Christian Horner: "Before the race all our simulations were telling us that the two stop was the fastest race for us and that's what we committed to. The debate was, "do we run the hard in the middle stint or the medium?”. We knew going up against Lando that they committed to the two hards so we felt going medium, medium was the best strategy. It was crucial for Max to make use of that, get the pass, take the track position and then run our fastest race to the end of the race. Max was dealing with a brake issue throughout the race, as I'm sure you could hear. It was tough for him and I think his focus was largely on that, although he was able to overcome any issues and bring home the victory. His half century. Another phenomenal achievement for Max. Checo also drove well. He's had some tough races but he had good pace today and I think he'll take a lot of confidence from that. Hopefully that will put him in a good space before his home race next weekend. As all eyes turn to Mexico, we look forward to seeing what's to come and what we can achieve."
Scuderia Ferrari leaves the Circuit of the Americas with a fourth place and a sixth in the United States Grand Prix courtesy of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc respectively. The team split the strategies: a two-stop for Carlos and a one-stop for Charles. The two stopper proved to be the way to go and that allowed Carlos to drive an aggressive race. In the final 15 laps, Charles was vulnerable to attack and lost some places.
Charles did not get the best of starts from pole position, losing the lead to Lando Norris. Carlos meanwhile got off the line really well and moved up to third. Almost immediately, all the drivers, but especially the Ferrari pair, had to start managing degradation on the Medium tyre. Sainz stopped on lap 17 to switch to a new set of Mediums, while Charles did a good job of extending his stint to lap 23, when he switched to Hards, in line with the team's decision to go for just one pit stop. The choice did not pay off and in the final quarter of the race, Charles was struggling with severe lack of pace which saw him drop down to sixth place while fighting tooth and nail to fend off George Russell. As for Carlos, he moved up the order, running a consistent pace and pulling off a nice passing move on Russell for fourth place. In the closing stages, the Spaniard was one of the quickest cars on track and even closed in on Norris hoping to battle for third place.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: We cannot be happy with a fourth and a sixth place, especially as Charles started from pole position. As for Carlos, the race management went quite well, while the main problem today was with Charles' strategy, decided on before the start, but which did not work out and therefore compromised his race. Our data suggested that there was not a particularly big difference between a one and a two-stop strategy, but events proved us wrong.
As things worked out, we clearly had to switch our drivers' positions to try and get the best result possible and Charles did his very best in managing to stay ahead of Russell. Now we head to Mexico, knowing there are several areas where we need to improve if we wish to reach the goals we have set ourselves.
Lewis Hamilton finished second but was later disqualified from Sunday's United States Grand Prix, while George Russell came home seventh but was ultimately classified fifth.
Starting third and fifth respectively, both drivers suffered difficult starts with Lewis dropping to fourth and George to eighth.
They both began to fight back quickly though, and Lewis moved up to P2 behind the McLaren of Lando Norris in the early stages.
Max Verstappen, in P3 at that stage, triggered the first round of pitstops. With both the one and the two-stop looking viable, both Lewis and George stayed out on track for a few laps longer and ceded track position to several runners - but their tyres soon dropped off too much, forcing them to commit to a two-stop strategy.
Running on the Hard tyre, Lewis began to close again on Norris and Verstappen before taking the Medium tyre for his final stint.
He utilised the tyre offset to the Hard-shod McLaren and the Red Bull to pass Norris and set off after Verstappen, falling less than two seconds short of victory at the flag.
George ran a similar strategy; he closed within a few tenths of the Ferrari of Leclerc in the final stages but had to settle for P7 across the line.
Post-race checks showed the plank wear levels on Lewis' car were beyond the allowed limit and he was subsequently, along with the Ferrari of Leclerc, disqualified.
As the team heads to Mexico, the gap to Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship is now 22 points.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO: We can take a lot of positives from the car performance today. We hate coming so close to winning and falling short. But this is a circuit where only a few races ago we wouldn't have performed well because of the fast, sweeping corners. The upgrade seems to have made the car happier in those areas and it is working well. Directionally, it's a very good sign.
Turning to the race result and the disqualification, set-up choices on a sprint weekend are always a challenge with just one hour of free practice - and even more so at a bumpy circuit like COTA and running a new package. In the end, all of that doesn't matter; others got it right where we got it wrong and there's no wiggle room in the rules. We need to take it on the chin, do the learning, and come back stronger next weekend.
