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FORMULA 1

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Official F1 Journal Formula 1 Sunday Round Up - United States Grand Prix

20/10/2024

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© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Charles Leclerc won the United States Grand Prix after taking the lead at Turn 1 on the first lap. Carlos Sainz finished second in a dominating race for Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton only managed two laps after getting stuck in the gravel having to retire his car, bringing out the safety car.

Max Verstappen and Lando Norris battled for the last fifteen laps, resulting in Verstappen finishing in third after Lando Norris received a five-second time penalty.

​George Russell started in the pit lane and finished in sixth, in front of Sergio Perez, who could only manage seventh place.

Liam Lawson and Franco Colapinto finished in the points, with Franco almost taking the fastest lap of the race until Alpine pitted Esteban Ocon for soft tyres to take it away from them at the end.

Race Facts

  • Charles Leclerc wins the United States Grand Prix after dominating for the whole race.
  • Carlos Sainz comes in second for a Ferrari 1-2, with Verstappen in third.
  • Franco Colapinto and Liam Lawson both finish in the points.
  • Ferrari move within eight points of Red Bull.
  • George Russell started from the pit lane after his crash late in Qualifying on Saturday resulted in the team having to work after curfew to repair the car.
  • Liam Lawson started from P19 after changing his power unit and other parts in the car.
  • The United States Grand Prix marked Alex Albon's 100th race start.
Picture
© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Lando Norris started on Pole Position for the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

​The top 12 on the grid started on brand-new medium tyres, with Hamilton, Stroll, Lawson, Russell, and Colapinto, all starting on hard tyres.

​Lando Norris tried to hold off Verstappen into the first corner but left too much room, and Leclerc breezed past and took the lead of the Grand Prix coming out of the first corner.

Verstappen and Sainz both passed Norris on the first lap, with Hamilton going from P17 into P12 on the first lap after Ocon got spun around by Albon into the first corner, opening up space for cars to get past and leaving Ocon at the back of the grid.

Lawson also gained five places at the race start and moved into P14. Hamilton's fast pace running didn't last long, however, after a mistake on lap three brought out the yellow flag. He ended up in the gravel at Turn 19, and a full safety car was brought out on lap three as Hamilton climbed out of his race car.

On lap five, Leclerc led the Grand Prix, followed by Verstappen, Sainz, Norris, Piastri, Gasly, Magnussen, Tsunoda, Perez, and Alonso, who rounded out the top ten.

The safety car ended on lap five. All the drivers had bunched up, as Leclerc had the lead and stayed in the lead into lap six during the safety car restart.

Stroll had a moment in the dirt on lap six and dropped back to 19th place but overtook Albon for 18th. Then was noted for leaving the track and gaining an advantage over Albon, but resulted in no further investigation.

Leclerc pulled away from Verstappen with a gap of 1.302 seconds by lap seven. Sainz was still within DRS range of Verstappen, but Norris had fallen back, giving the top three space.

Sainz complained of no power out of the corners with a smell of fuel on lap nine and drops back from Verstappen as Norris gains on him. Ferrari gave him different settings to try and he solved the issue.
On lap ten, Zhou took a spin on the track and ended up rejoining the back of the pack complaining about no grip.

Lawson had moved up to 12th after starting at the back, and Russell, who started in the pit lane, had reached 15th. On lap eleven, Lawson overtook Alonso to move up to 11th.

By lap 13, Leclerc had gained a gap of over five seconds from Verstappen, who was second, with Sainz a further 1.8 seconds behind.

On lap 13, Norris complained on the radio about the pace of his car, as he was over three seconds behind Sainz.

Zhou was the first to pit onto medium tyres on lap 14, as Verstappen received a radio message saying there was an issue with the car that they would fix at the pit stop.

Russell was under investigation after forcing Bottas off the track. He received a five-second time penalty for the incident, to which Russell responded, 'What?!' after being told about it over the radio.

