United States GP: How Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton could beat Max Verstappen at Circuit of The Americas
Max Verstappen’s pace during Saturday’s sprint at the United States Grand Prix made his rivals lose some hope, but Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton retain hope of victory in Sunday’s race.
Verstappen was initially closely followed by Hamilton, but slowly pulled away as the sprint progressed and was almost a second faster per lap during the closing stages.
However, he will start from sixth on the grid on Sunday after his best lap in qualifying on Friday was scrapped due to track limits, and the top three of polesitter Charles Leclerc, Norris and Hamilton all know the importance of taking the lead after the corner. to take. 1.
Staying ahead of Leclerc will be crucial for Norris and Hamilton in particular, as their pace on the long runs is faster than Ferrari’s. The Sprint also showed that the Ferraris are very fast on the straights, so overtaking will be difficult, but they don’t have the absolute pace on the 3.792km Circuit of The Americas.
Sky Sports F1Norris’s Jenson Button told Norris to pass Leclerc then he can be gone, to which the McLaren driver responded: “A while, until Max comes along!
“I think I took almost five seconds on the Ferrari in the last five laps of the sprint. The pace is very good. I think Hamilton will be our competition and Max will come through.
“If I can get into the lead early in Turn 1 and control my pace… I used a lot of tires to get past Carlos (Sainz) at the start (of the sprint) – it’s never fun when Als you see the tire temperatures rise through the roof while they are on the track for 11 seconds, that is not a perfect situation.
“If I can control the race from the start, we can give ourselves a lot of chances to finish high. But I expect some competition.”
History is on Norris’s side, as in four of the last five United States Grand Prix the driver has been in second place in the lead after the Turn 1 hairpin.
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Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz reflects on Max Verstappen’s sprint victory at the United States Grand Prix
The grip is equal on both sides of the grid and the width at the entry of the corner invites the driver behind to throw it in, which is what Leclerc tried on Saturday, and it often pays off.
Norris, who is looking for a first F1 win, had a similar pace to Hamilton once he got past the Ferraris but thinks the slow corners in the final sector could be a problem.
“A lot of weaknesses. We are very, very bad in the slow corners and to improve that for (Sunday) is not really easy or possible. We will see what we can do, the pace is good and I think we can Better Mercedes anyway,” he added Sky Sports F1.
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Take a look back at some of the most dramatic moments that took place at the United States Grand Prix
United States GP starting grid – Top 10
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
- Lando Norris, McLaren
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
- Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
- George Russell, Mercedes
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull
- Pierre Gasly, Alpine
- Esteban Ocon, Alpine
- Sergio Perez, Red Bull
- Oscar Piastri, McLaren
What are Hamilton’s chances?
No one from outside the front row has won at the Circuit of the Americas since the track joined the F1 calendar in 2012, so that statistic doesn’t bode well for Hamilton, nor for Verstappen.
Hamilton has looked arguably more confident than at any other stage of the 2023 season with Mercedes’ latest upgrades in Austin, and will look to repeat his opening-lap move on Leclerc from the sprint in Sunday’s Grand Prix.
But he plays down his chances of a first victory since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in December 2021.
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Lewis Hamilton believes Mercedes are heading in the right direction after seeing improvements this weekend by finishing second in the Austin Sprint
“This is the first weekend where I really feel the car is taking a step in the right direction, which I am very grateful for, but in the end it is not enough,” said Hamilton. Sky Sports F1.
Saturday was a very good test. Obviously we were relatively close in qualifying, but today (Saturday) I really tried to lean on the car and see what it was capable of, and towards the end it dropped off big time and they were half a minute ahead. second one round for us.
“I’ll make some changes (Sunday) to see if I can squeeze a little more juice out of it, but there were a lot of great lessons learned from it.”
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Max Verstappen wins the Austin Sprint, becoming the first driver to win three sprints in one season
At the press conference he added: “Anything is possible. He (Verstappen) has at least half a second on all the cars in front of him per lap. That should be enough to get by, but there is relegation.
“We have a job to stop him, but it’s a track where you can overtake, so there’s a good chance he’ll finish high.”
Verstappen to race through the field or find it tough?
Verstappen has produced a number of memorable runs through the pack in his 49 career F1 victories, including Austria 2019, Belgium 2022 and Miami this year.
It would be rather fitting that his 50th win requires big momentum and bold moves, even though he knows his car’s speed is high and so doesn’t need to take too much risk.
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Max Verstappen admits he was surprised by the pace of his Red Bull after winning the sprint and is optimistic he can challenge for victory in Sunday’s race after qualifying only sixth
“It’s not ideal to start from P6, but the speed of the car is still quite strong and hopefully with high fuel consumption we can do something similar. It’s one thing to be fast, but another thing to have a “to pass a few cars,” said Verstappen.
“With the relegation here it will not be easy to keep up with the high speed. We have a race ahead of us.”
Speaking of relegation, it should be a two-stop race on Sunday, which could give McLaren a slight advantage as they are the only top team to have two new sets of hard tires.
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Take a look back at some of the most dramatic moments that took place at the United States Grand Prix
If the hard tire proves to be the best racing tire, this is another factor that could give Norris a chance to beat Verstappen on merit.
If Sky Sports F1‘s Button hints that if either Norris or Hamilton is leading after lap 1 and Verstappen isn’t in the top five, it’s game-on for victory, and the United States Grand Prix generally delivers entertainment on.
“The only thing we are saving for (Sunday) is that Max starts sixth. And we can say: ‘Wow, he is so much faster than everyone, that is going to be easy’. It is not going to be easy,” Button said.
“Overtaking is not easy here and they proved that in the sprint. It wasn’t very exciting because it was difficult to overtake. It will still be a challenge for him. I wouldn’t want to find out about Lewis. Would that do? You?”
When can you watch the US GP and F1 Academy Final live only on Sky Sports F1?
Sunday October 22
- 3.30pm: F1 Academy Race Three
- 6:30 PM: Grand Prix Sunday: build-up to the American GP
- 8 p.m.: THE GRAND PRIZE OF THE UNITED STATES (also on Sky Sports Main Event)
- 10 p.m.: Checkered flag: response from the American GP
- 11pm: Ted’s notebook
Watch Formula 1 return to Texas for the United States Grand Prix this Sunday on Sky Sports F1. Stream F1 on Sky Sports with NOW