Ferrari took a sensational one-two at the 2024 US Grand Prix in Austin last weekend, putting themselves back in contention for the Formula 1 constructors' championship.
It was Ferrari's fourth win this season, their second one-two after Carlos Sainz led Charles Leclerc home at the Australian Grand Prix back in March.
This time it was Leclerc who took the top honors after a dominant drive from fourth on the grid, and as such, Ferrari are just four points behind Red Bull Racing in the constructors' championship, with McLaren 40 points further ahead in the lead.
While Leclerc led unchallenged and once Sainz undercut Verstappen, the race would have been a bit dull had it not been for the Verstappen/Norris battle, not to mention some nice midfield scuffles.
And while it was a great result for the Scuderia, the main talking point after the US Grand Prix was Max Verstappen's title battle with Lando Norris that took another controversial turn in Austin with the protagonists' intense battle towards the end of the race.
But we start our Takeaways from the US Grand Prix with Ferrari.
No upgrades... No problem
Ferrari were the only top team that did not bring any upgrades to their car for the US Grand Prix. McLaren, Red Bull, and Mercedes all brought comprehensive packages to their cars.
But that did not pose a problem to the Scuderia, as the SF-24 appeared to be the favorite car of the weekend, especially in race trim.
While qualifying—both Sprint and Grand Prix—was dominated by Verstappen and Norris, and while Verstappen won the Sprint, Ferrari kept their best till last as they perfected their car setup.
A great start from Leclerc combined with an opportunistic move on the squabbling Verstappen and Norris meant he took the lead from lap one, and soon Sainz was pressuring Verstappen for second place.
The Spaniard did not manage to pass the Dutchman on track, but the pace of his Ferrari—despite minor power issues early on—mean an undercut was successful.
After the first and only round of pitstops, the result was sealed for Ferrari, and it was just about bringing the cars home safely, which they duly did.
Ferrari suffered from bouncing when they upgraded their car in Spain, but a new floor for Monza seemed to fix the problem, and they have stuck to it since then, perfecting it.
Sainz said ahead of the weekend in Austin that it would be a validation for the SF-24's pace, and from what we have seen, the Red single seater passed the test with flying colors.
With Red Bull apparently on the mend and McLaren's latest iteration of the MCL38 yet to convince, it seems Ferrari head to Mexico with the fastest F1 car on the grid.
Verstappen takes Norris to school... Again
Verstappen seemed more confident with his RB20 over the US Grand Prix weekend, and he proved that with the Sprint pole on Friday, while George Russell crashing in Q3 of qualifying was the only factor that denied the triple F1 champion pole for the Grand Prix.
There was that slightest error on his first Q3 run, but Verstappen was posting purple sectors on his second run while Norris was not improving on his first lap that put him on provisional pole, but then Russell crashed the party... Literally.
Norris had no answer to Verstappen's pace early on in the Sprint race and then fell into the clutches of Sainz, who pressured him into a mistake on the final lap and took second place.
But then came the Grand Prix and once again, and I know Norris fans are not going to like this, the Briton has shown yet again that he is no match to Verstappen even when the latter has a slower car.
Norris left the door open on Lap 1, and Verstappen consequently attacked, and while Leclerc took the lead, Verstappen's target was to simply keep Norris behind him and outscore him as it was clear the RB20 was no match to the SF-24.
These days the Red Bull ace is playing a chess game, making sure the gap over Norris doesn't decrease—a different Verstappen than the one who always goes for the jugular.
But after the pitstops and with Verstappen now third having lost out to Sainz, Norris found some great pace and was hunting the #1 RB20 down with a one-second advantage per lap, entering DRS range with 11 laps remaining.
What followed was a seven-lap tussle in which Norris tried everything but failed to pass Verstappen, who was faultless in his defense despite stretching the rules to the limit, a mark of a ruthless champion.
On Lap 52, Norris went for a pass on the outside of Turn 12, and we all saw what happened. Here is a reminder below.
Now let's get down to business.
While we all agree the stewarding has been far from consistent but, in this latest incident, Verstappen was operating in the gray area of the rules. There is nothing in the rules that says he can't release the brakes at the apex to make sure he gets there before his chaser and claims the corner as his.
If you read the stewards explanation of Norris' penalty, they followed the exact wording of the rules. Norris gained an advantage while outside the track and got a penalty.
And by the way, the penalty was originally a 10-second drop!! But the stewards gave Norris a pass since he had committed to the overtake and had no alternative, so they slapped him with only five seconds.
Below is an extract from Document 69 from the US Grand Prix for reference:
"Car 4 was overtaking Car 1 on the outside, but was not level with Car 1 at the apex. Therefore under the Driving Standards Guidelines, Car 4 had lost the “right” to the corner. Accordingly as Car 4 left the track and returned in front of Car 1, it is deemed to be a case of leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage.
"A 5 second penalty is imposed instead of the 10 second penalty recommended in the guidelines because having committed to the overtaking move on the outside the driver of Car 4 had little alternative other than to leave the track because of the proximity of Car 1 which had also left the track. "
Yes, the stewarding is not consistent, but the rules do not help. Despite being ridiculously overcomplicated, the rules do not cover everything, and Verstappen is masterfully exploiting that. You can't blame him.
But Norris, especially after Austria, should have learned by now not to allow Verstappen to put him in such situations and to say that more clearly: DO NOT TRY TO PASS MAX ON THE OUTSIDE!!
Many compared what happened with Norris and Verstappen in the US Grand Prix with the incident between the latter and Lewis Hamilton in Sao Paulo in 2021. Hamilton though backed off and passed Verstappen later.
But Norris kept his foot down and took the position, and inexplicably, the McLaren pitwall did not ask him to give the place back!!
You can't help but feel that McLaren did not believe Norris could do the job on track, so they decided to keep the position and take a risk. If they got the penalty, it is what it is; Norris wouldn't have passed anyway had he given the place back.
If they got away with it, then they would look like geniuses. Instead, they ended up with egg on their faces.
Norris should up his racing game when racing Verstappen. There is no justification not to be able to pass when he has a one-second advantage per lap.
McLaren, on the other hand, should look around for a new sporting director.
US Grand Prix Quick Hits
- Mercedes still do not know what the hell is going on with their W15. They upgraded it for Austin, but as usual, they couldn't make it run consistently.
In Sprint qualifying, Hamilton was second and third fastest in SQ1 and SQ2, respectively. He dropped to seventh in SQ3, while Russell somehow jumped to second.
Then Russell crashed in Q3 in qualifying. Hamilton was eliminated in Q1, and his race ended in the gravel after suffering the exact same spin as his teammate's in the opening laps of the Grand Prix.
Like Toto Wolff said, Hamilton is not a driver that has such incidents. It is the W15, and in the third season of the current regulations, Mercedes, the eight-time constructors' champions, are still clueless.
- Liam Lawson's start to his first race as a full-time F1 driver was a bit shaky. He was outqualified by Yuki Tsunoda in qualifying and the Sprint qualifying. Tsunoda also beat him in the Sprint.
But then Lawson delivered a commendable drive on Sunday, recovering from a power unit-related grid penalty to finish ninth and score points while teaching Fernando Alonso not to be a bully on his way.
- A great weekend for Franco Colapinto as well, as he was convincingly the better Williams driver over the US Grand Prix weekend when compared to Alex Albon, who was celebrating his 100th Grand Prix participation.
I wonder what James Vowles is thinking right now. He has Albon and Sainz in his cars in 2025, but what would he do about Colapinto?
He definitely didn't expect the Argentine to perform this way when he decided to place him in Logan Sargeant's seat...
loading
Latest News
Loading
