Race Summary: US GP, 2024
Ferrari Do the Double in Austin to Revive Constructors’ Championship Hopes
Circuit of the Americas, Sunday 20th October
C. LECLERC #16 (FERRARI) - 1:35:09.639
C. SAINZ JR. #55 (FERRARI) - +8.562s
M. VERSTAPPEN #1 (RED BULL) - +19.412s
Now, I’ll start by saying I do not put too much stock in Free Practice results – I very much learned that the hard way during the Canadian GP where Ferrari put in some fantastic results only to qualify P11 and P12, and worse, finish the race with 2 DNFs.
There certainly have been a couple more incidents like this that are similar, but by far that one was the most egregious. So no, Carlos Sainz Jr and Charles Leclerc being P1 and P2 respectively after FP1 meant very little to me. Sprint Qualification saw Leclerc finish in P3 and Sainz in P5 which I thought validated my beliefs. Some excellent racing during the Sprint Race saw Sainz jump to P2 and Leclerc in P4, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen victorious with his 11th sprint win.
Hours later, it was time for the all-important race Qualifying Session which started with a shock exit in Q1 for Lewis Hamilton who spun out into the gravel, leaving him in P19 (before the application of penalties for other drivers).
It was a tense shootout in Q3 with Lando Norris (McLaren) occupying P1 as Verstappen sought to unseat him. As the Red Bull driver approached the final sector, a last-minute crash from George Russell resulted yellow flags, forcing Verstappen and any other cars to slow down and abort their flying laps meaning Verstappen had to remain content with 2nd.
Zhou Guanyu (Kick Sauber Stake F1) had a 5 place grid penalty for the replacement of a power unit element whereas Liam Lawson (VCARB) racked up 60 places with all his cumulative PU replacements. Despite Russell qualifying in 6th, his accident from the session required extensive work on his car. As this meant breaching Parc Fermé conditions, this resulted in the Mercedes driver having to start from the pit lane.
As the lights went out, Lando Norris’ tradition of losing P1 within the opening lap remained alive and well as Leclerc’s daring move saw him go from P4 to being the race leader within one turn. Verstappen clung onto P2 for a while, but Ferrari pit stop strategy allowed Sainz Jr. to undercut him effectively and once all mandatory pit stops were completed by the teams in the top 5, that’s where they stayed for the rest of the race.
Disaster for Hamilton struck early as he spun out into the gravel, a shockingly bad week after struggling through practice and qualifying. A fantastic race for the two newest promotions from Formula 2 as Liam Lawson and Franco Colapinto (Williams) both successfully finished in the points in 9th and 10th respectively.
The closing laps of the race saw a very heated battle between Verstappen and Norris with some heavy racing – Verstappen, for the most part, getting the better of him with some incredible defensive work. Eventually, Norris was able to get in front but by going over the track limits in his attempts to overtake Verstappen (who was ahead at the apex) meant that despite crossing the line before Verstappen could, he had not built enough of a time buffer to keep his podium position once the inevitable 5 second penalty came his way.
For Ferrari however, a dream weekend. A long overdue 1-2 finish, some fantastic race pace from both drivers and a revival of Championship dreams as it seemingly becomes a 3-horse race once more, thanks to McLaren’s comparatively lacklustre points haul and Red Bull only having one driver consistently bringing in substantial points due Perez’s string of meagre finishes throughout the season.