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director: We are of course naturally very disappointed to lose our podium finish. Unfortunately, it is one of the pitfalls of the sprint format where we have a solitary hour of running before parc fermé. Without running at a race fuel load in FP1, combined with a circuit as bumpy as this and the parts of the track where the drivers have to put the car during the Grand Prix, have contributed to the higher than expected wear levels. We will go away and learn from this but also take the positives from our experience as a whole.
Lewis had a very strong weekend, and it was exciting to see him closing in first on Lando and then Max, with a shot of winning the race. Unfortunately, we ran out of laps. In hindsight, it is easy to say that we should have covered Verstappen in the first round of stops. However, at the time the one-stop strategy still looked viable. If it had worked out, that would have put us in a very strong position to win. As always, we will analyse the race in the calm of the factory to see if a different strategy would have given us a better chance of the win. George had a lonelier race, suffering in the middle stint on the Hard tyre as he was having to save fuel. That contributed to the tyres not being at their optimum. He was much happier once on the Medium tyre in the final stint. He can take some encouragement from this for the remaining races.
We can afford to be cautiously optimistic that the step we have made will translate into future race. Both drivers felt the improvement and it is positive for our development trajectory for 2024. Whilst we are disappointed with the ultimate outcome today, we can be encouraged by the pace shown.
BWT Alpine F1 Team scored four points from today's United States Grand Prix after Pierre Gasly's eighth place finish at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Esteban Ocon was forced to retire from the race on lap seven after suffering heavy contact on the opening lap, which significantly damaged his A523.
Esteban made a strong start off the line, gaining a number of places up the hill into Turn 1. On the run down to Turn 2, Esteban was caught in a racing incident with Oscar Piastri on the outside, coming into contact with the McLaren, which brought damage to his left sidepod and floor. As a result, with Esteban falling to the back of the pack, he retired on lap seven.
Pierre dropped to tenth at the end of the opening lap before climbing his way to eighth as a result of Esteban's and Piastri's retirements. After two pit-stops, Pierre had to keep his cool to fend off the hard charging Aston Martins in the closing stages, finishing eighth place at the chequered flag to add to his two points from Saturday's Sprint. Next up for the team is the Mexico City Grand Prix where Reserve Driver Jack Doohan will take over driving duties in Car #10 in Free Practice 1.
Bruno Famin, Interim Team Principal: "Overall it's been a mixed Sunday for the team with Pierre in the points and Esteban unfortunately retiring from the race and therefore unable to show his potential. The car has been competitive – enough to compete for points on both days – so it is frustrating not to have both drivers in the fight for the top ten today. Esteban made a good start off the line and Pierre drove a strong race to finish in eighth and claim deserved points. This race marks the first of the triple header, we are already looking forward to Mexico City where we aim to continue our points-scoring run and having Jack [Doohan] in the car during Free Practice 1."
Andrea Stella, Team Principal: "Another strong result for McLaren, which makes it four podiums in a row. It came in a race where we tried to go for the victory. We pushed hard with Lando and potentially paid a price in terms of consistency in the stints, but this doesn't change the final result. It's encouraging to be competitive in a track that we didn't expect to suit our package.
"It's a real shame what happened on Oscar's side, because we could have finished with really strong points. Unfortunately, his race ended after making contact on Lap 1, damaging the cooling system and causing the engine to overheat. Before that he'd made great progress through the field. Up to that point, despite damage to the car, the pace today was much better, so we are pleased with the improvement we have been able to make on Oscar's side and we will bounce back in Mexico."
Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake couldn't convert its qualifying positions into points at the United States Grand Prix, as Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu finished 14th and 15th respectively at the Circuit of the Americas. Both drivers were involved in battles from lights to flag, but the top ten remained elusive.
Today's result leaves the team in eighth place in the constructors' championship, with the gap from Williams and the advantage over Haas unchanged from the previous round in Qatar. The team will now move to Mexico, for the second part of the triple header in the Americas.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative: "This weekend has been a tough one for our team: we lost ground throughout the sessions, and we will need to analyse everything in detail to quickly understand what didn't work for us. The car balance on all tyre compounds just wasn't there today, and that made both attacking and defending a difficult task for our drivers. Both Valtteri and Zhou drove a clean race, even though that wasn't sufficient to advance through the field and score some points. There is quite a lot of work ahead of us over the next few days, before we head to Mexico for the second stage of this American triple header: I am confident that, with different track conditions, we'll be able to quickly get back to the pace we had shown over the last couple of races, and get more chances to climb our way into the top ten again."
