3 hours ago
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Lap 12/56: Antonelli rebounds from being spun out by posting the fastest lap time so far. Might be a question of having no traffic around him – he’s 18th, well behind Hadjar and well ahead of the unfortunate Albon.
Reminder of the question of the day: If Verstappen rallies to win the championship (or, from another point of view, McLaren collapses), it’ll be the biggest rally (or collapse) since …?
Lap 11/56: Piastri tells his team the front left doesn’t look great. He’s comfortably in fifth at the moment.
New wrinkle: McLaren teammate Norris says the same thing.
Radio tells Norris to go to Plan B. We’ll see what that is.
Lap 10/56: Stewards will take a closer look at the Sainz-Antonelli incident after the race. Sainz is more likely the guilty party, and he’s out, so it’s not particularly relevant.
Chatter is that the hard tires are not doing well, which means it’ll be difficult to pit early and still make it a one-stop race.
Lap 9/56: The only driver to pit under the Virtual Safety Car is Albon, who was left behind at the start after bumping tires with Bortoleto and spinning 180 degrees.
Tsunoda worked his way up six places to seventh. Can he hang on? Move up?
Lap 8/56: Antonelli on race radio …
“He took me out.”
“Saw that mate.”
“What a ****ing idiot.”
Sainz on race radio says Antonelli turned into him.
Stewards will certainly look at it, but Sainz is out anyway.
Lap 7/56: Kimi Antonelli has spun out! He remains stationary for a few moments as the entire field passes him. He gets going again.
Sainz has apparently hit Antonelli, and now Sainz is stopped.
Virtual safety car is applied.
Lap 6/56: Current standings
Verstappen
Leclerc
Norris
Hamilton
Piastri
Russell
Antonelli
Sainz
Tsunoda
Bearman
Hulkenberg
Alonso
Lawson
Gasly
Bortoleto
Colapinto
Stroll
Ocon
Hadjuk
Albon
Lap 5/56: Verstappen is more than three seconds ahead already, benefiting from the three-way battle for second behind him but also benefiting from posting the fastest lap. Brad Pitt’s character in the F1 film was right – Verstappen’s pretty good.
Lap 4/56: Norris is sandwiched between the two Ferraris, but Hamilton is bidding to change that up by having a go at Norris.
Lap 3/56: Norris has a run at Leclerc. Maybe a bit impatient? Leclerc has the soft tires and may be able to stay ahead for that reason.
Lap 2/56: DRS, which helps drivers overtake, is only in effect is a driver is within a second of the preceding car. Verstappen already has more than 1.5 seconds on everyone.
Albon apparently bumped into Bortoleto in that start and got the worst of it.
Lap 1/56: Yellow flag waves briefly but is put away. Albon had a horrific start and is well back.
Verstappen is just pulling away already.
Russell has dropped two spots behind Hamilton and Piastri.
Tsunoda is up three and is three ahead of arch-rival Lawson.
Lights out
Verstappen zips out quickly but slows down a bit, Norris gets caught behind him, and Leclerc (who won here last year) charges past him in to second.
Formation lap is underway. Get your popcorn …
Tire choices: Medium tires all around except for Leclerc (3rd on the grid, soft) and the last five on the grid – Bortoleto soft, Ocon hard, Albon hard, Stroll soft, Hadjar hard.
Interesting strategic choice by Ferrari to put their two drivers on different tires. How soon will Leclerc come in for a change?
The race is 56 laps.
Current standings and storylines
1. Piastri, 336
2. Norris, 314
3. Verstappen, 281
4. Russell, 244
5. Leclerc, 177
6. Hamilton, 130
Topic A is obviously Verstappen’s march toward a fifth straight championship (call it four if you believe Hamilton was robbed in 2021) that seemed utterly impossible a few weeks ago. Topic A1 is whether the McLaren duo of Piastri and Norris can stay out of each other’s way.
Other stories to follow:
- Yuki Tsunoda was quite aggravated with Liam Lawson yesterday, claiming that the young driver from New Zealand was hindering his qualifying efforts. Frustration over the radio isn’t unusual, but given that Tsunoda and Lawson may be battling to keep their jobs in the Red Bull/Racing Bulls organization next year, we can’t write it off as an isolated incident. They’ll also be starting in close proximity – Lawson 12th, Tsunoda 13th.
- In the unlikely event of a Verstappen collapse, could Russell charge into the top three by season’s end?
- Have the Ferraris of Leclerc and Hamilton turned the corner? Hamilton, the six-time world champion among the best ever in the sport, has yet to reach the podium with the team he joined this year.
Brundle notes that the drivers aren’t on the grid right now because it’s too hot. It’s Texas, after all.
Martin Brundle is doing his grid walk alongside Glen Powell, an actor who’ll be on Saturday Night Live next month. (I don’t watch a lot of movies.)
While Brundle usually chats with team personnel and celebrities, he’s spending most of this walk explaining tire strategy to Powell, who interjects to note that a lot of Europeans are wearing cowboy hats, which makes him happy.
The grid
1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2. Lando Norris (McLaren)
3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
4. George Russell (Mercedes)
5. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
6. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
7. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
8. Oliver Bearman (Haas)
9. Carlos Sainz (Williams)
10. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
11. Nico Hulkenberg (Kick Sauber)
12. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
13. Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)
14. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
15. Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
16. Gabriel Bortoleto (Kick Sauber)
17. Esteban Ocon (Haas)
18. Alexander Albon (Williams)
19. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
20. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
Stroll is serving a five-place grid penalty but was spared the indignity of starting last when Hadjar crossed in qualifying.
TV coverage is now showing how things look from the 251-foot tower overlooking the track. We’re told that the wind is so strong that the tower is moving, which makes me wonder how quickly I could run down 419 steps.
Preamble
The question I’ve been pondering today – if Max Verstappen overhauls both McLaren drivers (Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris), it would be the biggest comeback / worst collapse since …?
Share your suggestions by emailing me at the link above.
In the meantime, since we’re in Austin, and we’ll be seeing hyperefficient tire changes on pit road, let’s take a minute to remember this hyperefficient guitar change by one of Austin’s favorite sons, the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s a look back at yesterday’s qualifying.
