Unstoppable Leclerc Leads Ferrari 1-2 in Austin
On the return of Formula 1, it was Charles Leclerc who stood tall to take a terrific victory around the Circuit of the Americas! Carlos Sainz came home in second to complete a perfect day for Ferrari whilst Max Verstappen rounded out the Podium after some controversy with his Championship rival Lando Norris!
The Biggest Talking Points
As the lights went green, Lando Norris got a good start as he attempted to defend into Turn 1, but the problem was is he didn’t defend the inside enough as Max Verstappen sent one to pass his Championship rival, but even he didn’t find himself in the lead heading into Turn 2 as Charles Leclerc brilliantly found his way up from 4th to first! Esteban Ocon was also spun around by Alex Albon at Turn 1, and on Lap 2, we finally got our first Safety Car since Canada as Lewis Hamilton found himself beached in the gravel trap at Turn 19! It’s actually a pretty crazy sentence to say cause Lewis never really does stuff like this! When the Race got back underway, it was Leclerc who led from Verstappen who led from Sainz as Lance Stroll made an error which saw him lose about 7 places! The Race then sort of died down for a bit as Charles Leclerc continued to extend his lead out front, but the focus then turned to the midfield fight as Kevin Magnussen managed to jump Pierre Gasly in the pits after Gasly had an unfortunate slow stop!
After the first round of pit stops, it was Leclerc who stayed in the lead, but more importantly, it was a Ferrari 1-2 as Carlos Sainz had undercut Max Verstappen! McLaren went longer with both of their drivers to give them a tyre advantage at the end, and it seemingly worked for Lando Norris as he started to catch his Championship Rival! Elsewhere, Kevin Magnussen, who was running well into the points, had to box again and that ultimately cost him a place to Franco Colapinto as both guys put on a great piece of racing! Liam Lawson, who started the Race from P19, made his way into the points after a terrific first stint whilst Yuki Tsunoda had a tough day which got even worse with a spin! Also, George Russell was making great progress through the field after starting in the Pitlane, and it’s worth mentioning he got a 5-second penalty for forcing Valtteri Bottas off the track, and to be honest, that shouldn’t have been a penalty in my opinion!
Right, now onto the main talking point as Lando Norris caught up to Max Verstappen, but the 3-time World Champion’s brilliant defense kept him ahead of his Championship rival for quite a while! However, on Lap 52 of 56, Lando finally managed to pass Max at Turn 12, but the only problem was he did it off the track! Ultimately, this resulted in Norris receiving a 5-second time penalty which handed the final Podium place back to Verstappen! Now, I think this is a really tricky one, I think if you’re a Lando fan or connected to McLaren in anyway, I totally get why you would feel that the penalty is harsh. Like, the fact is is that Max didn’t make the corner, and I think that’s a fair argument to make. In fact, that was my original take on the whole thing! However, having watched Lando’s onboard, I don’t think he’s making the corner whether Max is there or not, and I think that’s very important, and why the FIA came to their decision. To be honest, Norris probably should’ve given Verstappen the place back straight away and tried again, he had enough laps to do so, but that didn’t happen, and whether that’s a mistake by the FIA or McLaren is another conversation in itself! Also, the last thing I’ll say about this battle is Lando moved very late, and I mean very late at Turn 1 the following lap, so arguably, that incident was worse than the overtake itself! But yeah, it’s a really tricky one, and it’s pretty important too!
The Standout Drives in the Race
I’ve given out three 10’s for the 2024 United States Grand Prix and the first one is obviously for Charles Leclerc! It feels like I haven’t really spoken about Charles that much in this article, but he got a terrific start, and he waltzed off down the road! Well done Mr. Leclerc! The second driver I’ve given out maximum points to is Nico Hulkenberg, and I honestly think his drive yesterday went super under the radar! Like, it’s almost gotten to a point where a P8 finish for Nico in a Haas isn’t that much of a surprise, but that right there is exactly why his drive was so special! I mean, he finished 4 seconds behind a Red Bull! And the third and final driver I’ve given a perfect 10 to is Liam Lawson! Wow, P19 to P9 in your first Race back in over a year, in a Visa Cash App RB no less, is absolutely sublime! Genuinely, take a bow Liam cause that was sensational! I also thought Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen did superbly well respectively to end up on the Podium, I thought George Russell did a terrific job to go from the pitlane to P6 (and that includes a silly penalty), and Franco Colapinto had another super strong showing to score a precious point for Williams!
Drivers Who Had a Shocker
In total, I’ve given out two 1’s for this Race (the first time since August), and the first one is for Zhou Guanyu! Zhou was actually running well early on in the Race, but he lost the car completely with a spin at Turn 1, and then he was nowhere for the rest of the Grand Prix! The other driver I’ve given out the lowest possible grade to is Lewis Hamilton, and honestly, this was such a surprising incident, but again, I just don’t feel like Lewis is gelling that much this year (minus his strong July)! I also thought Aston Martin had a pretty terrible day as Fernando Alonso dropped back and Lance Stroll made a mistake, and Alex Albon’s struggles also continued!
Overall Race Results and My Ratings
Charles Leclerc: 10
Carlos Sainz: 9
Max Verstappen: 9
Lando Norris: 8
Oscar Piastri: 7
George Russell: 9
Sergio Perez: 4
Nico Hulkenberg: 10
Liam Lawson: 10
Franco Colapinto: 9
Kevin Magnussen: 7
Pierre Gasly: 6
Fernando Alonso: 3
Yuki Tsunoda: 4
Lance Stroll: 2
Alex Albon: 2
Valtteri Bottas: 3
Esteban Ocon: 3
Zhou Guanyu: 1
Lewis Hamilton: 1 (DNF)
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