October 26, 2023
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| via motorsportmagazine.com |
Free-Practice 1: October 20, 2023
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| @JefinLuke Reddit |
Qualifying: October 20, 2023
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| @F1 X |
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| @RosinBran Reddit |
Sprint Shootout: October 21, 2023
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| @RobertGracie Reddit |
Sprint Race: October 21, 2023
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| @k2_jackal Reddit |
Piastri, usually the king of Sprint races, just didn’t seem to have the pace on Saturday. Although he put up a good fight, he ended up losing positions to Perez and Russell and was down in P8 by Lap 3. However, Russell had left the track and gained an advantage when he overtook Piastri, and was handed a five second penalty later in the Sprint. Unfortunately for Oscar, the penalty came too late as his lack of pace had already put him out of the points-scoring positions.
By Lap 11, Norris and Perez had gotten ahead of the soft-shod Sainz to take P4 and P5. Toward the back of the grid, Stroll, also on softs, faced similar degradation as Ricciardo and Alonso overtook him. The tire deg., however, became the least of his worries when his brakes failed and he had to retire the car.
In the end, the relatively uneventful race saw Verstappen claim his third Sprint win of the season with Hamilton in P2 and Leclerc in P3. Norris put up a good fight against Leclerc, but had to settle for P4. Perez, Sainz, Gasly, and Russell filled out the rest of the points positions, with Gasly promoted to P7 after Russell’s five second penalty was applied.
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| The top three of the Sprint posing with track star Sha'Carri Richardson via autoracing1.com |
Race: October 22, 2023
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| @RobertGracie Reddit |
The start was absolutely beautiful, with Lando Norris taking the lead from Leclerc and extending his lead to over two seconds by Lap 3. The other McLaren of Piastri went from P10 to P6 on the start, despite making contact with Ocon. It was a very good start for the papaya team.
Unfortunately, Piastri’s woes from Saturday had carried over to Sunday. His contact with Ocon resulted in radiator damage for the McLaren and sidepod damage for the Alpine. Both cars began to rapidly lose pace and Ocon retired on Lap 7, making it his third DNF in five races. Piastri and McLaren called it a day a few laps later.
By Lap 11, Verstappen had caught up from his P6 start and took P3 from Leclerc – who had perviously lost second place to Hamilton. A few laps later, the Astons had fought their way up to P11 and P12 from starting in the pitlane, and Hamilton was closing in on Norris’ lead.
Verstappen was the first of the front runners to pit, stopping for mediums on Lap 17. Norris, Sainz, and Perez responded on the following lap. Hamilton opted to stay out and try the overcut on Norris and Verstappen, but it didn’t work as the two had come into his pit window by Lap 20, when the Mercedes pitted. Hamilton came out behind Verstappen and Norris, but the two Brits seemed to be on the same strategy of putting hard tires on to go long and offset Verstappen’s strategy. Leclerc was the last of the front runners to pit, but in a classic Ferrari blunder, staying out put him behind Sainz and Perez after the stop.
After fending off Verstappen for a few laps, Norris locked up on Lap 29 and lost the lead of the race. He recovered and tried to threaten the lead into Turn 13, but it was too late.
Norris and Hamilton’s strategies started paying off by Lap 33 and they began to catch Verstappen. Oddly enough, McLaren pitted Norris just two laps later and put him on another set of hards. This forced Red Bull to respond in the following laps, bolting hard tires on Verstappen as well. Hamilton stayed out until Lap 38, when he stopped for mediums that he hoped would last him to the end of the race.
Over the next ten laps, Hamilton was flying as he closed the gap to Norris’ P2, making it 2.5 seconds. Five laps later, Hamilton took P2 from Lando, who just didn’t have the pace to defend, and set his sights on Verstappen. At the end of the day, there wasn’t enough time left in the race for Hamilton to catch Verstappen and the Red Bull came home to win his third consecutive US Grand Prix and claim his 50th F1 win. Hamilton came in second and Lando Norris finished third to make his fourth consecutive podium.
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| The 2023 United Sates Grand Prix podium via autosport.com |
After the race, Mercedes and Ferrari probably wanted to forget this weekend as well, because Hamilton and Leclerc were disqualified from the race. Apparently the wear levels on their planks and floor were too high, meaning the teams must have run their cars too close to the ground and violated FIA regulations. This promoted Norris to P2 and Sainz to P3, and pushed the Williams duo into P9 and P10, getting Logan Sargeant his first F1 points! The disqualifications also helped Yuki Tsunoda, who brought home a nice points haul with his P8 finish and extra point for setting the fastest lap of the race.
The US Grand Prix weekend was quite interesting. Although the races weren’t as intense as they usually are, the numerous upgrades packages brought to the track made for a mixed up grid. Aston Martin and Haas will be eager to evaluate their “downgrades” as all of the teams turn their attention to this upcoming weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix.
I will be back soon to get you guys ready for that one!
- Divya
Where I got these
from:
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1222/united-states/practice-1.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1222/united-states/sprint-grid.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1222/united-states/sprint-results.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1222/united-states/race-result.html