Official F1 Journal Sunday Race Round Up- Austin Grand Prix

Welcome to the Official F1 Journal Race Round Up for the US Grand Prix. The day started with the news that the 2 HAAS cars and both Aston Martins would start the race from the pit lane after making changes to their cars over night, promoting the Williams cars to 13th & 14th on the grid. The weather was perfect, the crowd and atmosphere was electric and everyone was ready for the usual fantastic  racing we have see previously at COTA. All drivers started on the Medium tyres with the exception of Hulkenberg and Stroll

US Grand Prix 

Lights out and away they went! Its a well known fact that often here 2nd place gets the best run to turn 1 and Sunday was no different as we saw Lando Norris get a brilliant get away over Pole man Charles Leclerc and at the top of the hill he had got his Mclaren ahead and into 1st. Lewis moved across aggressively on the sister Ferrari of Sainz to stop him doing the same thing but went deep into turn 1, losing 3rd to Sainz and pushing Verstappen off the track briefly before they both rejoined in 4th & 5th. Further back Oscar Piastri and Ocon had a coming together on the run to the 1st corner, the rear tyre of the Mclaren made hard contact the left sidepod of the Alpine causing a big hole in Ocon's sidpod meaning he had lost what the team would later tell him was 40 points of downforce. The damage meant that Ocon was a sitting duck and on lap 6 the team retired the car from last position such was the damage.. Piastri carried on but he to was told to retire his car just 4 laps later than Ocon due to damage caused by the collision.  

Norris took full advantage of the clear air ahead of him and at the start of lap 2 he already had a 2 second lead on Leclerc and was lapping 7 tenths faster than the Ferrari. 
Hamilton was chasing down Sainz for 3rd and on lap 4 made the move on the Ferrari at turn 12 beginning his hunt for Leclerc and his best chance of win this year. Verstappen was closely following Hamilton and just a lap later he to made his move on the Ferrari of Sainz. Daniel Ricciardo had made his way forward from 14th -12th and at the end off lap 6 Norris has extended his lead to over 3 seconds over 2nd place man Leclerc who had rear view mirrors full of Lewis Hamilton on a charge forward. The 7 time world champion got the move done into turn 1,and took 2nd place in the Grand Prix but Leclerc could relax just yet because Max Verstappen was now the man on his tail looking to take his 3rd position. 

Further back Alonso was pushing forward, over taking Logan Sargeant as his team mate Stroll made a questionable move of the HAAS of Hulkenberg.
Lap 10 Tsunoda was the first man to pit followed on the next lap by Bottas, Albon and Magnussen, all swapping their Medium tyres for the Hards as Mclaren retired PIastri's car. 

Lap 12 and Leclerc defence from Verstappen came to an end when the Redbull man made his move into turn 1, both cars going deep into the corner and off the track, Leclerc fought back but the Ferrari was no match for Verstappen's car and the Pole man now found himself in 4th.
The gap from Norris to Hamilton was now 2.9 seconds and falling as Hamilton set the fastest lap of the race while Logan Sargeant was battling to get pasts HAAS's Kevin Magnussen in front of his home fans finally getting past him on lap 14. 
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By Lap 16 Hamilton had gained a second on Norris with the gap now just 1.9 seconds. Norris radioed to say he was really struggling between turns 8 & 9 but the team reassured him that it was the wind effecting the car rather than the car itself. Every lap Norris seemed to lose time to Hamilton through those corners but pulled the gap back to just under 2 seconds.
Lap 17 Vertsappen is the first of the front runners to pit, putting on a 2nd set of Medium tyres, followed by Norris a lap later who chose the Hard tyre instead, meaning that he didn't have to pit again unlike Max would had committed to the 2 stop along with Perez & Sainz who also put a 2nd set of Mediums on the car.  . 

Mercedes stayed out and discussed with both drivers the possibility of  extending their stints to push for a one stop race but neither driver was happy with that option due to high tyre degradation and Hamilton finally pit on lap 21 for the Hard tyre, bringing him back out in 5th. 
After his stop Hamilton had a lot of work to do to catch the 2 leading cars but was helped by Verstappen catching Norris, lap 26 Max was in DRS range but it took 2 more laps to get the move done on Norris, Max came from behind with a great lunge, going late on the brakes, Norris fought back through the next 2 corners but ultimately had to accept he could not re take the lead and from there stayed with the Redbull man not letting him get more than a second in front for the next few laps. 

