Max Verstappen vs. Lando Norris. Red Bull vs. McLaren. As Formula 1 returned from its fall break, all the attention was focused on the top two in the drivers’ and constructors’ championships, but here comes Ferrari to remind everyone it’s far from over.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz made it a brilliant 1-2 Ferrari finish Sunday at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.
While the Circuit of the Americas isn’t known as a Ferrari favourite with just one previous win back in 2018, courtesy of Kimi Raikkonen, there was no doubt they dominated this time.
As Norris and Verstappen started on the front row and engaged in a Texas-style rodeo at the first corner of the opening lap, both went off the track and allowed Leclerc to swoop by from fourth place into the lead.
Sainz, who started third, also slipped ahead as Norris dropped to fourth in a return to his bad habit of losing P1 on the first lap.
Verstappen maintained second until Sainz pitted first on Lap 22. Sainz proceeded to make up ground and pulled off the undercut manoeuvre as he breezed by Verstappen four laps later when the three-time reigning world champion made his stop.
Norris reclaimed the lead but only because Leclerc made his stop and order was restored once the McLaren finally pitted.
Leclerc crossed the finish line 8.562 seconds ahead of Sainz but more importantly, his nearest challenger Verstappen was a whopping 19.412 seconds behind.
It was the third win of the season for the Monegasque driver, who is also third in the drivers’ championship. Although Leclerc is a distant third in the standings, 79 points back of Verstappen, the constructors’ championship has now heated up.
Ferrari remains third overall but has trimmed the gap to eight points back of Red Bull and 48 back of leader McLaren in a pivotal start to a triple-header with stops in Mexico City and Sao Paulo on tap in the following weeks.
WHERE IT WENT RIGHT FOR VERSTAPPEN AND WRONG FOR NORRIS
A return of the sprint seemed like a return to form for Verstappen.
Although Verstappen has been vocal in his dislike of the format, the Dutch driver is a perfect 4-for-4 in sprints this year following his latest win on Saturday. Verstappen should have been more welcoming as it was his first win of any sort since the Austrian sprint in June.
Verstappen was leading the main event in Austria as well when a late collision with Norris took them both out of contention. Since then, Norris has had the fastest car while Verstappen’s dominance faded.
The two not only battled during the opening lap, but also during the late stages of the race as Norris closed in on Verstappen with the DRS advantage. Norris made his move late but had to veer off of the track to get ahead. While the stewards chalked up their early encounter as just an opening lap racing incident, they weren’t going to let this one go unpunished and handed Norris a five-second time penalty.
With only a handful of laps to go, could Norris have just given the place back and then made another charge? It’s possible that would have satisfied the stewards and negated the penalty, however, seeing as how things had gone during the race, would Norris have been able to make another pass or at least a clean one? Chances are there would have been another close call between the two and Verstappen would have prevailed regardless. Just a hunch. Holding the position and hoping the stewards would look the other way — or try to gain a five-second advantage over Verstappen — was McLaren’s best option.
“He defends by going off-track, he overtakes by going off-track. But I’m not going to complain. Max drove well and he defended well, we had a good race together. But the rules are the rules.” Norris said to Sky Sport F1.
Of course, a more assertive start from Norris to fend off Verstappen on the opening lap could have changed the outcome of the race as well. All moot at the end of the day as Verstappen extended his lead in the championship.
THE SUMMER AUTUMN OF GEORGE
George Russell was the biggest mover of the race finishing sixth after passing Red Bull’s Sergio Perez on the final lap. It’s certainly not a great look for Perez, but an amazing effort for Russell.
The Mercedes driver would have started sixth but needed significant repairs after crashing during Saturday’s final qualifying stint. Russell recovered not only from that, but he also overcame a five-second time penalty for pushing Valtteri Bottas off of the track.
It was one to forget for Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton though. Hamilton exceeded track limits at Turn 12 during the first session of qualifying and had his flying lap thrown out. The seven-time world champion started 17th on the grid when all was said and done and had moved up to 12th on the opening lap but it was all for naught. Hamilton spun out on Lap 3 while turning at the penultimate corner of the track — the same spot where Russell went off in qualifying — and beached his car in the gravel to end his day early.
Hamilton has won five times in Austin, more than any other driver, but he’s left empty-handed the past two times now. Hamilton crossed the line in second place last year but was disqualified after the race due to excessive wear on his car’s skid block.
LAWSON SHINES IN LONE STAR STATE
Liam Lawson made his return to the grid after replacing popular but underperforming veteran Daniel Ricciardo at RB for the remainder of the year.
The 22-year-old from New Zealand, who filled in for Ricciardo for six races last season, proved he deserved the spot as he scored points in his season debut finishing ninth.
Lawson overcame a start from the back of the pack as he incurred a 60-place (!!!) grid penalty for exceeding his allotment of engine parts. That’s because the season quota is applied to the car and not the driver and no, Lawson didn’t have to start across the border in Mexico, only 19th.
Lawson also outperformed teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who finished 14th after receiving a five-second time penalty for forcing a driver off of the track and spinning out.
Tsunoda is signed for next season, but RB still has to decide who will occupy the other seat. Sunday’s result certainly helps Lawson’s bid.
ORANGE YOU GLAD …
Alpine had a special livery for Austin with orange replacing pink on its cars as part of an Indiana Jones cross-promotion. While Alpine’s appearance may have caused some confusion with the papaya McLaren, that’s where the similarities between the two teams end.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was among several drivers who were dinged five seconds for pushing another driver off of the track and finished 12th. That’s still better than teammate Esteban Ocon, who went for a spin on the opening lap after he was bumped by Alex Albon and ended up a lap down in 18th.
Ocon ended up setting the fastest lap although he was ineligible to earn the bonus as he finished well out of the points.
At least we got some cool content out of it.