​Bottas was the second driver to pit on lap 16 onto hard tyres. On lap 17, Perez overtook Tsunoda for P8, but Lawson was only five seconds behind him after starting in the pit lane.

Magnussen pitted for hard tyres on lap 18, starting a chain reaction and rejoined the track in 17th place. Tsunoda and Gasly pitted on lap 19 and rejoined the track in 16th and 17th, but more importantly, behind Magnussen, who took advantage of the undercut.

Out in front, Leclerc built an eight-second gap to Verstappen after Verstappen complained about his tyres on lap 20.

Sainz tried the undercut on Verstappen on lap 22, pits for hard tyres, and rejoins the track in fifth. Leclerc had built a nine-second gap out in front as the pit stops got underway.
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© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Albon was noted for forcing Magnussen off the track, but it was ruled no further investigation.

On lap 26, Norris closed the gap to Verstappen, but Verstappen headed into the pits and rejoined behind Sainz in fifth.

Leclerc pitted from the lead of the Grand Prix on lap 27, changing onto hard tyres, and came back onto the track in front of Sainz in net first or third place on the track. Neither Norris nor Piastri had pitted, as Norris led the Grand Prix on lap 27.

Further behind Gasly, Albon and Stroll battled for 13th place, as Gasly complained about his hard tyres. Gasly was noted, investigated and given a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

Hulkenberg and Stroll pitted on lap 28 and returned to the track in 12th and 19th place, respectively. Perez also pitted and rejoined the track in ninth.

Gasly received a black and white flag for track limits on lap 30, and Norris received a warning.

On lap 30, Norris and Piastri had yet to pit and were trying to make a one-stop work, just as Leclerc got within DRS range of Piastri battling for second place, as the Ferrari had gained pace behind. As Leclerc passed Piastri and Norris pitted, Leclerc once again took the lead of the Grand Prix, with Norris rejoining the track in fifth.
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© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Piastri pitted with a slow stop on lap 32, with Russell running sixth, Lawson seventh, and Colapinto eighth. They had yet to pit.

On lap 35, Leclerc was leading with over seven seconds on Sainz, with Verstappen a further four seconds behind Sainz in third and Norris within DRS range of Verstappen in fourth. Piastri was running in fifth, seven seconds behind Norris, followed by Russell, Lawson, Colapinto, Perez and Magnussen rounding out the top ten.

Tsunoda received a five-second penalty for forcing Albon off track. Meanwhile, Perez is still behind Colapinto and unable to pass for the eighth position.

Lawson pitted from seventh on lap 37 onto medium tyres and rejoined the track ahead of Tsunoda in 12th with a five-second penalty.

Perez finally managed to overtake Colapinto on lap 38 after trying for a long time to pass him. Both Perez and Verstappen complained about their hard tyres, with Norris quickly gaining on Verstappen.

Magnussen was called dramatically to the pit lane on lap 39 and returned onto the track on medium tyres in 13th place. Lawson had already overtaken Gasly and was up into tenth place, just as Leclerc drove the fastest lap of the race.

​Colapinto pitted on lap 40 and returned to the track in 12th place. Russell pitted and served his five-second time penalty on lap 41, returning onto the track in eighth place on medium tyres.

Tsunoda spun on lap 42, while further ahead, Magnussen and Colapinto had a great battle on track for P11.
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© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
With 15 laps to go, Norris had closed up to the back of Verstappen, closing the gap to within 1.5 seconds.

Russell set the fastest lap on lap 44 from eighth as Sainz gained on the back of Leclerc, and Norris got within DRS range of Verstappen for third place. Norris was all over Verstappen's car, staying within DRS range for multiple laps in a row.

After starting in the pit lane, Russell moved up to seventh on lap 46, chasing down Perez for sixth. With ten laps to go, Perez was over 29 seconds behind Piastri.

With ten laps to go, Sainz was within five seconds of Leclerc as Norris and Verstappen continued to battle for third place.

