The biggest news since Japan has been confirmation that Red Bull exceeded the 2021 budget cap, although Whiny Spice continues to try to deflect and lessen the fact that they’ve broken a rule which means they had an advantage when they won last yet. (It seems that Red Bull classified designer and Chief Technical Officer, Adrian Newey, as an employee and the rules allow for the top 3 earning employees to be excluded, but Newey is actually a contractor and should be counted in the budget.)
The FIA did themselves no favours at the previous race: allowing a tractor onto the track in rain and poor visibility, reminiscent of Jules Bianchi’s fatal accident at the same circuit and similar conditions 8 years ago; there was confusion on the pit wall over how many points would be awarded per the new obviously-ambiguous rule; a lightning-fast “investigation” for a last-lap incident saw LEC being penalised and Red Bull handed a 1-2 finish. After the race, GAS was penalised for speeding under the red flag (and not for tweeting his frustrations at the FIA – no, definitely not for that).
COTA (Circuit of the Americas, although Canada and Mexico have their own so it’s a bit presumptuous to call it that) is the second US GP this season (Miami was in May) and next season it looks like there will be three!
It’s almost time for Quali
Air temperature 30°C; track 36°C; humidity 37%; zero chance of rain
LEC has a 10-place grid penalty for engine changes; PER, ZHO and ALO all have 5-place penalties for (fewer) engine changes
Qualifying session 1 (Q1)
SCH 1:37.816
VER 1:35.864
Radio from VER complaining that a Haas was on the racing line
LEC 1:35.795
(HAM P3)
SAI 1:35.297
Radio from ALB complaining about HAM in Turn 2
5mins left; bottom 5 are TSU, ALB, RIC, MAG, ZHO
TSU P9, LAT P16
Chequered flag
RIC P13, SCH P16
MAG P13, NOR P16
NOR P8, OCO P16
ZHO P10, RIC P16
ALB P15, MAG P16
Back of the grid: MAG, RIC, OCO, SCH, LAT
HAM has a lap time deleted
Qualifying session 2
ALB 1:37.124
BOT 1:36.748
VET’s lap time is deleted
RUS 1:35.692
VER 1:35.294
(HAM P3)
LEC 1:35.246
3mins left; bottom 5 are ALB, TSU, STR, GAS, VET
ALB P8, NOR P11
TSU P9, ZHO P11
Chequered flag
GAS P10, BOT P11
VET P9, GAS P11
STR P7, TSU P11
NOR P9, VET P11
BOT P9, ALB P11
ZHO P9, NOR P11
Middle of the grid: NOR, ALB, VET, GAS, TSU
Oh, wait – ZHO’s lap time has been deleted, so he’s P14 and NOR is through to Q3
Middle of the grid: ALB, VET, GAS, ZHO, TSU
Qualifying session 3
Top 10 shootout is between LEC, VER, SAI, RUS, HAM, PER, ALO, STR, BOT and NOR
BOT 1:36.747
NOR 1:36.566
ALO 1:36.167
VER 1:35.044
RUS P5 but that looked like a second warm-up lap
LEC 1:34.624
PER P3
SAI P2
HAM P3
RUS P6
STR P7
Order after the first run: LEC, SAI, HAM, VER, PER, RUS, STR, ALO, NOR, BOT
VER leaving the pits just as STR finishes his first run – that’s an early 2nd run from Red Bull; he’s doing 2 warm-up laps, which is unusual for him
Chequered flag
BOT P9
ALO P8
NOR P8
PER P2
LEC 1:34.421
SAI 1:34.356
RUS P5
VER P3
HAM P5
Front of the grid: SAI, LEC, VER, PER, HAM, RUS, STR, NOR, ALO, BOT
Provisional grid: SAI, LEC*, VER, PER*, HAM, RUS, STR, NOR, ALO*, BOT, ALB, VET, GAS, ZHO*, TSU, MAG, RIC, OCO, SCH, LAT
*LEC has a 10-place grid penalty for engine changes; PER, ZHO and ALO all have 5-place penalties for (fewer) engine changes
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