F1 Season Of The Century: The United States Grand Prix

The 2024 United States Grand Prix (USGP) in Austin, Texas, answered many questions that had been lingering over the past three weeks, since F1 last met in Singapore. We learned Ferrari’s race pace is something to be feared and that the Scuderia will absolutely challenge Red Bull and McLaren for the World Constructors’ Championship (WCC). We learned that Max Verstappen would return to his winning form in pursuit of a fourth World Drivers’ Championship (WDC). And among other things, we confirmed that F1 is a better sport and show when fresh talent, such as Franco Colapinto and Liam Lawson, is regularly introduced to the grid.

The USGP is consistently one of the best races of the season because Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a superb race track. Starting with a tricky turn one that culminates at the high point of the course following a steep climb up the main straight, this sends cars on a descent into a series of technical, high-speed S-turns that were inspired by Silverstone. The back straight is the primary passing zone with DRS into turn 12. This sends drivers into a series of slow corners from 13 to 17, where there is plenty of room for wheel-to-wheel racing. Adding to the excitement and unpredictability of 2024, the track was recently resurfaced, and this year featured one of the season’s six Sprint Weekends.

Sprint Race

The Sprint format means that two of the three typical practice sessions are replaced with a sprint shootout (qualifying session) on Friday, which sets the grid for a short (19-lap) race on Saturday. So we only had a single practice session (FP1) for teams to dial in their cars, many of which featured upgrades, and from which we could draw conclusions about what to expect from the weekend: Verstappen looked fast again, McLaren was off the pace, Ferrari showed a lot of potential and Mercedes was unstable at best.

Despite troubles in FP1, George Russell managed to qualify P2 for the Sprint with Verstappen on pole. Norris and the two Ferraris were just behind. For the race, turn one enabled a brilliant move by Norris, taking the inside line on Russell and moving up to P2 in pursuit of Verstappen. But the Ferraris looked fast in race trim. Carlos Sainz tried a first-lap move on Russell into turn 12 but couldn’t make it stick. He eventually got it done on lap nine and was followed a few laps later by his teammate Charles Leclerc. The Ferraris then chased down Norris, who had cooked his tires chasing Verstappen. This foreshadowed the Ferrari’s superior tire management and ultimate race pace we’d see on Sunday. Sainz took P2 from Norris into turn one on the final lap, which may have ended Norris’ hopes of challenging Verstappen for the WDC, as the margin for error was already so small.

The Sprint format awards a nominal amount of points for places one through eight. Sprint critics often cite this as the reason why sprints are dull. There just isn’t enough at stake to risk damaging the car ahead of race qualifying and the Grand Prix on Sunday. Once again, the sprint critics (which includes Verstappen) were shut down in Austin. Not only did we see incredible racing at the front, but we were treated to hard battles outside the points between rookie Lawson and veteran Fernando Alonso; between Oscar Piastri, who started P16, and Yuki Tsunoda; between Sergio Perez and Tsunoda, who are inter-Red Bull rivals. It was better than many full-length Grand Prix.

Sprints don’t belong at every track. It would simply be too much for the drivers and teams. But when tracks like Austin and Brazil consistently deliver great racing, it makes sense to give fans more racing and less practice in getting the most from an F1 weekend. No one can realistically argue that an FP2 and FP3 in Austin would have been better for the fans, whether at the track or at home. Personally, I’ve always favored Sprint races simply because two lights-out moments in a weekend are better than one. It’s as simple as that.

The Grand Prix

We knew from the earlier Sprint Shootout that Verstappen had the pace to secure pole position. But the Sprint format also enables teams to make adjustments to the car prior to race qualifying, which is point at which cars are locked into parc fermé (though Red Bull may or may not have skirted this very clear rule, a controversy that is still unfolding). The Sprint is like a practice in this sense, so we don’t know exactly what to expect as we enter qualifying.

Norris secured provisional pole in the first lap of Q3 with Verstappen in P2 and the Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc in P3 and P4, respectively. Verstappen was putting in purple sectors during his second lap when Russell spun and put it into the wall in sector three, triggering a yellow flag that ended Verstappen’s lap. This crash also relegated Russell to a pit-lane start due to parc fermé conditions and using upgraded parts that could not be replaced. Again, any change to the car from qualifying to the race is a violation of parc fermé and a major penalty.