Colapinto took the fastest lap from tenth position on lap 48, with Russell closing up onto the back of Perez, closing the gap to just over two seconds.

With five laps to go, Verstappen and Norris still battled for third, with Norris having the tyre advantage. After almost ten laps, Norris overtook Verstappen for third place on lap 53. With the fight continuing, Verstappen complained about Norris overtaking off track, and Norris was under investigation for overtaking off track and gaining an advantage.

Russell reached the DRS range of Perez on lap 55 and overtook him for sixth place on the final lap.

On lap 55, Ocon took the fastest lap away from Colapinto after pitting for soft tyres.

Norris received his third strike for track limits and received a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage over Verstappen.

Charles Leclerc wins the United States Grand Prix, with Carlos Sainz finishing in second, and Verstappen takes third after Norris received a five-second penalty.
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© Ferrari Media

Race Results

1) Charles Leclerc                  
2) Carlos Sainz             +8.562
3) Max Verstappen       +19.412
4) Lando Norris             +20.354
5) Oscar Piastri             +21.921
6) George Russell        +56.295
7) Sergio Perez            +59.072
8) Nico Hulkenberg      +62.957
9) Liam Lawson            +70.563
10) Franco Colapinto    +71.979
11) Kevin Magnussen   +79.782
12) Pierre Gasly           +90.558
13) Fernando Alonso    +1 Lap
14) Yuki Tsunoda   
15) Lance Stroll
16) Alex Albon
17) Valtteri Bottas
18) Esteban Ocon
19) Zhou Guanyu
​DNF Lewis Hamilton
Charles Leclerc, who takes his third victory of the season in the Ferrari" “Very happy, it hasn’t been an easy weekend until now I have been struggling with the feeling in the car but I had the confidence in the race and the feeling was better.

“We said in the sprint race we weren’t scared but we felt that the others will improve but today we still had the upper hand so really happy with how it went today, a one-two for the team, we couldn’t have dreamed for better.”

On Turn One at the start of the race: “It was a pretty good Turn One, that is exactly how I wanted to do, we had a good launch and I knew it would be tight. Yesterday I was a bit of a victim being in the wrong place at the wrong time, today I gained from it and that helped a lot in our first stint because we had a lot of mega pace.

“In the second stint it was all about managing behind but we did a great job, the pace of the car this weekend was really good and that’s thanks to the engineers. They’ve been working like crazy to bring the upgrades that we had in Singapore and it seems to be paying off. Everything worked out well and we are really really happy.”

​On it being 18 years since Ferrari have had a one-two in the US: “Very happy and now we are still targeting the title, it’s still a long way to go but it’s a good start to this triple header.”
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© Getty Images
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Anny Wooldridge
​Writer at F1 Journal

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Breaking News-Russell starts from pit lane after Curfew Breach

20/10/2024

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George Russell will begin today United States Grand Prix from the Pit lane instead of the 6th place he Qualified after the team were forced to break curfew to continue fixing his Mercedes after his huge crash at the end of Q3. 
Russell crashed at Turn 19 on his final flying run, in the closing seconds of the Qualifying session. In doing so, he didn't just ruin his chances of Pole but also that of Max Verstappen & Carlos Sainz who were both laps that looked to be faster than Norris' 1'32.330. 

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The car it's self sustained massive damage and because of this team members worked on the car 2 hours past the FIA imposed curfew that's there not just to make sure competitors don't gain an advantage but also to make sure team personnel aren't over worked during the race weekend. 
It is unknown what component on the car have also had to be changed which would also resulted in a Pit lane start for the 63 car. 
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Joanna Blackmore
Writer @f1journal.co.uk
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Official F1 Journal Saturday Round Up - United States Grand Prix

19/10/2024

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© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Max Verstappen won his first race since Austria in the US Grand Prix Sprint Race on Saturday, with Carlos Sainz finishing behind him and Lando Norris in third place.

