Admittedly, I have not had a chance to digest all of the news over the weekend apart from Valtteri Bottas taking another engine change and some other Mercedes-powered teams doing the same in Austin for the US Grand Prix.
I’m moving this weekend, or as my British friends would say, “I’m moving house”, but I did manage to watch Fp1, 2 and three as well as qualifying. Amidst boxes in the daunting task of packing a home containing 21 years of memories, I managed to hear talk of Mercedes nursing an engine issue and a lot of talk about their crafty tail-tucking chassis at speed.
While many scoffed at Red Bull two weeks ago for making noise about the straight-line speed advantage Merc had, ultimately it may not have been engine related, as initially argued, but chassis and aero related.
Coming into FP1, I would say that advantage was still very much clear but as the weekend lumbered on, Mercedes either lost pace or Red Bull found it.
On Saturday, Max Verstappen took pole over Lewis Hamilton by a couple of tenths or so and both start ahead of Sergio Perez who has had a terrific weekend so far. Bottas will start down in 9th due to grid penalty.
USGP Qualifying Results:
| Pos | Name | Car | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1m34.352s | 1m33.464s | 1m32.91s |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m34.579s | 1m33.797s | 1m33.119s |
| 3 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull-Honda | 1m34.369s | 1m34.178s | 1m33.134s |
| 4 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1m34.59s | 1m33.959s | 1m33.475s |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m34.153s | 1m33.928s | 1m33.606s |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari | 1m34.558s | 1m34.126s | 1m33.792s |
| 7 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m34.407s | 1m34.643s | 1m33.808s |
| 8 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m34.551s | 1m33.88s | 1m33.887s |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1m34.567s | 1m34.583s | 1m34.118s |
| 10 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1m35.36s | 1m35.137s | 1m34.918s |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1m35.747s | 1m35.377s | |
| 12 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1m35.281s | 1m35.5s | |
| 13 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1m35.92s | 1m35.794s | |
| 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1m35.756s | 1m44.549s | |
| 15 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1m35.746s | ||
| 16 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1m35.983s | ||
| 17 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1m35.995s | ||
| 18 | Kimi Räikkönen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1m36.311s | ||
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1m36.499s | ||
| 20 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas-Ferrari | 1m36.796s |
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