2023-10-23 19:09:21
Clear. Dry. Air +30…31С, highway +41…42С
The weekend in Austin was held for the first time in a Saturday sprint format. The organizers said that this did not affect ticket sales, but there was nowhere for the apple to fall in the stands. In the evening following the sprint, the band Queen with Adam Lambert performed at the race track – the audience was happy. Everyone was waiting for the main event – Sunday’s race.
The sprint format provides for a single hour-long training session on Friday morning, so it was not possible to assess the potential of the tires over a long distance, nor to test new products – several teams brought solutions for the next season, which were important to test now.
In practice, Verstappen showed the best time, and in Friday qualifying, Max was only sixth – his best lap in the qualifying final was canceled due to leaving the track. But on Saturday the Dutchman won both the Sprint Shootout and the Sprint.
In the race, Leclerc and Norris shared the first row of the starting field, Hamilton and Sainz – second, Russell and Verstappen – third.
Both Haas F1 drivers started from the pit lane – in a closed park, the team changed the settings, recognizing their previous option as erroneous.
Aston Martin also decided to start from the pit lane to compare the effectiveness of the two configuration options. The new items were removed from Alonso’s car; he used the previous configuration, prepared for the Qatar stage. They kept the new features on Stroll’s car, but changed the settings.
Pirelli once more brought the “medium” three compounds to the stage – C2, C3 and C4, labeled Hard, Medium and Soft. Hulkenberg and Stroll chose Hard for the first stint, the rest started on Medium.
At the start, Norris overtook Leclerc to lead the race. Russell lost three seats. Hamilton let Sainz pass.
Top ten on lap 2: Norris – Leclerc – Sainz – Hamilton – Verstappen – Piastri – Ocon – Russell – Perez – Gasly.
On Ocon’s car, following contact with Piastri, the left pontoon was damaged, he lost downforce and speed.
On lap 3, Russell and Perez passed Ocon.
On the 4th lap, Ocon let Gasly pass, then Esteban was ahead of Tsunoda – and he fell back to last place.
Hamilton overtook Sainz to regain third place.
On lap 6, Verstappen was ahead of Sainz, Hamilton was ahead of Leclerc, and Stroll was ahead of Hulkenberg.
On the 7th lap, Ocon stopped the car in the pits and retired.
On lap 8, Perez passed Gasly for eighth place.
Top ten on lap 10: Norris – Hamilton – Leclerc – Verstappen – Sainz – Piastri – Russell – Perez – Gasly – Tsunoda.
On the 10th lap, Zhou changed tires. Russell passed Piastri. Oscar’s car lost speed, he slowly drove to the pits and left the race – following contact with Ocon at the start, the radiator was damaged and a leak occurred in the cooling system.
On lap 11, Albon, Bottas and Magnussen made a pit stop.
Verstappen overtook Leclerc, pushing his opponent off the track and moving up to second place.
On the 12th lap Sargent changed tires, on the 17th – Verstappen, on the 18th – Norris, Sainz, Perez and Tsunoda, on the 19th – Gasly, on the 20th – Alonso and Hulkenberg, on the 21st – Hamilton and Stroll, Russell in 22nd, Ricciardo in 23rd.
Alonso moved ahead of Bottas and Albon to 11th place.
On the 24th lap, Leclerc made a pit stop. Alonso overtook Zhou for 10th place. Magnussen was warned with a black and white flag for trespassing.
Top ten on lap 25: Norris – Verstappen – Hamilton – Sainz – Perez – Leclerc – Russell – Gasly – Tsunoda – Alonso.
On lap 26, Albon passed Zhou and Stroll passed Ricciardo.
On lap 28, Zhou changed tires and Verstappen passed Norris to take the lead.
On the 29th lap, Bottas changed tires, on the 30th – Albon and Magnussen.
On lap 32, Hulkenberg passed Sargent for 12th place.
On the 33rd lap, Sargent made a pit stop, on the 35th – Norris, Tsunoda and Hulkenberg, on the 36th – Verstappen and Sainz, on the 38th – Perez and Gasly.