Lando Norris is on pole for the United States Grand Prix after George Russell hits the barrier at Turn 19, disrupting the final few seconds of the Q3. Max Verstappen will start the Grand Prix in P2 with Carlos Sainz in P3.

Hamilton gets knocked out in Q1 and will start the race from P18 after qualifying in P19, but Liam Lawson takes a grid penalty for a new power unit and various other components.
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© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Sprint Race

Alex Albon started the Sprint Race from the pit lane after changing his car set during parc fermé. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen started on pole, with George Russell in P2, Charles Leclerc in P3, and Lando Norris in P4.

The Sprint Race had just 19 laps. It was all racing with no mandatory pit stops. The majority of the teams started on used medium tyres, with Tsunoda, Piastri, Ocon, Albon, and Zhou on new medium tyres.

Max Verstappen starts on pole and manages to hold the lead into Turn 1. Behind him, Lando Norris made up two places, overtaking Russell and Leclerc on the first lap. Leclerc and Russell battled through the first lap over P3 while Verstappen and Norris broke away from the rest of the pack.

Hulkenberg lost three places on the first lap, moving into P9. Leclerc and Sainz battled it out for P4, switching back and forth during laps two and three. Only 3.1 seconds covered the top five.

After five laps, Russell was already on Norris's back; he gained extremely quickly as Norris dropped out of the DRS range of Verstappen. The Ferraris continued to have a thrilling fight for P4 but gained on the back of Russell, just as Verstappen put over two seconds between him and Norris behind.

By lap seven, Piastri was up into P12 but was noted for forcing Gasly off the track and was given a five-second penalty. Magnussen and Hulkenberg were running in P7 and P8 on lap eight, both in the points.

Sainz moves into the top three after overtaking Russell with ten laps to go. Russell is also under pressure from Leclerc in the other Ferrari. Russell seemed to be in trouble with his tyres, saying his tyres were toast as Leclerc passed Russell.

Norris gained on Verstappen, closing the gap to 1.365 seconds with nine laps to go after Verstappen struggled with his tyres, but Verstappen held on and pulled away from Norris once again.

Perez and Tsunoda battled for ninth place on lap 13, and then Piastri joined them after overtaking Colapinto and proceeded to go wheel to wheel with Tsunoda. Tsunoda was noted for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, but no further action was given. It didn't matter, as Piastri moved into tenth position anyway on lap 16.

Both Mercedes were in P5 and P6 after their tyres were cooked for the second half of the race.

With two laps to go, Norris was under pressure from both Sainz and Leclerc, who were in DRS range for a three-way battle for P2. But Norris locked up into Turn 1, and Sainz passed him for P2, but he stayed with Sainz in the middle of both Ferraris. Leclerc almost runs into the back of Norris on the final lap but manages to steer away at the last moment, however Norris was noted and then investigated after the race for 'driving erratically'.

Max Verstappen won the United States Grand Prix 112 days after his last win since Austria, with Carlos Sainz finishing second and Lando Norris third.

Top Eight Finishers
1) Max Verstappen
2) Carlos Sainz
3) Lando Norris
4) Charles Leclerc
5) George Russell
6) Lewis Hamilton
7) Kevin Magnussen
8) Nico Hulkenberg
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© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Qualifying

Q1

Out in Q1
16) Alex Albon
17) Franco Colapinto
18) Valtteri Bottas
19) Lewis Hamilton
20) Zhou Guanyu
In Q1, the drivers were eager to get out on track. A line formed waiting for the track to open, and once the clock started counting down, 15 drivers were out on the track.

The Haas, Sauber, and Alpine cars were the first to set timed laps. Lando Norris took an early lead with a 1:34.029 time set in the first three minutes of the session.

Verstappen's first timed lap took him to the top of the timesheet with a 1:33.690, ahead of Norris by 0.339 seconds. With ten minutes to go, only ten drivers had set timed laps, with Leclerc getting his first lap deleted for track limits.

