understand why they were so strong in Singapore. If they have figured that out, then why can’t they look to fight for victory number three this weekend?
It will likely be a lot more difficult than that, however. Verstappen was sure that the McLarens behind him had more pace than him if he had allowed them some clean air, but he and Red Bull never allowed Norris that luxury. Russell also agreed with the world champion that McLaren’s full potential was likely masked by being stuck behind Verstappen around the street track.
Will a sprint race weekend give Mercedes a better chance of challenging McLaren and Verstappen, rather than allowing them more time to dial in their cars? That remains to be seen.
Track limits
The revised racing guidelines the FIA has enforced since the beginning of this season has drawn a mixed reaction from drivers and fans. They can largely be traced back to this race last year, particularly Norris’s penalty for passing Verstappen when both drivers went off at turn 12.
Other penalties handed down at this race last year provoked debate but Norris’s proved the most contentious. He drew ahead of Verstappen approaching the corner but the Red Bull driver braked late enough to reach the apex before Norris, which under the rules of the time gave him the ‘right’ to the corner even though he arrived too quickly to get around it without going off – and taking Norris with him.
The current racing guidelines theoretically means that kind of defence is no longer possible. Expect it to come under scrutiny as turn 12 will likely remain one of the best spots for overtaking on the track.
However, as many drivers noted last year, the circuit owners could improve matters by installing gravel at the exit of the corner, as has happened at many other venues. Regardless, with the competition between the top three in the championship likely to be fiercer than ever this weekend, it will be a stunning turn of events if the stewards do not have a busy weekend in Austin.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Big Apple news?
Fresh from helping to finance the official Formula 1 movie, which has become one of the most successful film releases of the entire year, Apple is heavily rumoured to be looking to build on their relationship with F1 and forge an even deeper alliance in the form of broadcast rights.
The technology giant is reportedly looking at acquiring the rights to broadcast F1 in the United States on their Apple TV platform. This weekend’s event would be a perfect opportunity to make such an announcement.
Fans stateside may have reason to be a little cautious about this news, given how unpopular Apple TV’s deal with Major League Soccer has been with football fans in America. F1 fans will hope that whatever CEO Tim Cook may have in store for them this weekend, it has to be better than his infamously woeful attempt at waving the chequered flag at this event in 2022.
Are you going to the United States Grand Prix?
If you’re heading to Austin for this weekend’s race, we want to hear from you:
Who do you think will be the team to beat in the United States Grand Prix? Have your say below.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories – and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here: