Tag: News

Max Verstappen held off Lewis Hamilton’s late charge to win the United States Grand Prix, equalling his own record of 15 race victories in a Formula 1 season.

Verstappen, who has already sealed his third successive drivers’ title with five rounds to spare, appeared to be cruising towards victory after coming from sixth on the grid to take the lead midway through the race.

However, apparent braking issues on his Red Bull left Verstappen agitated and vulnerable as Mercedes’ Hamilton closed to within two seconds in the latter stages, but the Dutchman clung on for the 50th F1 victory of his career.

Hamilton had already passed the McLaren of Lando Norris, who faded in the second half of the contest, having taken the lead on the opening lap to boost his hopes of a earning a maiden F1 victory in his 100th race.

“The whole race, I was struggling a lot with the brakes,” Verstappen said. “It was very close at the end and also with the backmarkers, the tyres are already going so it makes it more difficult.

“It’s incredible to win my 50th Grand Prix here. Very proud of course and we will keep on trying to push for more.”

Carlos Sainz took fourth for Ferrari after he and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez made late passes on pole-sitter Charles Leclerc, who dropped back after the Italian team attempted an ill-advised one-stop strategy.

George Russell could only manage seventh as he failed to match team-mate Hamilton’s pace after dropping back from fifth on the grid at the start.

Pierre Gasly rounded off an improved display from Alpine to take eighth, although team-mate Esteban Ocon was an early retiree along with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri after a first-lap collision took them both out of the race.

Lance Stroll claimed his first Grand Prix points finish since July by taking ninth after his Aston Martin team-mate Fernando Alonso was forced to retire with floor damage, while Yuki Tsunoda took the final point for AlphaTauri, and doubled his tally for the day with the fastest lap of the race.

Verstappen’s victory takes him to 466 points for the season and beyond the record haul he set last year, with the Dutchman set to rewrite the sport’s history books over the four rounds of the campaign that remain.

His lead over team-mate Perez extends to 228 points, while Hamilton has closed to within 21 points of the Mexican as the Brit attempts to deny Red Bull a first-ever one-two in the drivers’ standings.

United States GP result
1) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
2) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
3) Lando Norris, McLaren
4) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
5) Sergio Perez, Red Bull
6) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
7) George Russell, Mercedes
8) Pierre Gasly, Alpine
9) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
10) Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri

Strategic battle sets up thrilling finish

With Verstappen having dominated from pole in Saturday’s Sprint contest, Norris and Hamilton were the only two drivers given any chance of holding him off in the full-length race.

To have any chance of doing that, they needed a strong start, and Norris got just that as he passed Leclerc into the first corner, before opening up an early advantage.

Hamilton, perhaps decisively in the end, was less successful. He lost a place to Sainz at the start, and although he had passed both Ferraris to move into second by lap six, lost crucial time and tyre life.

Verstappen gained a place at the start despite cautiously navigating the opening lap, and surprisingly took significantly longer than Hamilton to clear the Ferraris.

When he did on lap 12, he was seven seconds back from leader Norris, with Hamilton about midway between them.

Any thoughts that Verstappen may have been nursing his tyres to set up a one-stop race were dispelled when the Red Bull was the first of the leaders to pit at the end of lap 16.

The fact Red Bull chose to fit him with another set of the medium tyres he had started the race on meant he would definitely need to stop again to use a different compound before the end.

McLaren reacted by bringing in Norris a lap later, but put him on the hard tyre, keeping open the option of one-stopping.

Mercedes decided to keep Hamilton out as they looked to be considering the one-stop option, but ultimately appeared to be caught somewhat between the two strategies.

Hamilton’s tyres appeared to fall off a metaphorical cliff in his final couple of circuits before stopping on lap 20, with a crucial loss of time occurring as he ran wide and off track.

A slow stop compounded the situation, leaving Hamilton to come out with the several-second advantage he had previously held over Verstappen having switched the other way, while Norris led.

Verstappen ominously cruised up behind Norris and eased past the McLaren on lap 28, but he appeared uncomfortable as he described his struggles with braking in the class-leading RB19.

Norris triggered the second round of pit stops when he came in on lap 34, and closed back to within just over a second of Verstappen when Red Bull responded by stopping a lap later.

That played into Hamilton’s hands, as he was able to keep running at a reasonably competitive pace for three further laps, and had a fresh set of the better-performing medium tyres for his final stint, with the leading duo on hards.

It quickly became clear that it would be a matter of time until Hamilton would pass Norris, with the big question being whether he could track down Verstappen in the closing stages.

Despite having little hope of holding off Hamilton, Norris put up a stern defence over a series of corners that cost Hamilton a crucial couple of seconds and potentially a shot at victory.

The five-second gap that remained with seven laps left initially looked out of reach, but the gap suddenly began to close, with the backdrop of Verstappen repeatedly scolding his race engineer over the radio for talking to him in braking zones.

The gap was under two seconds going into the final lap, but ultimately Mercedes’ failure to optimise their strategy, sub-par pit stops and just about the only error Hamilton made throughout a stellar weekend for the Brit left him agonisingly short of a first win since December 2021.

“I think we probably should have stopped before Lando because I was within undercut position,” Hamilton said. “I don’t know why we didn’t.

“Then after that I came out another eight seconds behind and I had to catch up. It was really difficult to catch up and then I came out again another eight or 10 seconds behind [after the second stop].”

Despite having claimed a third successive win a row at Circuit of The Americas, Verstappen was given a frosty reception by some fans as he appeared to be booed during the podium ceremony by a group of fans.

F1 heads straight to Mexico for the middle leg of the Americas triple header. Watch the whole Mexico City Grand Prix weekend live on Sky Sports F1 from Friday, with Sunday’s race at 8pm. Stream F1 on Sky Sports with NOW

Max Verstappen’s pace in Saturday’s Sprint at the United States Grand Prix knocked a bit of hope out of his rivals, but Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton maintain hope of victory in Sunday’s race.

Verstappen was closely followed by Hamilton initially but slowly pulled away as the Sprint went on and was nearly one second quicker per lap during the closing stages.

However, he starts from sixth on the grid on Sunday, after having his best lap deleted for track limits in qualifying on Friday, and the top three of pole-sitter Charles Leclerc, Norris and Hamilton all know how important it is to lead after Turn 1.

In particular for Norris and Hamilton, getting ahead of Leclerc will be key because their pace is quicker than Ferrari over the long runs. The Sprint also showed that the Ferraris are very quick on the straights, so will be tricky to overtake but do not have the outright pace over the 2.3 miles (3.792 km) Circuit of The Americas.

Sky Sports F1‘s Jenson Button told Norris he has to get past Leclerc then he could be gone, to which the McLaren driver responded: “For a while, until Max comes along!

“I think the last five laps of the Sprint, I caught nearly five seconds on the Ferrari. The pace is very good. I think Hamilton’s going to be our competition and Max coming through.

“If I can get into the lead early on at Turn 1, control my pace… I used a lot of tyres to try and get past Carlos (Sainz) at the beginning [of the Sprint] – it’s never a nice thing when you see the tyre temperatures going through the roof, laying 11 seconds on the track, it’s not a perfect situation.

“If I can control the race from the beginning, we can give ourselves a lot of opportunities to finish high up. But I expect some competition.”

History is on Norris’ side because four of the last five United States Grand Prix has seen the driver in second place lead after the hairpin left at Turn 1.

The grip is equal on both sides of the grid and the width at corner entry invites the driver behind to throw it up the inside, which Leclerc tried on Saturday, and it often pays off.

Norris, who is looking for a maiden win in F1, had similar pace to Hamilton once he got past the Ferraris but thinks the slow-speed corners in the final sector could be an issue.

“A lot of weaknesses. We are very, very bad in the slow speed 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 at least,” he added to Sky Sports F1.

United States GP starting grid – Top 10

1. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
2. Lando Norris, McLaren
3. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
4. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
5. George Russell, Mercedes
6. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
7. Pierre Gasly, Alpine
8. Esteban Ocon, Alpine
9. Sergio Perez, Red Bull
10. Oscar Piastri, McLaren

What are Hamilton’s chances?

No one from outside of the front row has won at the Circuit of the Americas since the track joined the F1 calendar in 2012, so that stat does not bode well for Hamilton, or Verstappen for that matter.

Hamilton has arguably looked more confident than at any other stage of the 2023 season with Mercedes’ latest upgrades in Austin, and will look to repeat his first-lap move on Leclerc from the Sprint in Sunday’s Grand Prix.

But, he is playing down his chances of a first win since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in December 2021.

“This is the first weekend where I’ve really felt the car take a step in the right direction, which I’m really grateful for, but it’s not enough ultimately,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.

“Saturday was a real good test. Obviously in qualifying we were relatively close but today [Saturday] I really tried to lean on the car and see what it was capable of, and it dropped off big time towards the end and they were half a second a lap ahead of us.

“I’ll make some alterations [on Sunday] to see if I can squeeze a bit more juice out of it but there’s lots of great learnings from.”

He added in the press conference: “Anything is possible. He [Verstappen] has got at least half a second on all the cars ahead of him per lap. That should be enough to get by but there is degradation.

“We will have a job on our hands to hold him back but it’s a track where you can overtake, so it’s likely he will finish high up.”

Verstappen to blitz through the field or find it tough?

Verstappen has produced some memorable drives through the pack in his 49 career F1 wins including Austria 2019, Belgium 2022 and Miami this year.

It would be rather fitting that his 50th victory requires a big push and bold moves, although he knows the pace of his car is strong, so does not need to take too much risk.

“It’s not ideal to start P6 but the pace of the car is still quite strong and hopefully with high fuel we can do something similar. It’s one thing to be fast but another to get by a few cars,” said Verstappen.

“With the degradation around here, it’s not going to be straightforward and trying to follow through the high-speed. We have a race on our hands.”

Speaking of degradation, it should be a two-stop race on Sunday which could give a slight advantage to McLaren as they are the only top team to have two new sets of hard tyres.

If the hard tyre proves to be the best racing tyre, this is another factor which could give Norris a chance to beat Verstappen on merit.

As Sky Sports F1‘s Button alludes to, if one of Norris or Hamilton lead after Lap 1 and Verstappen is not in the top five, it will be game on for the win, and the United States Grand Prix generally delivers entertainment.

“The only thing that saves us for [Sunday] is that Max starts sixth. And we can say, ‘woah, he’s that much quicker than everyone, it’s going to be easy’. It’s not going to be easy,” said Button.

“Overtaking here isn’t easy and they proved that in the Sprint. It wasn’t very exciting because it was difficult to overtake. It’s still going to be a challenge for him. I wouldn’t want to come up behind Lewis. Would you?”

When to watch the US GP and F1 Academy finale live only on Sky Sports F1

Sunday October 22

• 3.30pm: F1 Academy Race Three
• 6.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: US GP build-up
• 8pm: THE UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX (also on Sky Sports Main Event)
• 10pm: Chequered Flag: US GP reaction
• 11pm: Ted’s Notebook

Watch Formula 1 return to Texas for the United States Grand Prix on Sky Sports F1 this Sunday. Stream F1 on Sky Sports with NOW

As Lando Norris and George Russell head to their 100th Grand Prix weekend, Sky Sports F1 look back at what has been a hugely entertaining start to the careers of the young Brits.

The pair came onto the grid as the next generation of British talent for when the great Lewis Hamilton retires, but now all three are competing at the front.

While they have been on their own journeys, following in the steps of and filling Hamilton’s boots are a recurring theme in both of their careers.