Due to the fewer sets available this weekend for teams to use, there was a mix of drivers going out on used softs and new softs. Tsunoda got his first two timed laps deleted for track limits.

With five minutes to go, Bottas, Russell, Hamilton, Zhou, and Tsunoda were in the elimination zone in the bottom five.

​With two minutes to go, there was no change in the elimination zone, with both Mercedes struggling to get out of the bottom five. Russell gets a lap in and goes third, but Hamilton doesn't make it out of the bottom five and is eliminated in Q1, along with Bottas, Zhou, Colapinto and Albon. Verstappen finished at the top of the leaderboard with 1:33.046.
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© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Q2

11) Yuki Tsunoda
12) Nico Hulkenberg
13) Esteban Ocon
14) Lance Stroll
​15) Liam Lawson
The drivers got out on track immediately, with Verstappen and the Ferraris starting the session with used soft tyres.

Verstappen and Perez are the first to set lap times, with Verstappen setting a 1:33.052 time with ten minutes to go.

Lawson made it through to Q2 but only did one lap to scrub a set of new tyres before returning to the garage and a second lap to give Tsunoda a tow for his flying lap. He will finish the session in P15 but has a grid penalty going into the race, so he will start in P20.

​With five minutes to go, Ocon, Alonso, Stroll, Leclerc, and Lawson were in the elimination zone, with the track cooling down and times plateauing.

​Leclerc had one shot to get a timed lap in and out and get through to Q3. He managed to go third fastest and was safely through to Q3.

Lawson, Stroll, Ocon, Hulkenberg and Tsunoda were eliminated in Q2, with Verstappen topping the leaderboard.
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© Ferrari Media

Q3

Starting Top 10
1) Lando Norris         1:32.330
2) Max Verstappen     +0.031
3) Carlos Sainz           +0.322
4) Charles Leclerc      +0.410
5) Oscar Piastri           +0.620
6) George Russell       
7) Pierre Gasly            +0.688
8) Fernando Alonso     +0.979
9) Kevin Magnussen    +1.151
10) Sergio Perez           No time set
The front-running drivers went out onto the track with brand-new soft tyres. Galsy and Perez started the session on scrubbed soft tyres.

Kevin Magnussen made his first Q3 appearance of the 2024 season in Austin.

Lando Norris took provisional pole with a fantastic lap early in the session, with a lap time of 1:32.330 with seven minutes to go, in front of Verstappen, Sainz, and Leclerc.

Perez lost his first lap time for exceeding track limits. Alonso made his way out onto the track with five minutes to go on his only set of soft tyres and had the track all to himself, but he only went eight provisionally. 

Gasly was noted for an unsafe release on Verstappen.

With one minute to go, Norris was still on provisional pole, and all the drivers were out on track, getting ready for their final lap attempts.

George Russell hits the barrier after a big crash at Turn 19, bringing out the yellow flag and disrupting the final lap times.

Lando Norris takes pole for the United States Grand Prix, with Verstappen in P2 and Sainz in P3.

​​Lando Norris after securing pole: "It was a beautiful lap. I was not going to go much quicker than what I did. When you just do a lap and you think 'damn, it's going to be tough to beat that' but I put everything out on the line and it's what we needed to do, we've been on the back foot pretty much the whole weekend. We've not had the pace of the Ferraris or the Red Bulls so I had to do something and today I did that so yeah, a cool lap and a nice way to start the race tomorrow."

On the weekend so far: "A tough day, a tough weekend for us, but we changed quite a bit, I think we reviewed everything we could and we made the improvements we needed to make, so maybe we weren't the quickest car out there today, Carlos [Sainz] said he was going to go quicker, Max [Verstappen] said he was going to go quicker so I'm lucky but I'll take it."
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Anny Wooldridge
​Writer at F1 Journal

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Official F1 Journal Friday Round Up - United States Grand Prix

18/10/2024

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© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Max Verstappen took pole position for the United States Grand Prix Sprint Race on Saturday, which was his first pole position since Austria.

