Max Verstappen even forced Charles Leclerc off the track at the start of the F1 sprint in Austin. Valtteri Bottas had a minor victory on Saturday, but according to him Alfa Romeo will benefit on sprint weekends.
Red Bull Max Verstappen overwhelmingly won the US GP weekend sprint race in Austin.
Verstappen started the race from the pole and decided the victory right from the start. The Dutchman forced the Ferrari that started from the second grid Charles Leclerc to the side of the track. Verstappen really aggressively defended his top spot and even led Leclerc slightly outside the track.
Verstappen went his own way after the opening corner. Mercedes overtaking Leclerc in the drama of the start Lewis Hamilton yielded by almost ten seconds to Verstappen.
Leclerc was third ahead of McLaren Lando Norris.
– It was a pretty tight place. Fortunately, there is a lot of room before the first corner, Verstappen acknowledged the start drama in the track interview.
– After that I was able to drive my own race and control the pace.
Lerclerc saw an opportunity to pass Verstappen right at the start.
– There was a gap in it. I tried to get out of it. It was tight. I lost a place to Lewis, but Mercedes was faster in the race anyway, Leclerc summed up.
Verstappen’s pace in the sprint bodes well for Sunday’s race. In Friday’s qualifying, Verstappen was rejected for the fastest lap, so he only starts from the sixth grid. Austin’s F1 race has never been won outside of the front row, i.e. the first two grids. Verstappen craves history.
– The speed of the car was really good today. I need it tomorrow. Leaving the sixth square makes tomorrow different. I want to win and hopefully we can have fun, Verstappen said.
Difficult Saturday for Bottas
Alfa Romeo Valtteri Bottas was the 16th The Finn had already fallen to 18th place in the sprint qualifying, when according to Bottas the car “slid quite a lot.” Even on Friday, Bottas explained his failure by the car skating, because according to the Finn, the tires overheated a lot.
– It was quite a difficult starting point for the race. We started relatively behind. The chances for points were quite small. We learned a bit about tires. Of course I tried my best, but it was pretty much like riding behind. Overtaking was quite difficult when everyone had a movable rear wing in front as well. It’s really difficult to say in detail what the pace was like, Bottas summed up for Viaplay.
Now the fourth sprint race of the F1 season was run. It was very boring, when the differences quickly became surprisingly large.
For this season, the sprint rules were revised so that on Fridays there is a time trial for Sunday’s race. On Saturday, there will be new sprint time trials before the actual sprint competition.
The sprint format is now included in the third season in formula one. On sprint weekends, only one practice session is run before Friday’s time trials.
Bottas likes the sprint format.
– From the driver’s point of view, I have not been a fan of training. With Fridays only for practice, each team finds the optimal settings and each driver the necessary little things. With one practice, the starting grid could be mixed up for Sunday. I think this is why we now also have a good starting point for Sunday, Bottas, who will start the actual race on Sunday from the 13th grid, stated.
Austin’s F1 race will be run on Sunday from 22:00 Finnish time.