Norris the shining light McLaren needed

Norris arrived at McLaren to help turn the ‘GP2 engine’ frowns into papaya-soaked serotonin hits, and his injection of youth, speed and star power was precisely what McLaren needed to lead their climb towards the front of the F1 pack, where they belong.

McLaren were in a dark place in the late 2010s as they publicly fell out with their engine supplier Honda, with world champions Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso losing patience and leaving the sport entirely.

While they were not struggling quite so much when it came to car competitiveness, a fresh-faced Lewis Hamilton walked into a political storm as McLaren imploded with Alonso and then team boss Ron Dennis grating and ‘spy gate’ scandals – like Norris, Hamilton was the young shining light that gave the team and the fans a reason to cheer and believe.

This experience for both Hamilton and Norris forced them to mature quickly – they have been the team leader despite the arrival of more experienced big names such as Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo, and they are better drivers for it.

The other similarity to Hamilton that Norris has is his natural, quirky but genuine persona, engaging a global audience – he is a superstar by being himself.

Hamilton was a superstar in the early stages of his career because of the barriers he broke and the people he spent time with, however, he didn’t have the surroundings and confidence to be himself until he moved to Mercedes.

Norris, meanwhile, has entered F1 at a time where expressing your individuality is celebrated – thanks in a large part to Hamilton – which means that he can be his unreserved self, making him so appealing.

While the car helped, Hamilton’s ability to express himself arguably allowed him to unlock a new level of performance.

The fact that Norris has done this earlier in his career than Hamilton may allow him to grow more quickly as an individual and as a racing driver in the next 100 races.

Russell waiting in the wings for ‘too long’

Russell is impatient, he says he wants things “yesterday”, and that is because he knows he has the ability to mix it with the very best and he has had to be patient for most of his career.

Like Norris, he was quickly forced into a leadership position as the then Formula 2 champion joined struggling Williams alongside drivers that could not match his level – as much as he appreciated Williams, Russell quickly outgrew the team.

Russell maintains that he drove for Williams for “too long” – an assessment that Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has since admitted.

The reality is that Russell would normally have been in the car after one season, like Max Verstappen at Red Bull and Charles Leclerc at Ferrari – but Mercedes were going through a far from average period.

As the Silver Arrows and Lewis Hamilton dominated F1, one of the winning formulas was the partnership between Hamilton and the reliable, diplomatic and likeable Valtteri Bottas.

Hamilton has continued to maintain that Bottas was his favourite team-mate. So, as long as the championships came, the champion’s calls to keep Bottas were heeded.

In 2021, though, Russell’s talent was too glaring to ignore for Wolff, welcoming the King’s Lynn man to Brackley for 2022.

Russell will have understandably expected to at least have been picking up wins as he supported Hamilton in the fight for the eighth title, but things didn’t exactly go to plan.

Team-mate tensions on the horizon for both Brits?

Instead, Mercedes have had two years trying to find their way, taking away winning opportunities but allowing Russell to grow in experience and confidence – he is just as ready to fight for titles as Hamilton.

Arguably, Russell had his greatest season in 2022, outscoring Hamilton and winning whilst the seven-time world champion failed to do so for the first time in his career.

Only one team-mate can win the driver’s title, and that’s why Christian Horner says he wants to avoid having two alpha drivers – they take points away from one another.

If they can get into the position to fight for race wins, Mercedes need a clear driver to back, as shown in Qatar.

McLaren have a similar issue in the form of the superstar Norris and the raw but exciting Oscar Piastri.

Does Zak Brown back Norris, with whom he seems to have a very special relationship, or Piastri, for whom he fought so hard to sign?

Piastri and Russell will only get better as they look to assert themselves on their team-mates.

Norris obviously has youth on his side and will continue to blossom himself, but how he reacts to being challenged by his team-mate, something he hasn’t had since Carlos Sainz in 2020, will be fascinating to see, especially as McLaren appear to be the team closest to the almighty Red Bull machine.

