Round 19 Excitement: Action, Disqualifications, and Leclerc's Continued Pole Struggle at the USA GP
Round 19 has come and gone and what an action-packed race that was, we saw a bit of everything such as overtakes, good racing, car issues, track limits and even disqualification for some.
Charles Leclerc started on pole in the USA GP but if we look at Leclerc’s history starting on pole, on his last 9 poles he has had in his career, he was unable to convert it into a win. This time it was unfortunately no different for the Monegasque and this one ended in a disaster. More on that later.
On the formation lap we hear one of the part owners of Alpine, Anthony Joshua is heard coming on the radio for Pierre Gasly wishing him good luck for the race and that the team is behind him. After the formation lap all 16 drivers lined up on the grid as both Haas and Aston Martin drivers opted to do some changes on their setup which meant they had to start from the pitlane given that they broke Parc Ferme rules.
At lights out we see a very good start by Lando Norris as by Turn 1 he was already besides Leclerc and he takes the lead straight away, behind these 2 there was action all over as we see Oscar Piastri make a move on Max Verstappen but was unable to get past the Dutch driver, moments before that he was seen having a collision with Esteban Ocon which was a racing incident as the stewards didn’t think it needed any further action but the clash between the 2 was fatal for both cars as on Lap 7 we see Ocon retire his car due to sidepod damage while Piastri retired on lap 11 as they had some cooling issues which emerged due to the clash. This was quite unfortunate for the pair as both drivers were on for a good result out here in Austin.
Track limits was another talking point this weekend again as in the Sprint we saw some penalties and Black and white flags being handed out and on Sunday it was no different. On lap 10 we hear Sergio Perez come on the radio reporting George Russell saying that he has being going off track at least twice, but we didn’t see any penalties being handed out to Mr. Russell on Sunday, Alex Albon on the other hand managed to pick up a 5 second penalty late in the race for exceeding track limits.
Lewis Hamilton was on a charge with hopes of a very good result for the USA GP as by lap 4 he was up in the podium places as he overtook Carlos Sainz and set his charge on Leclerc who was driving in second place. By lap 6 Hamilton made it past Leclerc too and it seems that the Ferrari pair were making it easy for Hamilton to go through, but this could have been their strategy to come back in the race later. Or it was a strategy from Ferrari as they might have known that their tyres might not last ask long as others if they are caught fighting with other teams and they had a better chance using offsets to race later in the race with fresher rubber. After getting Leclerc Hamilton seemed to be catching Norris at a rate of knots, this could have been one of 2 things, either Norris pushed a bit too hard to start with and his tyres started to fall off or Hamilton in clean air was finding some good pace.
Like Hamilton, Verstappen didn’t want to waste too much time in order to get to the front of the grid, we see Max being a bit patient at the start and keeping out of trouble but staying behind other drivers didn’t seem natural for the Dutch driver as he spent the majority of this season in front of the grid. By lap 5 he was already past Sainz and set his eyes on the top 3 and by lap 11 he makes it in the top 3 after a short battle with Leclerc. From here, Max put his head down and tried to get on with his race to catch Hamilton and Norris ahead. On lap 17 he opted to be the first of the front runners to pit and he opted to go for a 2-stop race as he went on the mediums coming back out in 9th place. This triggered most of the other front runners to pit such as Sainz, Norris and Perez pit a lap later than Max to protect a bit from any undercuts and to race against the other drivers.
Strategic Decisions and Disqualifications: Turning Points of the USA GP Showdown
Mercedes on the other hand opted to stay out with Hamilton to potentially try the one stop and so did Ferrari with Leclerc, Hamilton however was not happy with this as when Bono told Hamilton that Max was in their pit window, he really expressed his frustrations saying that he was struggling out there. Hamilton finally comes in on lap 21 for fresh rubber and comes back out on a charge to close off the gap that his team have given him to close. Leclerc followed suit on lap 23 and he manages to come out back in 6th on the race, but this should give him a great chance to go to the end on this set of hard tyres.
Back at the front, Norris was back in the lead with Verstappen on the quicker mediums chasing him from behind, this might have gotten to the young Brit as on lap 25 he locked up a bit bringing Verstappen in DRS range and by lap 28 Max was able to get past him despite Norris’s best efforts to fight Max for the position. After this Norris did his best to stay within range of Verstappen and he was doing a pretty decent job and tried to help the stewards a bit saying that Max was going over track limits on lap 31. Max in front wasn’t the most comfortable we have seen him this season as on lap 34 he was on the radio complaining about the brakes saying how bad they are compared to Saturday’s Sprint Race.
On Lap 35, Mclaren decide to bring Norris in for some fresh rubber and also in hope that they undercut Max, but Red Bull were on the case as they pit Max a lap later and although it was a slower pit stop than Mclaren, Max was still able to come ahead of Norris however Norris was much closer this time.
On lap 38 we also see Hamilton come in for his final pitstop and while that was happening both Verstappen and Norris made it past Leclerc who was driving in 1st place attempting the one stopper. This is where Leclercs race started to go array as the one stop strategy was not working and it was too late at this stage to bring him in for fresh rubber as this would have cost him more than he would have gained should he have stopped.
It was upset for the Aston Martin Driver, Fernando Alonso as on lap 48 he reports that he has had some sort of rear suspension failure but his team said that everything was fine but 2 laps later they come back on the radio breaking the news that he had floor damage so he had to go to the pits and retire the car.
By lap 43 Hamilton was also past Leclerc which put Hamilton back on the podium and on the charge with the youngest tyres on the front runners. Mercedes at this stage looked like they got the strategy right as Hamilton was gaining on Norris very quick again and by lap 49, he managed to get past Norris which left him 7-8 laps to catch Max in front which at this stage Hamilton was only 5 seconds behind.
Ferrari seems to have struck again it seems with the strategy for Leclerc as on lap 50 they also ask him to let Sainz by given that he was faster. Even though Leclerc complied and let Sainz through, we do hear him coming on the radio saying that he was not happy about this as to why he had to let him through and that they should discuss this after the race. After Sainz was let through it seems that he was sniffing blood as on lap 52 he notices that Norris was driving slower, so he put his head down and tried to close the gap, but he was unable to get past Norris.
Max Verstappen picks up the chequered flag again on the Sunday after a frustrating race with his brakes and a few outbursts to his race engineer followed by Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez, Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda formed the top 10 with Tsunoda picking up the fastest lap on the last lap and Norris picking up the driver of the day for his amazing drive.
After the celebrations were over however the FIA announced that the cars of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc failed a post-race inspection that was part of the technical regulations for excessive wear on the skid plate which meant that they were disqualified from the race. This meant that the order changes slightly to Max Verstappen followed by Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez, George Russell, Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant picking up his first points in F1 at his home race.
Who do you think was the biggest winners and the biggest losers of the USA GP? We now head to Mexico for the Mexican GP.
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