After two years away, the 17th round of the 2021 Formula 1 season brought us back to Austin. COTA certainly delivered, as there was plenty of elbow-to-elbow battling in the midfield, whilst the two title contenders provided plenty of nail-biting action during the closing stages of the race.
Here are the top-class contenders and struggle bus riders from the United States Grand Prix:
Top of the class:
Max Verstappen – Qualifying: 1st | Race: 1st
With how strong Lewis has been here in previous years and during FP1, it initially looked like the Dutchman would have to fight an uphill battle in order to keep his lead. Hamilton certainly kept the pressure on during qualifying – but still, Verstappen managed to squeeze out a time that was just a little quicker, allowing him to start at the very front of the grid.
When the lights went out, his championship rival made a quicker getaway, leaving Max relegated to the second position. Red Bull went aggressive on strategy, however, undercutting Lewis for both stops. This allowed Verstappen to regain the lead, although Lewis was hot on his tail, certainly in the last few laps. Still, Max managed to cross the finish line in first, in what must have been one of his best and most mature drives this season – doubling his championship lead from 6 to 12 points.
Sergio Pérez – Qualifying: 3rd | Race: 3rd
Whilst Pérez didn’t quite manage to keep up with the leading pair, he had a strong weekend. Qualifying on the second row and managing to keep a hold of third place during the race to score a well-deserved second consecutive podium.
It later turned out to be more impressive than originally thought, as we learned only after the race that his drinking system was malfunctioning, leaving him without fluids on a scorching Sunday in Austin.
His performance left his father in tears during the podium ceremony, which was certainly a touching sight. We can only hope that he’ll manage a repeat performance in a fortnight in Mexico, or better yet, fight himself past the two championship contenders to get up on that top step.
Yuki Tsunoda – Qualifying: 10th | Race 9th
Yuki’s first season in F1 hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing. Whilst he had a strong start, it dwindled in the races following. He now seems to have found his feet, progressing to Q3 for the second event in a row and earning himself his first points finish since the summer with an error-free race.
He didn’t just manage his strategy solidly, especially because he started on the ill-favoured soft tyre, but he also stalled Bottas’ charge for quite some time. On the day where his teammate was forced to retire and Alpine failed to score Tsunoda picked up two valuable points.
Honourable mentions:
Then for honourable mentions. First up is Sebastian Vettel, who started highest out of the drivers hit with engine penalties after a strong qualifying. Aston Martin didn’t look very competitive at COTA, but thanks to Kimi’s spin Vettel found himself taking home the last point of the weekend. He also successfully pulled off the over-cut and made a two-stop strategy utilising two sets of mediums work.
The second honourable mention goes out to Ferrari. They were rather anonymous during the race, barely featuring in the TV coverage, but their results do the talking. Especially Charles Leclerc deserves some credit, finishing fourth for the second successive race and sixth time this year. He finished much closer to a Red Bull than expected – and Charles admitted in a post-race interview that he was even cautiously thinking of a podium position as he spotted the rear of Sergio’s car in the distance.
The last honourable mention of the day goes to Danny Ric. He certainly seemed the most chuffed of all drivers to be in Austin, giddy with excitement to drive Dale Earnhardt’s 1984 Nascar, sporting an impressive handlebar moustache and donning himself in a stereotypically American outfit for the occasion.
Still, he didn’t let any of that distract him from the task at hand, continuing his upward curve of recent performances. Whilst he initially lost ground to both Sainz and Norris, he regained his lead over his teammate after a first-lap scrap, and later things got spicy between Ricciardo and Sainz as Daniel first moved past him and later defended quite hard to keep 5th position.
The struggle bus:
Alpine
Esteban Ocon – Qualifying: 11th | Race: DNF
Fernando Alonso – Qualifying: 14th (started 19th due to engine penalties) | Race: DNF
Sunday certainly was a day to forget for Alpine, as they didn’t just leave Austin empty-handed, but with a double retirement to boot. Ocon found himself forced to come in for an early stop after contact with Giovinazzi, before eventually having to retire the car on lap 40 when an issue with the rear of his car made itself known.
Fernando was on the chase to try and bag his 12th points finish of the year, fighting tooth and nail with Raikkonen and later Giovinazzi and becoming quite vocal on the radio. It wasn’t meant to be, however, as he had to retire with rear wing damage in the later stages of the race.
At least Alonso had some memorable team radios concerning his duels with the Alfa Romeo’s which will definitely find its way onto a compilation video at the end of season.
Nicholas Latifi – Qualifying: 17th (started 14th due to penalties) | Race: 15th
Nicholas described his final Q1 effort as “one of the worst qualifying laps of the season”, suffering with oversteer in the first sector which resulted in him getting knocked out that session.
In the race, he chose no-man’s land into turn 1 which allowed Schumacher up the inside and Stroll around the outside. Latifi ultimately span his Canadian counterpart Stroll and suffered front wing damage that forced a pitstop for a new nose after five laps.
From there it was a lonely afternoon. Only battling Ocon – who was also in the wars after early contact. Latifi passed the two Haas cars but still finished over half-a-minute adrift of teammate George Russell. Not the North-American homecoming Latifi was looking for.
Kimi Räikkönen – Qualifying: 18th (started 15th due to penalties) | Race: 13th
Alfa Romeo have been in a tough spot recently, fighting outside of the points for the last few races. Whilst Antonio has often managed to drag his car up to Q2, Kimi was out in Q1 once again, nearly four-tenths slower than his teammate.
Things started looking up in Austin come race day, however, as Kimi fought tooth and nail to run 10th after a great start, battling heavily with Fernando Alonso in order to earn himself that spot.
As the race progressed it looked more and more likely that he’d be able to finish there too, but the Finn then ended up squandering this chance by spinning out in the closing stages. We can only cross our fingers and hope that this wasn’t Kimi’s final chance for points before his retirement at the end of this season.
(Dis)honourable mentions:
Then our first dishonourable mention of the day goes to Mercedes. They were the clear favourites going in, but they couldn’t quite live up to that expectation. It doesn’t feel completely fair to say that, however, as Lewis Hamilton had an amazing start and drove excellently, it just wasn’t quite enough to beat Max Verstappen this time around.
Meanwhile, Valtteri failed to keep the momentum going after his win in Turkey. Enduring a difficult and frustrating race after serving yet another engine penalty, making up just three places. Once again, the Finn faded to midfield mediocrity.
Also finding their way onto this list is Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri. Troubles with his engine threatened to end the Frenchman’s race before the lights have even gone out, but the team managed to fix the sensor issue just in time.
It was all in vain, however, as the bumpy surface and kerbs caused a terminal suspension failure. It was even more unfortunate that Gasly was running in the top 10 before his retirement.
Next up is the Mexico City Grand Prix, which will kick off the third and final triple-header of the season. The 18th round of the championship, home Grand Prix of Sergio Pérez, takes place on the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. In the UK, you need to make sure you’re sat down on the couch with snacks ready for lights out at 7pm.
