The Ferrari F1 team took a convincing double victory in the 19th GP of the Formula One season in the United States. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. were completely in their own class in the competition.
At this point, the drivers’ World Championship is strongly Red Bull’s Max Verstappen’s in jumps.
His biggest threat, McLaren’s Lando Norris had a tough and even race in Austin with the Dutchman who took the last three world championships. Still, the difference between the two increased to 57 points, as there are only five F1 races left.
Urheilu’s F1 expert Jukka Mildh find out what the difference means in practice.
– Bridging that point difference requires a catastrophic situation for Verstappen, i.e. interruptions, own mistakes and also the fact that Red Bull would practically lose its grip completely. It’s not possible, Mildh sees.
– Verstappen also showed similar tricks, tricks and cool things in the Austin race, that he is a really smart racing driver. Max knows how to set his car on the track and how to secure his place in the race.
According to Mildh, Verstappen’s only weakness for the rest of the season is that he doesn’t have a team mate who would provide support if necessary in the World Championship points situation. McLaren and Ferrari have two quality drivers.
– Yes, Verstappen will be pretty much alone for the rest of the season in that World Cup battle, admits the expert and refers to his teammate in his speech by Sergio Perez for limited driving skills.
What solved it?
At the American GP this year, Ferrari drove to a double victory with the best cars of the race.
– Actually, the race was decided when Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, who are fighting the most for the championship, drifted out in the first corner. Charles Leclerc and also Carlos Sainz got past at that point and that decided the race because Ferrari had the best car in the race, Mildh said.
What speaks?
According to the F1 expert, at the moment there is no political topic in the royal class of motor sports, but more talk about how the world championship battle is going.
– The racing was really tough in this race between Verstappen and Norris. All means were used in a sporting manner. Norris now lost the mutual battle, which meant that the WC points difference between the two increased to 57 points.
However, Mildh added that there was little talk of McLaren possibly making a tactical error at the end.
The team should have signaled to Norris that he should have given the place back to Verstappen in favor of passing in the last laps, which he got for himself as if in an “illegal situation”. This resulted in a decisive, five-second time penalty at the end.
– Norris should have just given the place back and tried again. It was the biggest topic of conversation in terms of sports and decision-making, stated Mildh.
– The race in Austin was really sporty overall throughout the whole weekend and also shows that the Texas track is very popular among drivers. The track is really heavy for cars and really demanding for drivers. One of the best shows of this F1 season was seen competitively, praised the expert.
How did Bottas perform?
According to Mildh, Bottas started well from the starting line, but unfortunately got into a pitfall in the first corner, which started when Verstappen and Norris drifted out.
– It seemed to me that Valtteri even hit – did he by Alexander Albon to the car – very little, but still having to stop there, as it were. He fell in that situation, and after that there is really nothing more to do with that car, Mildh stated.
Bottas finished 17th ahead of his teammate Guanyu Zhouta.
– After all, Sauber has quite a lot to do in the winter, when this season has already been pretty much applauded in terms of results. The topic of conversation among Finns at the moment is why it is taking so long for Bottas’ contract to come about or not come about.
– Of course, Audi has to look at how far they are looking and what can be done when they officially enter the F1 series. However, in my opinion, it would actually sound silly even if the decision about Bottas’ continuation had not already been made, Mildh states.
What does Mildh think Bottas’ current situation in contract negotiations looks like when young F1 drivers succeed? Listen to Mildh’s analysis below.
A flop?
The biggest flop of the competition was definitely the Mercedes team Lewis Hamilton performance all weekend.
– It was his own mistake when he drove out at the very beginning of the race. He also apologized to the stable. Somehow it would seem that Mercedes is in such a state at the moment that it needs to look towards the future and try new things, said Mildh.
From the expert’s point of view, it seemed that the new things Hamilton was trying in Austin didn’t suit him at all. Be that as it may, the Texas track is hard on the tires and Mersu was really badly behind the other teams.
– However, Floppi personifies Hamilton because he made a very rare mistake of his own – even an embarrassing one.
Surprise?
In the opinion of the expert, there were more notable, though perhaps not directly surprising, performances in the US GP.
– I challenged both drivers Nico Hulkenberg (8:s) and Kevin Magnussen (11’s) drove really well. The pace of the stable has developed a lot.
– Also of George Russell rising from the back row to sixth place was a good performance when compared to Mersulla’s teammate Hamilton.
In Mildh’s opinion, a new and interesting F1 acquaintance Liam Lawson hit the table with a hard first trick by driving Racing B immediately to the World Championship points and ninth place.
– Lawson came Daniel Ricciardo replacement for this race and he will drive in the team for the rest of the season. An excellent performance from him! When a young driver comes in the middle of the season and immediately starts performing at that level, it’s always a surprise. It means that the generational change is starting to accelerate in formula one, says Jukka Mildh.
With Sunday’s brilliant performance, Ferrari narrowed the gap to second place Red Bull in the teams’ World Championship points to just eight. The difference was still 30 points before Sunday.
McLaren leads the manufacturers’ championship by 40 points ahead of Red Bull. McLaren has not won the manufacturers’ title since 1998 and Mika Häkkinen the first world championship season.
The F1 season continues next weekend in Mexico on October 27.