Meanwhile, Russell will start in P2, just 0.012 seconds behind Verstappen, with Leclerc, Norris and Sainz rounding out the top five.

In a dramatic Sprint Qualifying, Piastri was knocked out in SQ1, and Sergio Perez was knocked out in SQ2. Franco Colapinto made it through to SQ£ and will start tenth. Both Haas drivers have a chance at points, starting in the top ten for the Sprint Race.
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© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Free Practice One

Top 10 Results
1) Carlos Sainz            1:33.602
2) Charles Leclerc            +0.021
3) Max Verstappen           +0.253
4) Lando Norris                +0.266
5) Oscar Piastri                +0.306
6) Lewis Hamilton            +0.361
7) George Russell            +0.491
8) Kevin Magnussen        +0.494
9) Fernando Alonso          +0.510
10) Yuki Tsunoda              +0.711
With Daniel Ricciardo out, Free Practice One in COTA was the first time Liam Lawson had been on track since the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix in October last year, and it was the first time Franco Colapinto had raced on this track.

All 20 drivers were quick out of the pits on hard tyres, eager to get on track and make the most of the only practice session this weekend.

A yellow flag was briefly brought out after Pierre Gasly's spin at Turn 1 in his orange and yellow Indiana Jones-inspired livery. Gasly isn't the only one that has trouble at Turn 1, with Lewis Hamilton going wide and Franco Colapinto saving himself from going wide.

Lewis Hamilton has a big spin on track at Turn 4 in the high-speed first sector after hitting the bump on track trying to avoid Kevin Magnussen. George Russell also gets in trouble in the same place.

George Russell has a spin, bringing the yellow flag out of Turn 1 and sliding downhill out of Turn 1. Lando Norris doesn't have it easy having a few on-track moments on track during the session.

Two Ferraris top the timesheet for most of the first half of the session, with Charles Leclerc leading and Carlos Sainz in second at the halfway point. In the first half of the session, everyone stayed on hard tyres except for Bottas, who ran medium tyres, and Zhou stayed on soft tyres.

Max Verstappen is the first of the top runners to put on a set of soft tyres and tops the leaderboard with his first lap. Sergio Perez also ran soft tyres but ended up eight-tenths behind him in third place, split by Sainz time on hard tyres.

With just 15 minutes to go, Zhou heads into the pits after his car loses power and is out of the session with a power unit issue.

With ten minutes to go, all the drivers except Albon headed to the pits and left with soft tyres to practice some qualifying simulation laps. Track evolution came into play in the final few laps.

But the Ferraris came out on top of the timesheet for Free Practice One, with Sainz leading, followed by Leclerc, Verstappen, and Norris in fourth.
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© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Sprint Qualifying 

SQ1

Out In SQ1
16) Oscar Piastri
17) Esteban Ocon
18) Alex Albon
19) Valtteri Bottas
20) Zhou Guanyu
Going into the session, Ferrari was the favourite after Charles Leclerc topped the Free Practice One timesheet, with Carlos Sainz in second.

In SQ1, all drivers are mandated to use only medium tyres for the duration of the 12-minute running time.

Max Verstappen tops the leaderboard after setting the first timed lap of the session with a time of 1:34.698, but it doesn't last long as Kevin Magnussen tops the leaderboard with seven minutes to go. Sergio Perez got his first timed lap deleted for track limits.

Norris tops the leaderboard with six minutes to go, but Leclerc took the lead away very quickly with a 1:33.896. Hamilton takes the top spot with five minutes to go. Meanwhile, Ocon, Hulkenberg, Bottas, Zhou, and Perez were in danger of not making it through to SQ2.

Perez was the driver in danger sitting in P20 after getting a lap time deleted. Sergio got a timed lap on the board, but only enough for P8 with 1:35 to go in the session.

​Alex Albon took a spin on his final flying lap and was eliminated in P18, along with Oscar Piastri, who will start the Sprint Race from P16 after getting a lap time deleted for track limits.