As with the sprint, turn one delivered an incredible bit of racing. While Verstappen was forcing Norris off the track in trying to overtake him and Sainz was getting caught behind them, Leclerc slipped up the inside just as Norris had done in the sprint, catapulting himself from P4 to P1.

Meanwhile, Russell started from the pit lane without the Mercedes upgrades. Colapinto (P15) started behind teammate Alexander Albon (P14), and Lawson started P19 (with drivetrain penalties) well behind Tsunoda in P10. Then Lewis Hamilton spun and got beached on lap three, which triggered an early safety car that otherwise had very little impact on the race...other than to make a one-stop strategy more viable.

The recent resurfacing meant that teams didn’t have a clear strategic picture going into the USGP. It was believed a two-stop would be fastest, but the Ferraris quickly demonstrated that a one-stop would be the call. Ferrari successfully undercut Verstappen to take P2 and set themselves up for a one-two finish. McLaren’s strategy and race pace were ultimately superior to Red Bull, but Norris was unable to capitalize on it and close the deal for P3.

So much happened during the 56 laps of the USGP that recounting every overtake, penalty and strategy call would take far too much time. There are a few key moments and outcomes worth noting:

1. Norris received a five-second penalty for overtaking Verstappen off track in the closing laps. It was a clear violation. But there’s been plenty of post-race debate about the FIA’s consistency. I’m no fan of the FIA, but I believe it’s been consistent. First, you had Verstappen forcing Norris wide (and gaining an advantage) into turn one on the first lap. But the FIA is fairly lenient when it comes to first-lap, first-turn incidents, especially in the absence of contact and damage. Next, there were several other penalties at the same corner, most notably Russell forcing Bottas wide and taking the position. In the case of Verstappen and Norris, however, Norris was the aggressor, and he was only forced wide because he was attempting an overtake on the outside. He was not ahead at the apex, and Verstappen had nowhere else to go. He should have given the place back and continued to try for a clean pass. Or else, with the benefit of hindsight, passed Verstappen off track much earlier and put a bigger gap into him before the checkered flag to overcome the penalty.

2. Russell started from the pit lane and eventually received a five-second penalty. Yet he finished P6 ahead of Perez, who started P9 and had no issues in a much faster car—one that finished on the podium. It’s tough to overstate how amazing of a drive that was for Russell and how atrocious it was for Perez.

3. Colapinto finished P10 to score points for Williams, while Albon finished P16, though he suffered damage at the start. Colapinto also had the fastest lap and only lost it because Alpine pitted Ocon for soft tires to rob it from him.

4. Lawson finished P9 to score points for RB, while Tsunoda finished P14.

As we look to Mexico this weekend, Verstappen has a commanding 57-point lead over Norris with only five races left. The story will quickly become whether Leclerc can mount a challenge for P2, as he now trails Norris by only 22 points. What seems certain is that Ferrari will snatch P2 from Red Bull in the WCC, as it trails by only eight points after Austin. And then the Scuderia has a 48-point gap to close with McLaren to challenge for the championship.

The big takeaway from the USGP, however, is that F1 needs to field more young talent. In each case this year, the rookies have performed as well or better than their more experienced teammates. It’s always been the case with F1 that it’s far from a pure meritocracy. There are many “pay drivers” that only have a seat because it’s paid for by sponsors or family, and that used to be a financial necessity. It’s become less so as the sport attracts record sponsorship dollars from its newfound “Drive to Survive” popularity.

Colapinto is one of the F1 stories of the year, and it happened by accident. His replacing of Logan Sargeant was met with a collective, “Franco Who?” And now he’s clearly one of the best drivers on the grid. He has five more races, and then what? Assuming he doesn’t get the Audi seat, the entire nation of Argentina and so many other F1 fans will be left longing. And while Lawson is also great—clearly superior to Tsunoda, who only has an F1 seat because of Honda—Red Bull should seriously consider replacing Perez with Colapinto for 2025. Not only will he challenge Verstappen, it will be a PR coup for a team that really needs good PR.