Max Verstappen Dominates in Dull COTA Sprint
Max Verstappen cruised home to win a pretty uneventful United States Sprint by nearly 9 and a half seconds ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton whilst Charles Leclerc came home to take the final spot on the “Podium”.
This Wasn’t Good
Max Verstappen held off Charles Leclerc into Turn 1 and this ended up allowing Lewis Hamilton to go round the outside of Charles and take P2. Carlos Sainz, who was the only driver to gamble on the Soft tyres, made a great move to pass Lando Norris for P4 and after Lap 1, not much really happened. Oscar Piastri struggled massively with his tyres as he dropped through the field whilst George Russell picked up a 5-second time penalty for overtaking Piastri off the track. Carlos Sainz dropped back behind Lando Norris and Sergio Perez after his tyres died off and Lance Stroll retired from the Sprint with brake issues. This really wasn’t very good and it’s kind of ruined the excitement of today’s Grand Prix a little bit because it’s pretty clear that Max Verstappen is easily going to take the Chequered Flag first (like he did in the Sprint).
The Highs and Lows of the Sprint
I’ve given out two 10’s for the United States Sprint and the first one is obviously for Max Verstappen. This was another occasion where Max was in a league of his own and I fully expect that to happen after about 10-12 laps tonight. The other driver I’ve given a perfect 10 to is Lewis Hamilton because he was the only driver that got anywhere near Max Verstappen after Lap 1 (until he was dropped on Lap 5) and I definitely think that Lewis got the maximum out of his Mercedes. I also thought that Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, Pierre Gasly, and Alex Albon all had pretty good Sprints.
In terms of the lowest possible grade, I’ve given out two 1’s and the first one is for Kevin Magnussen. K-Mag was shockingly slow in this race and by the looks of it, Haas’ upgrades don’t seem to be working very well. The other driver I’ve given the worst possible grade to is Logan Sargeant and my reason for that is not only was Logan slow in the Sprint, but he also failed to get past Magnussen and that’s more of a concern for me than his actual pace. I also thought both Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu had bad days for Alfa Romeo whilst Oscar Piastri, Fernando Alonso, and Lance Stroll all should’ve done a bit better in my opinion (even though I’ll cut Lance a bit of slack because he had a brake issue).
Overall Sprint Race Results and My Ratings
Max Verstappen: 10
Lewis Hamilton: 10
Charles Leclerc: 8
Lando Norris: 8
Sergio Perez: 5
Carlos Sainz: 6
Pierre Gasly: 8
George Russell: 4
Alex Albon: 8
Oscar Piastri: 3
Esteban Ocon: 4
Daniel Ricciardo: 7
Fernando Alonso: 3
Yuki Tsunoda: 5
Nico Hulkenberg: 4
Valtteri Bottas: 2
Zhou Guanyu: 2
Kevin Magnussen: 1
Logan Sargeant: 1
Lance Stroll: 3 (DNF)
My Predictions for the 2023 United States Grand Prix
Max Verstappen
Lewis Hamilton
Lando Norris
Charles Leclerc
Sergio Perez
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