The top four in the session were Leclerc, Hamilton, Verstappen and Norris.
Picture
© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

SQ2

Out In SQ2
11) Sergio Perez
12) Liam Lawson
13) Pierre Gasly
14) Lance Stroll
​15) Fernando Alonso
In SQ2, all drivers are required to run on medium tyres and have only ten minutes of running time.

In the first five minutes of running, Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheet, but Sainz quickly knocked him off the top spot. With the Mercedes, Ferraris, Red Bull, Williams and Haas drivers on track with both Aston Martins, RBs and Pierre Gasly waiting in the garage until the last four minutes of the session.

With one minute to go, the drivers at risk were Stroll, Alonso, Lawson, Tsunoda, and Gasly, with Perez sitting in tenth place. They all waited until the last moment to go out on track.

Tsunoda knocked Perez out by 0.192 seconds. Alonso went wide at the penultimate corner, and neither he nor Stroll get through to SQ3. Gasly and Lawson don't make it through to SQ3 either.

The top four in the session were Carlos Sainz, Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, along with both Haas drivers, Franco Colapinto, Yuki Tsunoda, George Russell, and Lando Norris.
Picture
© Getty Images

SQ3

Sprint Race Starting Top 10
1) Max Verstappen       1:32.833
2) George Russell          +0.012
3) Charles Leclerc          +0.226
4) Lando Norris               +0.250
5) Carlos Sainz               +0.256
6) Nico Hulkenberg         +0.350
7) Lewis Hamilton           +0.545
8) Kevin Magnussen       +0.565
9) Yuki Tsunoda              +0.969
10) Franco Colapinto      +1.573
In SQ3, all drivers are required to run on soft tyres and there is just eight minutes of running in the session.

Hamilton, Russell and Colapinto all got onto the track straight away while the other seven drivers stay in their garages. Franco Colapinto goes off track bring out the yellow flag for a few seconds before he returned to track running.

Hamilton was not happy with Mercedes after they sent him out onto track at the start of the session and only manages to get a time of 1:33.378. George Russell and Lewis Hamilton pit with 1:23 to go, just as everyone else went out onto the track to do just one flying lap.

​George Russell sets an early time of 1:32.845, but one by one Norris, Saniz and Leclerc all fail to go quicker than Russell. It was only Verstappen who could beat his time to claim pole position for the Sprint race on Saturday.
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© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
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Anny Wooldridge
Writer @ F1 Journal

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Official F1 Journal Track Guide- Circuit of the Americas(COTA)

17/10/2024

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Its U.S Grand Prix time and just when you thought it couldn't get better its a Sprint weekend!!!
With 6 races to go and 3 of them being Sprint weekends the championship battle is coming to a head. With COTA being the 1st of the 3 Sprint weekends its essential that the 3 drivers still in the fight to catch Max Verstappen, take full advantage of the 34pts available.  A solid weekend for Lando Norris could close the gap to Verstappen in the most meaning full way so far this year, but if its Leclerc or Piastri who can make the biggest gain at COTA they would move themselves firmly into the the title fight! It really is all to play for this weekend. 

Track Stats

Laps-
  Sprint Race- 19 laps
     Grand Prix- 56 laps
Race Distance-
    Sprint Race- 104.747km
      Grand Prix- 308.405km
Circuit Length- 5.513km 
Corners-  20   11 Left  9 Right 
DRS Zones- 
    Activation 1- Middle of straight between 
                          Turns 10 & 11
     Deployment 2- Straight between Turns                                      11 & 12 
          Activation 2- Entry to Turn 19 
            Deployment 2- Exit Turn 20                                               (start/finish straight)
Downforce Level- Medium-High
Tyre Degradation- Medium-High
Time @ Full Throttle- 59% of lap
Time Lost in Pitlane- 23.5-24.2 is fast
Pole Side- Right 
Tyre Compounds- 
       Hard         Medium       Soft 
        C2               C3             C4  
Minimum Starting Tyre Pressures- 
                Front            Rear 
               23.5psi         22.0psi  
Maximum Starting Tyre Camber-
               Front             Rear
              -3.00°            1.75°
Picture
Picture

