The third GP in the States makes the least sense to me – it’s run at 8pm local time, so it might be convenient for west coasters but that’s 4am in the UK. It’s also a street track which isn’t inherently terrible but they open the roads to regular traffic during the day, between sessions! Oh, and don’t forget the manhole fiasco from 2023 when SAI’s Ferrari was damaged in FP1, they failed to red flag it fast enough to avoid OCO also hitting it, and then the FIA decided to give SAI a 10-place grid penalty because Ferrari had replace multiple engine components in order to fix the damage caused by the circuit!
Anyway, as I noted after the Brazil GP, NOR is 24 points ahead of PIA, who in turn is 25 points ahead of VER. There’s just Qatar (sprint) and Abu Dhabi to go after this weekend.
Free Practice
- FP1: LEC (1:34.802), ALB, TSU, VER, SAI
SAI kicked up a trail of sparks from his Williams, but at least this time it wasn’t caused by the track
ALB had a few big lock ups, and took to the escape road
BEA struggled to get his tyres up to temperature
NOR tapped the wall in Turn 9 but didn’t appear to cause any damage
Many drivers struggled for grip - FP2: NOR (1:33.602), ANT, LEC, HUL, HAD
VER slid through Turn 7
NOR had a lock up in Turn 14, almost clipping the wall as a turned around in the run-off area
BEA had a huge lock up
HAM’s quick lap was ruined by HUL dawdling on the racing line
LEC came to a stop in Turn 9 after failing to convince his Ferrari to turn into the corner
Red flag – the official FIA video just says it was red flagged for 15 minutes but not why – Kym Illman’s video shows it was another problem with a manhole cover! No wonder the FIA want to gloss over it. Fortunately a track worker spotted the problem before anyone suffered any damage. It took two attempts to repair it but they finally secured it.
At the restart LEC parked his Ferrari with a gearbox issue - FP3: RUS (1:34.054), VER, ALB, HAD, HAM
The track’s damp so everyone’s starting the session on intermediate tyres
LAW’s RB threw up some debris
McLaren put NOR and PIA on slicks and they struggled to find grip
HAM had to make a late dive to avoid rear-ending LAW as a train of cars crawled through Turn 14
It took a while for the track to dry, but even then there were many lock ups and cars taking to the escape roads
Penalties
Ferrari were fined &euro100 (one hundred euro) for HAM exceeding the pit lane speed limit by 0.1km/h (nought point one)!
Qualifying
Qualifying session 1 (Q1)
The track’s pretty damp; everyone on full wet tyres
LEC 1:54.856
BEA locks up, aquaplanes through the escape road and slides into the tyre wall – nothing he could do to avoid that
Yellow flag
ALB clears the yellow flag section, puts his foot down and slams the Williams into a wall, breaking his front-right suspension
Chequered flag; bottom 5 are ALB, ANT, BOR, HAM, TSU
HAM P18
RUS 1:53.144
TSU P19
ANT P17
Back of the grid: ALB, ANT, BOR, TSU, HAM
Qualifying session 2
They’re still on wets
SAI 1:51.521
NOR 1:51.379
COL hangs the tail out but keeps it out of the wall
Chequered flag; bottom 5 are GAS, STR, OCO, BEA, COL
OCO P13
BEA P14
STR P12
Yellow flag
RUS 1:50.935
GAS P7, HUL P11
Middle of the grid: HUL, STR, OCO, BEA, COL
Qualifying session 3
The track still looks slippery but they’re all on intermediate tyres
PIA 1:49.136
NOR 1:48.384
Chequered flag; order is NOR, PIA, VER, SAI, LAW, HAD, LEC, RUS, ALO, GAS
LAW P3
SAI 1:48.296
VER 1:48.257
ALO P6
Yellow flag
RUS P4
NOR 1:47.934
Front of the grid: NOR, VER, SAI, RUS, PIA, LAW, ALO, HAD, LEC, GAS
Provisional grid: NOR, VER, SAI, RUS, PIA, LAW, ALO, HAD, LEC, GAS, HUL, STR, OCO, BEA, COL, ALB, ANT, BOR, TSU, HAM
Penalties
Alpine were fined €5,000 because they failed to electronically lodge the return of the tyres
Red Bull made changes to TSU’s car while under parc ferme, so he’ll have to start from the pit lane
Race
Grid: NOR, VER, SAI, RUS, PIA, LAW, ALO, HAD, LEC, GAS, HUL, STR, OCO, BEA, COL, ALB, ANT, BOR, HAM; TSU will start from the pit lane
01/50: NOR immediately cuts across to block VER but then he runs wide in Turn 1; VER takes P1 and makes it hard for NOR to rejoin
Yellow flag – there’s been contact in the midfield – BOR made a dive up this inside and clobbered STR; BOR and GAS both spin
RUS around NOR for P2
PIA’s been passed by LAW and HAD
LEC inside ALO for P9
Replay shows LAW hit PIA going into Turn 1
ANT’s been given a 5-sec penalty for jumping the start
HAM’s already up to P13
02: VER, RUS, NOR, SAI, HAD, LAW, PIA, BEA, LEC, ALO, HUL, OCO, HAM, ANT, ALB, COL, GAS, TSU; BOR pits; STR is out
LAW slowing; front-right damage, probably from when he hit PIA
05/50: VER, RUS, NOR, SAI, HAD, PIA, BEA, LEC, ALO, HUL
Incident involving BOR and STR under investigation
LEC takes P7 from BEA
12: LEC blasts past PIA for P6
13: LEC inside HAD for P5
14: ALB clips the rear-left of HAM’s Ferrari
16: PIA past HAD for P6
25/50: LEC pits; rejoins P9
34: NOR takes P2 from RUS
39: PIA sliding around behind ANT
50/50: NOR has been told to lift and coast
VER takes the chequered flag
Provisional result: VER, NOR, RUS, ANT*, PIA, LEC, SAI, HAD, HUL, HAM; OCO, BEA, ALO, TSU, GAS, LAW, COL (*5-sec penalty)
DNF: ALB, BOR, STR
Penalties
ALB was given a 5-sec penalty and 1 penalty point for the collision with HAM
ALB was also given a reprimand for exceeding the pit lane speed limit when leaving the grid on the Formation Lap (I didn’t know that was a rule!)
BOR has a 5-place penalty to serve in his next race, and 2 penalty points, for causing the collision with STR
During scrutineering, the rear skid blocks on both NOR and PIA’s McLaren were found to be below the permitted minimum thickness and so they have both been disqualified! [F1 video]
Final classification: VER, RUS, ANT, LEC, SAI, HAD, HUL, HAM, OCO, BEA; ALO, TSU, GAS, LAW, COL
DNF: ALB, BOR, STR
DQ: NOR, PIA
Wow, that’s really helped VER’s challenge for the Drivers’ Championship!
The points are now: NOR=390, PIA=366, VER=366
[2025 calendar and driver line-up]
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