[Official] United States Grand Prix

[Born Racer]

And so we begin a triple-header of the Americas. I'm wondering if McLaren are going to retain their form. They're looking really strong as second-best team.

[fergus_r]

McLaren went off-piste and focussed fully on race runs in the sole practice session.

Meanwhile Haas' upgrades seem to have made a difference, at least in the qualifying runs they did - but their real struggle was race pace so it'll be interesting to see how they get on.

[S griffin]

What does everyone think of the RBR US livery? Personally I think it adds a bit to the livery and is a bit of a nice change

I really hope Danny Ric goes well on his return

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by S griffin

What does everyone think of the RBR US livery? Personally I think it adds a bit to the livery and is a bit of a nice change

I like that they made an effort. It seems overly busy to me. For me it would have worked better if didn't looks so much like it was just overlaid on top of the existing livery so much.

Richard

[Teretonga]

I like the RBR livery with the respect to the Texas State flag but it's Leclerc's hemet that impresses me most.
The times between pole and 10th are close but Max still has the speed advantage because the fastest time was disallowed.
As far as which team is strongest maybe its Ferrari with Mercedes and McLaren close.

Why not RBR?
Because im measuring it by which team will score the most points....
We'll see how it works out over the weekend but its likely that there may be some revisions in overall championship position after the weekend.
And by the time Brazil is over... Well. Which teams will fill second and third places?

[chunterer]

Decent front row of the grid!
Piastri must be scratching his head a bit though?
As is Alonso I suspect...

[S griffin]

Leclerc on pole, with Max down in 6th. Good to see Norris on the front row. The race to the first corner should be interesting

[bjohnsonsmith]

I like COTA, so looking forward to the actual GP race but why back to back sprint races? The Vegas GP would have been the place to hold it, as a gimmick it would fit right in.


Great to see a different row.

[Sodemo]

Red Bull not suited to this track or have they just stopped developing the car?

[fergus_r]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

Red Bull not suited to this track or have they just stopped developing the car?

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/m...est-at-austin/

TLDR: Like in Singapore, they don't like the bumps, so have had to raise the ride height, which doesn't suit the car.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Super Max takes pole for the sprint race but quite a few of drivers will be up before the Beak, for apparently failing to follow the race director’s instructions regarding delta times.

[broadrun96]

Late watching the Sprint, absolutely garbage "racing" the first 5 laps. Lewis went a mile off track ON HIS OWN TO PASS, Piastri can't drive any better than Texans on Katy and Russell can't stay on track either

And the camera guys are TRASH, maybe film from the state instead of copter and Arkansas/Louisiana. Didn't notice as much in Quali but in the race it's twitchy and WAY too long a lens.


Made it to keep 10, turned it off. Joke, might skip tomorrow

[rika]

Lucky Sainz took soft tires otherwise there would have been no action at all.


That was very very boring.

[bjohnsonsmith]

It certainly was. I did enjoy the sprint race at Quatar but then that had plenty of incident and that's the problem with these sprint races. Unless they are full of thrills and spills and incident filled, they are going to be boring because none of the drivers want their cars to end up like Perez' car did at Quatar. At least with the old format, the race set the grid for the GP race and drivers pushed a little harder. Personally, I would like to see the end of sprint racing.

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

It certainly was. I did enjoy the sprint race at Quatar but then that had plenty of incident and that's the problem with these sprint races. Unless they are full of thrills and spills and incident filled, they are going to be boring because none of the drivers want their cars to end up like Perez' car did at Quatar. At least with the old format, the race set the grid for the GP race and drivers pushed a little harder. Personally, I would like to see the end of sprint racing.

I also enjoyed the sprint at Qatar but this was like watching paint dry on a cold overcast day....
Epstein, the COTA president or whatever, said there was no increase in ticket sales with a sprint (so really no commercial reason) so no real reason to justify them.
Epstein is happy to let the FIA share them around so not really interested in having a sprint on a regular basis.

Some of them have been interesting but the attitude towards Oscars win at Qatar was nice, but not a real win in GP terms, and that is what mattered.
So therefore, no real reason to justify them and certainly not to make them compulsory.

That could be reason to NOT watch F1....

[broadrun96]

Of all the tracks for Sprint races the US venues are NOT the ones. They have already far too much off track stuff to bring in ticket sales, adding another race isn't going to sell more tickets. I could see events that have minimal undercards but COTA has plenty including Masters GP. Straight up GP would be fine for COTA and other than Max going wide by a foot maybe the weekend is his from start to finish. Guess watching him go from 6th to the front of the only thing to maybe draw eyes but in guessing Ferrari will Ferrari it and MB will over think so he has a clear path to the front.

[S griffin]

A few passes here and there, but mostly a demonstration run by Max. Only Hamilton and Sainz provided any action

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by Teretonga

I also enjoyed the sprint at Qatar but this was like watching paint dry on a cold overcast day....
Epstein, the COTA president or whatever, said there was no increase in ticket sales with a sprint (so really no commercial reason) so no real reason to justify them.
Epstein is happy to let the FIA share them around so not really interested in having a sprint on a regular basis.

Some of them have been interesting but the attitude towards Oscars win at Qatar was nice, but not a real win in GP terms, and that is what mattered.
So therefore, no real reason to justify them and certainly not to make them compulsory.

That could be reason to NOT watch F1....

But is the FIA or FOM/Liberty that is the driving force behind this spread of the Sprints, though?

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by S griffin

A few passes here and there, but mostly a demonstration run by Max. Only Hamilton and Sainz provided any action

Albon, Gasly progresed well, and there was also KMag's scraps with Tsunoda and Zhou.

Other than that, not much going on!

[fergus_r]

There seemed to be a reasonable amount going on further down the order which was either totally missed on the coverage, or just shown in a few replays.

[broadrun96]

Odds on grid penalties this afternoon? Haas and Aston Martin starting from pit lane so does everyone stay in the right spot

[bjohnsonsmith]

Verstappen still sounding very flustered due to a brake issue.


Despite that he got his 50th win.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Verstappen still sounding very flustered due to a brake issue.


Despite that he got his 50th win.

I wondered if he was tryimg to ward off any potential track limit violations! Lol

[S griffin]

Having listened to it on the radio, seems a very interesting race, but still not even brake problems can keep Max off the podium. One or two more laps and it almost certainly would have been a different story. Lewis really had the pace to win. Norris good drive to third after leading the early part. Bad race for Leclerc having started on pole. And finally a DNF for Alonso

[broadrun96]

And now possible DQ penalties for Leclerc and Hamilton for skid plate wear

https://racer.com/2023/10/22/hamilto...er-plank-wear/