Official F1 Journal Friday Round Up - United States Grand Prix

18/10/2024

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Anny Wooldridge
Writer @ F1 Journal

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