Mike Krack, Team Principal: "Scoring two points with Lance represents a good recovery when you consider everything that has happened this weekend, including starting from the pitlane with both cars. Lance managed his race well, looking after the tyres and delivering really competitive times, as well as making decisive overtakes. Fernando looked destined to score points too, until he picked up floor damage, which forced him to retire with just seven laps to go. We gathered valuable data on the latest updates today. That data will pay dividends for the upcoming races as we continue to tune the set-up of the AMR23. I want to thank everyone at the AMRTC in Silverstone and here in Austin for their efforts over recent weeks to get the new parts on the car. We look forward to getting back on track next weekend in Mexico."
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team finished the United States Grand Prix - Round 19 of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, with Nico Hulkenberg 13th and Kevin Magnussen 16th at the Circuit of The Americas.
Both drivers started from the pitlane for Sunday's 56-lap race after set-up changes were made outside of parc ferme regulations. This was undertaken in order to gain further understanding of the upgrade package introduced onto the VF-23 at COTA.
Hulkenberg started on Pirelli P Zero White hard tires and ran a two-stop strategy, coming in on lap 19 for Yellow mediums, before pitting for the same compound on lap 35. Magnussen also ran a two-stop strategy but went medium-hard-medium, adopting a more aggressive undercut approach by pitting on laps 10 and 29. Both drivers made relative gains from their pitlane starting places, with Hulkenberg rising to 13th, and chasing home the Williams drivers, with Magnussen 16th. A two-car finish provides the team with useful lessons to take away from the weekend.
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team retains ninth position in the Constructors' Championship.
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal: "It was a tough race, but obviously it was the right decision to start from the pitlane with the modifications to the downforce level. We learned quite a bit and hopefully we can look into the data and get a little bit better in Mexico. It's not a magic solution that we've got now, but some of the comments from Kevin and Nico were encouraging, so let's hope we can get closer to what is possible with the car in Mexico."
Jody Egginton (Technical Director): "Today's race has been a busy one, but we achieved the objective of scoring points, and there was not much left on the table, so we are satisfied. Yuki ran a very good first stint, consuming his tyres well and not letting Gasly get too far ahead. His middle stint on the hard compound was a little more difficult, but again, he managed his tyres well. Then, after the second stop back to the medium compound, it was a case of going flat out to try to keep in touch with the Aston Martins, who were quicker in this phase of the race. Once we had the gap to Albon, the pit wall made a very good call to try to go for the fastest lap and grab the extra point on offer, which was a nice bonus today. Daniel's race was more difficult later on, but he also put in a very well-managed first stint, opening up strategy options for him. However, soon after his first stop, he picked up damage to brake duct parts, resulting in a significant loss of aero load and aero balance, meaning he was unable to run at the pace he was capable of and fell back into the chasing pack. Later on, we took the gamble to stop and try to resolve the issue in case of a late race Safety Car. Although we improved the car balance at the stop, the race finished without incidents, providing no opportunity to move him forward. Overall, the car has worked quite well here in Austin, and we have been in the fight for and scored points, which is a positive. However, we need to continue to execute solid weekends, to be able to capitalise on this in the coming races, so there is a lot to still work on. With the event being the first of three Grand Prix weekends, there will be a very intense period of detailed analysis to ensure we take the relevant learning into next weekend's race in Mexico."