 Lap 30/56 and Albon kicked off the 2nd round of pit stops swapping his Hards for a 2nd set of Mediums. Hulkenberg was enjoying the end of his tyres life as he passed Ricciardo and Sargeant in quick succession going into 12th place in the hunt for points. 
Lap 35 and it was Norris this time who was the first of the top 3 to pit, followed by Verstappen & Sainz a lap later, all choosing the Hard tyres. After the stops Norris was just 1.7 behind Max as Perez also pit for Hards. Sainz was very happy on his new tyres and set the fastest lap of the race so far as he over took Russell for 5th place on lap 39 and we saw Lewis make his final stop choosing the alternative tyre to his 2 rivals and putting on a set of used Mediums and dropping to 4th behind Verstappen, Norris and Leclerc in the lead, out of place and yet to make his 2nd stop. Until lap 39 when Verstappen and Norris both over took him inside a lap and he began to fall back into the sights of Hamilton who was now pushing to the end on his Medium tyres. 

Lap 42 and despite a fair few track limits warning Albon was on the move, over taking Ricciardo as Hamilton set theFastest lap of the race and was on the back of Chalres Leclerc who had given a 1 stop his best go but it was becoming clear that strategy was never going to pay off, with 13 laps to go his tyres had massively passed their prime. 

Lap 45 Alonso passed Tsunoda for 9th and it was starting to look like his weekend was improving and the Aston Martin duo could score solid points in their fight against Mclaren for 4th in the Constructors Championship. A lap later Sargeant passed Ricciardo who also was attempting to make a 1 stop strategy pay off and Stroll followed his team mate passed Tsunoda and into the points.
Lap 48 Hamilton had done a mighty job on his medium tyres and was on the back of Norris' Mclaren, they had a great battle over the next lap & 1/2 but despite a strong defence from Lando, Hamilton passed him into turn 1 and began his hunt for Verstappen and his first win since 2021. 

6 laps to go and the gap from Verstappen to Hamilton was 4.9 and closing. Leclerc was told by the team to let team mate Sainz passed as the Scuderia saw an opportunity for the Singapore winner to catch and pass a struggling Norris for 3rd and Fernando Alonso sadly had to retire his car form inside the points with what he thought was a suspension failure.
5 to go Albon gets a 5 second penalty for track limits and Perez passed a very unhappy Leclerc for 5th place. 
lap 54 the gap from Hamilton was down to 3.6 and still closing but the Mercedes man was running out of time as Tsunoda saw the opportunity to steal the fastest lap and the team pit for Soft tyres( the only set of softs we saw in the race)
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As the last lap began Lewis had the gap dow to 1.7, half way around that lap it was under a second and he was within DRS range but lucky Max also had DRS which saved him from the approaching Mercedes and as they crossed the line the gap was under a second to Hamilton. Sainz' never really put a dent in his gap to Norris and they finished the race a respectable 3rd & 4th on the road, Perez finished 5th, Leclerc limped home in 6th unhappy with his strategy and having to let his team mate past. Russell, Gasly, Stroll & Tsunoda completed the top 10. 
Verstappen had won his 50th Grand Prix and Hamilton and Norris were very happy with how much closer their cars had been to the unbeatable Redbull. 

I was a very jovial podiums despite the large amount of boo's for Verstappen, Hamilton was over the moon with the performance of his car and the job the team had done with the latest update. But that happiness was short lived as just hours after the race, we got word that his and Charles Leclerc cars had been disqualified from the race after failing to comply with regulations. The skip board on the bottom of both cars had been excessively worn during the race and was considered to have been a possible advantage over other competitors so Hamilton had his 2nd place taken away and Leclerc was removed from his 6th place. Promoting Norris to 2nd, Sainz to 3rd and Albon & Sargeant onto the points meaning Sargeant scored his first points in Formula 1 at his home race.  

Race Result 

1 VER       DQ HAM 
2 NOR      3 SAI 
4 PER      DQ LEC
5 RUS      6 GAS
7 STR      8 TSU
9 ALB      10 SAR
11 HUL    12 BOT
13 ZHO    14 MAG
15 RIC 
DNF's 
ALO
PIA
OCO
Fastest lap - Tsunoda 1.38.139 lap 56

It was a great race, where we saw both Mercedes and Mclaren much closer in the fight with Redbull and Max Verstappen. Hopefully we a similar level of competitiveness, this coming weekend in Mexico!!

Joanna Blackmore 
Writer @f1journal.co.uk