Russell will be disappointed with this season’s results after such a positive 2022 in Mercedes.

However, on qualifying pace, he is matching Hamilton and heads into Austin 9-8 up – Russell also arguably came the closest to winning in Singapore.

The youngster is taking risks while he has nothing to lose, learning his limits for when a title is on the line – that is a dangerous challenge for Hamilton who is undoubtedly in the latter stages of his career.

There have been a few moments this season when the Mercedes pair clashed, but Qatar’s first corner shenanigans were by far the most explosive.

Mercedes will hope to keep a lid on it and McLaren will hope their drivers don’t get any ideas.

Both Norris and Russell have made impressive starts, but they have challenges to overcome if they want to become champion in their next hundred races – not least, on the other side of the garage.

How do Norris and Russell match up?

Let’s be clear – Russell’s three years in a Williams which rarely scored points will impact the head-to-head data.

Nevertheless, the numbers do point to the respective strengths of the drivers.

Norris nor Russell have had as much success in F1 as they would have liked, with Russell the only one to have tasted victory after his win in Brazil and those painful final laps for Norris in Sochi.

But sometimes winning is not everything, and this is very much the case in an era of F1 that has been dominated by Hamilton and now three-time world champion Max Verstappen.

The data points to Norris’ consistency being his greatest strength.

Norris has only failed to finish a race 10 times in 99 Grand Prix, scoring points an impressive 74 times.

For context, Russell has retired 16 times, Hamilton, one of the most consistent finishers in F1 history, retired 12 times in his first 99 races and Verstappen more than double with 21 times.

Of course, mechanical failures are not in the driver’s control, but Norris is rarely caught up in a crash, keeps his nose clean and generally delivers the best result possible in the car – that is invaluable for a team.

He also has one more podium than Russell, with 11 – five P2s and six P3s compared to Russell’s one win, two P2s and seven P3s.

Norris has yet to get his first win, but if he continues to maximise results, he will take the top step when the opportunity arises.

While Russell can be slightly less consistent, his ability to grab an opportunity shines through.

Whenever things are up in the air, who is the driver first to risk it on slicks on a drying track or call on his team to try an aggressive strategy?

Russell loves to go for it, and that has been the nature of his career in the uncompetitive Williams or Mercedes, desperate to overcome the might of Red Bull.

No wonder Russell snatched the opportunity to secure pole position and win in Brazil last year. Were it not for a puncture, he would have also clinched victory when parachuted into a Mercedes in Sakhir 2020.

This ability to snatch a chance with both hands is why Russell is beating Norris in the critical statistics of Grand Prix wins, pole positions.

Norris and Russell head into their hundredth race in Austin, having established themselves as two of the best on the F1 grid.

They are ready to take the baton from Hamilton as the top British driver, but they may have to wrestle it from the seven-time champion for longer than expected.

Watch Formula 1 return to Texas for the United States Grand Prix and another Sprint weekend live on Sky Sports F1 from October 20-22. Stream F1 on Sky Sports with NOW

Esteban Ocon revealed he threw up during the Qatar Grand Prix, while Lando Norris called the race conditions “too dangerous”.

The humidity, temperatures which were in excess of 40 degrees and the high-speed corners made the race incredibly tough for the drivers.

Another factor was the 18-lap limit on tyres which led to a minimum of three pit stops, so the drivers pushed harder during the Grand Prix, which was won by Max Verstappen on Sunday.

“I was throwing up by lap 15, 16. For two laps I think,” Ocon told Sky Sports F1 after finishing seventh for Alpine in Qatar.

“I was doing that and thinking ‘s***, it’s going to be a long one’. Get it under control just mentally and just focus on what I’ve got to try and do.

“I’ve never had that in the past. I’ve always been able to do two race distances in the car, that’s what I’ve always been training for, but today it was just the hot air and how hot the engine is from behind the car.