Full Weekend Schedule 

Picture

Track Stats 

Times Held- 11
First Time Held- 2012 
Laps Raced-616
Finishing Percentage- 82%
Pole Record- 1'32.029 BOT '19
Lap Record- 1'36.169 LEC '19
Winners- 5
Pole Sitters- 7 
Podium Finishers- 14
​Times Won From Pole- 5
Times Won from Front Row- 10
Lowest Starting Position to Win- 6th VER '23
Smallest Pole Margin- 0.012 BOT '19
Smallest Win Margin- 0.675 HAM '12
Largest Pole Margin- 0.376 ROS '14
Largest Win Margin- 10.730 VER '23
Most Cars to Finish- 22 (2012)
Least Cars to Finish- 12 (2015)
Virtual Safety Car- 4
Safety Cars- 4
Red Flags- 0
​Rain Effected Races- 1 (2015)
Picture

Driver & Team Stats 

​Most Driver Poles- 3 HAM 
Most Team Poles- 6 Mercedes 
Most Driver Wins- 5 HAM
Most Team Wins- 5 Mercedes 
Most Driver Podiums- 9 HAM
Most Team Podiums- 12 Mercedes
Most Fastest Laps(Driver)- 5 VET 
Most Fastest Laps(Team)- 5 Mercedes
Most Consecutive Wins Driver- 4 HAM 
Most Consecutive Wins Team- 4  Mercedes  
Most 1-2 Finishes- 4 Mercedes 

Previous Results 

2021

​Qualifying-
              1 VER 1'32.910
               2 HAM 1'33.119
                3 PER 1'33.134
Race-
​         1 VER(2 stop)
           2 HAM (2 stop)
            3 PER (2 stop)
Fastest Lap- 1'38.485 HAM lap 41 

2022

​Qualifying-
              1 SAI 1'34.356
               2 LEC 1'34.421
                3 VER 1'34.448
Race-
​         1 VER (2 stop)
           2 HAM (1 stop)
            3 LEC (2 stop)
Fastest Lap-1'38.788 RUS lap 56

2023

Sprint Qualifying-                                          Sprint Race-
                       1 VER 1'34.538                                         1 VER 
                        2 LEC 1'34.593                                          2 HAM
                         3 HAM 1'34.607                                         3 LEC                                      
Qualifying-                                                       
              1 LEC 1'34.723                                                 
               2 NOR 1'34.853                                               
                3 HAM 1'34.862                                              
    Grand Prix-   
                     1 VER (2 stop)                                                                                    
                       DQ HAM (2 stop) 
                          2 NOR (2 stop)
                           3 SAI (2 stop)
Fastest Lap- 1'38.139 TSU lap 56

Random Facts 

  • Lewis Hamilton has claimed almost half the wins at COTA with 5/11 wins here.
  • Of the 226 cars who have started the US Grand Prix 186 cars have crossed the finish line giving the track a finishing percentage of 82%
  • This weekend will be the 1st US Grand Prix held at COTA without Daniel Ricciardo on the grid.
  • The track has been resurfaced ahead of this years race, with the 1st Phase being completed in advance of the Moto GP race earlier this year and the 2nd completed in time for this weekends US Grand Prix. 
  • COTA has one of the largest elevation change of any track with a 40 meter difference between its highest and lowest points. 
  • Mclaren took the 1st win here with Lewis Hamilton before his move to Mercedes.
  • Rain has only ever effected 1 race, in 2015. A race that incidentally also shares the title of least cars to finish a race here with just 12 crossing the finish line.    
Lets hope its another brilliant race! 
Enjoy guys 

Joanna Blackmore 
​Writer @f1journal.co.uk
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