Sainz was ahead of Russell in the fight for fifth place, and Verstappen was ahead of Leclerc in the fight for the leadership.
On lap 39, Hamilton changed tires. Norris overtook Leclerc for second place.
On the 40th lap, Russell made a pit stop, on the 41st – Stroll.
On lap 42, Albon passed Ricciardo for 12th place. Sargent was warned with a black and white flag for trespassing.
On lap 43, Alonso changed tires. Hamilton beat Leclerc for third place.
On lap 45, Alonso passed Tsunoda to move up to ninth place.
Top ten on lap 45: Verstappen – Norris – Hamilton – Leclerc – Sainz – Perez – Russell – Gasly – Alonso – Tsunoda.
On lap 46, Sargent overtook Ricciardo for 14th place.
On lap 48, Stroll passed Tsunoda for 10th place. Ricciardo changed the tires.
On lap 49, Hamilton overtook Norris for second place. Tsunoda moved ahead of Alonso, moving up to 10th place.
On the 50th lap, Alonso stopped the car in the pits and retired due to damage to the underbody. Leclerc, on worn tires, allowed Sainz to pass at the request of the team.
Albon received a five-second penalty for repeatedly trespassing.
On lap 53, Perez overtook Leclerc for fifth place.
On the 55th lap, Tsunoda changed tires, got Soft and set the best lap.
Max Verstappen won the US Grand Prix with his 15th victory of the season and 50th of his career. Lewis Hamilton finished second, repeating his best result of the season. Lando Norris reached the podium for the fourth race in a row.
Next week the fight will continue in Mexico City.
After the finish, during a random technical inspection, it turned out that the control bar under the bottom of the cars of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc was worn out more than required and did not meet the requirements of the technical regulations. Both riders were disqualified.
Race results
Driver Team Time Speed Pit 1. M. Verstappen Red Bull 1:35.21.362 194.054 2 DQ. L. Hamilton Mercedes +2.225 193.979 2 2. L. Norris McLaren +10.730 193.691 2 3. C. Sainz Ferrari +15.134 193.542 2 4. C. Perez Red Bull +18.460 193.430 2 DQ. C. Leclerc Ferrari +24.662 193.221 1 5. D. Russell Mercedes +24.999 193.210 2 6. P. Gasly Alpine +47.996 192.440 2 7. L. Stroll Aston Martin +48.696 192.417 2 8. Y. Tsunoda AlphaTauri +74.385 191.564 3 9 A. Albon* Williams +86.714 191.157 2 10. L. Sargent Williams +87.998 191.115 2 11. N. Hulkenberg Haas +89.904 191.052 2 12. V. Bottas Alfa Romeo +98.601 190.767 2 13. G. Zh ou Alfa Romeo +1 lap 190.466 2 14. K. Magnussen Haas +1 lap 190.317 2 15. D. Ricciardo AlphaTauri +1 lap 190.291 2
* – A. Albon was punished with a 5-second increase for violating the boundaries of the track
Best lap: Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) – 1:38.139 (56 lap, 202.231 km/h)
Reasons for the gatherings
Pilot Team Circles Cause E.Okon Alpine 6 accident O.Piastri Mclaren 10 leak in the cooling system F.Alonso Aston Martin 49 underbody
Championship position: Individual competition
Championship position: Constructors’ Championship
Команда
Мотор
Очки
=
1. Oracle Red Bull Racing
Honda RBPT
706
=
2. Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team
Mercedes
344
=
3. Scuderia Ferrari
Ferrari
322
4. McLaren F1 Team
Mercedes
242
5. Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team
Mercedes
236
=
6. BWT Alpine F1 Team
Renault
100
=
7. Williams Racing
Mercedes
26
=
8. Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake
Ferrari
16
=
9. MoneyGram Haas F1 Team
Ferrari
12
=
10. Scuderia AlphaTauri
Honda RBPT
10
1698091705
#Grand #Prix #Max #Verstappens #50th #victory