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "Back into the points, so today was good. We decided to split the strategy between the two cars. Yuki was out for a two-stop strategy, while Daniel was for a one-stop. Both cars started on a new set of medium tyres. Yuki lost one position to Zhou in the first lap, but could overtake him in the second lap, and then was always near the top ten. He had good speed, so we extended his first stint, pitting him on lap 17 and switching to the new hard compound. He struggled a little, complaining about understeer, so we didn't stay out too long and brought him in to change to the new medium tyre. This was also to keep Alonso behind us, which worked well. After the pitstop, Yuki came out in front of him, but the Aston Martins had too much speed and therefore, both Alonso and Stroll could overtake Yuki, who fell back to P11. Then, with Alonso retiring, Yuki moved up to P10. As Yuki was around 20 seconds ahead of Albon, the team decided to call him in for new soft tyres. He achieved the fastest lap, which meant the team scored two points. It's important because in the last races, we've been unlucky and didn't score any. As for Daniel, in the middle of the first stint he had a problem with the front left brake duct which broke, affecting the aerodynamics heavily, and losing a lot of downforce. He then couldn't perform well because the car was no longer balanced. We called him in for new tyres in case of a Safety Car, but unfortunately, it didn't happen. I have to apologise to Daniel because of this car failure, which meant he couldn't show a better performance. I'm convinced in Mexico he will come back, and hopefully, the car will be reliable, allowing him to perform a strong qualifying and good race. The upgrades that we are introducing seem to work well. The aero department did a good job as the new floor we had on the car here improved the performance, so well done to the whole team, and we hope we can continue at this level until the end of the season. Being in a triple header, it was quite important for everyone to get these two points, as they give the team an additional push and motivation for the next races."
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: After Leclerc and Hamilton's post-race disqualifications, we come away from Austin with double points for the team for the first time since the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix. It's also Logan's first point in Formula 1 and he becomes the first American to score a point since Michael Andretti at the 1993 Italian Grand Prix.
It has been another busy sprint weekend and today went well for both drivers. Conditions were a little different with changes to the wind and track temperature for today but overall, the car still behaved well and both drivers were able to push close to the points.
All sprint races are difficult for rookie drivers and this very technical track is one of the worst; Logan struggled on Friday but with more laps, he improved rapidly and put in a very strong performance today.
We didn't expect COTA to be a good circuit for us so to come away with double points today represents a good effort from the whole team. Although Alpha Tauri were strong and scored some points, we still head to Mexico in a good Championship position.
Max Verstappen secured his fifteenth win of the season, thus equalling the record he set last year. It was also the three times world champion's fiftieth career win and today he really had to extend himself to fight his way to the front from sixth on the grid. Once in the lead after passing Lando Norris, Max had to fend off Lewis Hamilton who, in his final stint used his tyre compound advantage to close on the leader, although he never got the chance to attempt a passing move. The podium therefore featured two Englishmen, the Mercedes driver ahead of McLaren's.
The vast majority of drivers preferred to start on the Medium tyres, the only exceptions being Lance Stroll and Nico Hulkenberg, who started on Hard from pit lane alongside their respective team-mates Fernando Alonso and Kevin Magnussen. As expected, the quickest strategy was a two stop, running Medium and Hard. Two drivers tried to run the whole race making just a single pit stop: Charles Leclerc, who extended his first stint to lap 23 before running the remaining 33 laps on a set of Hards, and Daniel Ricciardo who, on lap 47, probably aborted his attempt to get to the chequered flag on the Hards, switching to Softs for the final laps. His AlphaTauri team-mate, Yuki Tsunoda did the same, making a third stop on the penultimate lap, attempting and succeeding in taking the additional point on offer for setting the fastest race lap as he rounded off the top ten.
Next stop is Mexico City: the circuit named after the Rodriguez brothers will host the 20th race of this year's Formula 1 World Championship from 27 to 29 October. The compounds available there are the C3 as P Zero White hard, C4 as P Zero Yellow medium and C5 as P Zero Red soft. This trio is therefore one step softer than those used last year.
Mario Isola: "On one of the most probing tracks of the season, we witnessed a very closely contested race, with exciting duels both on track and between the strategists. On the topic of strategy, the way the race played out confirmed that a two-stop was the quickest option, especially because the one-stop alternative would require very careful tyre management thus making it difficult for a driver to push hard for many laps, while those on two stops were able to do so. That was the case with Leclerc who, although he did not see a drop in performance towards the end due to degradation, found his pace was not strong enough to defend from several drivers who chose to pit twice.
"Looking at tyre performance in general, the Medium proved to be the most suitable compound, because it offered more grip than the Hard, but its degradation did not result in much slower lap times. The Soft was hardly used - only by AlphaTauri in the closing stages - and looking at Tsunoda's performance it showed it was a great tyre over a single flying lap, but not really an option over a long distance on this Austin track with today's temperatures. Finally, it's worth noting that even in the race there was no graining."