“I don’t think we particularly sealed the cockpit too well. It must have been like 80 degrees inside the car. I’m glad that next year we come back here in December.”

The inaugural Qatar Grand Prix in 2021 took place in November and next season’s event will also happen at that time of the year, when conditions should be cooler.

Lando Norris, who made it a hat-trick of podiums with third place on Sunday behind McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, was very outspoken on the conditions.

“I think we probably found the limit. I think it’s sad we had to find it this way. It’s never a nice situation to be in. Some people are ending up in the medical centre or passing out,” he said.

“It’s a pretty dangerous thing to have going on. But it’s not a point where you can just go, ‘the drivers need to train more’ or anything like that.

“We’re in a closed car that gets extremely hot in a very physical race and it’s frustrating I guess on TV. It probably doesn’t look very physical at all.

“But clearly when you have people who end up retiring, or are in such a bad state, it’s too much. For the speeds we are doing is it is too dangerous.

“I know that this race next year is later on in the season and it will be a lot cooler, a few months later, but it’s something needs to be thought of. I’m sure we will speak about it because it kind of shouldn’t have happened in the first place.”

Piastri added: “Extremely hot. Even from from the beginning, I put my helmet on before the start of the race and I was sweating. It definitely didn’t get any better once I was driving! Very hot.

“It was a combination of a lot of things – the humidity, having three stops meant we were pushing flat out and just the nature of the track – there’s a lot of high-speed corners that just naturally take its toll. Definitely the hardest race I’ve done.”

Sargeant cleared after suffering from heatstroke

Logan Sargeant was one of several drivers in Qatar to suffer from dehydration and stated he felt “sick” on the radio during the race.

Sargeant, who is the only driver on the grid without a contract for next year, initially pushed on, before retiring with 16 laps to go.

“Following Logan’s retirement from the Grand Prix, he has been assessed and cleared by the medical team on-site after suffering from intense dehydration during the race weakened by having flu-like symptoms earlier in the week,” said Williams.

Alex Albon was also taken to the medical centre and didn’t attend the post-race media activities, while Lance Stroll nearly fainted when getting out of his Aston Martin following the race.

Stroll crossed the line in ninth place, but was demoted to 11th due to track limits penalties.

“It’s disappointing not to take any points away having raced so hard in such physically demanding conditions,” said Stroll.

“The temperatures we faced out there were extreme – more so than any other event – and there are lots of tight corners here so you’re constantly battling the g-forces.”

Verstappen: Like walking around in a sauna

Verstappen dominated the race and compared the Qatar Grand Prix to Miami and Singapore – two other places F1 visit that seriously test the drivers physically.

“When I saw the weather before coming here, I was not looking forward to it. It’s just too warm and like Lando said, it has nothing to do with more training or whatever,” said the three-time world champion.

“I think some of the guys who are struggling today, they are extremely fit or even fitter than me. Just the whole day, it’s like you walk around in a sauna and in the night, the humidity goes up. The races are quite long.

“But it’s not the only place…a few places are like that. Singapore is almost like a two-hour race and it’s very, very warm. I think it’s also quite on the limit of what should be allowed. So there are a few things to look at, but this was definitely way too hot.”

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who was fifth, told Sky Sports F1: “I think everybody [struggled], no exceptions. I think it was the toughest race of our careers as drivers.

“The heat was absolutely crazy. Secondly, we’ve got a lot of high-speed corners. And, third, which I think is the most significant thing, is adding three stops. We were all speaking about tyres that it would be a full-push race for tyres with little management.

“But I think we maybe underestimated that that meant we were under so much more stress in the high-speed corners, which is normally not the case.

“It’s difficult to put into words how difficult it was. It was twice as difficult as a race like Singapore in the past.”

Watch Formula 1 return to Texas for the United States Grand Prix and another Sprint weekend live on Sky Sports F1 from October 20-22. Stream F1 on Sky Sports with NOW for £21 a month for six months