After a four-week break without Formula One, the cars were back in anger under the hot sun of a Texan sky for the popular US Grand Prix in Austin, with The Roar on the ground for a first-hand look at everything going on.
There was plenty of action on and off the track as the Championship battle intensified further as we get right to the pointy end of the season.
Just what does that mean for our latest edition of F1 talking points? It’s time to find out.
Ferrari and Leclerc still dreaming of 2024 Championship success
Just when you think they’re going to fade away, Ferrari come storming back into contention for both Championships in 2024.
A dominant race by Charles Leclerc gave him his third victory of 2024, with Carlos Sainz coming home in second in both the sprint and main race to help bridge the gap to both Red Bull and McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship.
Leclerc’s win also kept him in the hunt for the Drivers’ Championship, with the Monegasque driver now only 22 points behind Lando Norris in second and 79 points behind Max Verstappen in first.
And while he admits the Drivers’ Championship is a long shot, he told The Roar after the race on Sunday that he also isn’t giving up on it.
“Never say never,” he said. “For the Constructors’, if we do everything perfect until the end of the season, no matter what McLaren does…we can still clinch that title.
“With the Drivers’, I see it a bit in a different way. Even if we do everything perfect, I feel like it will require a little bit of luck…and we cannot really rely on luck.
“So the Drivers’ seems to be quite unlikely, but again, I’ll believe in it until it’s mathematically impossible.”
(Photo by Getty Images)
In 2007, Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen was in a similar position towards the end of the season, being third in the standings and seen as a longshot for the Drivers’ title as the McLaren drivers of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso squabbled for the Championship at the front.
By the end of the season, Raikkonen did enough to win the Championship from Hamilton and Alonso, a Championship that remains the last Ferrari has won.
Can history repeat itself? Time will tell.
Verstappen still holds the mental edge in 2024
While Leclerc can dream of an unlikely tilt at the Drivers’ Championship and Norris won’t be giving up any time soon, Verstappen is the man still in the box seat to retain his title and claim his fourth successive World Championship.
The fact that it was almost a shock to see him pull off any kind of victory on Saturday during the sprint race shows how far Red Bull have dropped off in 2024, but it also showed how skilled Max is at pulling the most out of a car, even when it is struggling to retain its position at the front of the field.
He also has the added benefit of having been here before, multiple times, fighting for a World Championship.
This mental edge is key in a tight fight such as this, and Verstappen is handling the pressure with immense skill and precision.
Lando still has many moments of cracks that form when it comes to key battles in races and other moments, showcasing that the questions around his mental readiness for the Championship aren’t a dig at his prior admissions of mental health issues, but an important look at just how he is handling the mental pressure of battling for the World Championship.
If you were to award the Championship tomorrow to the driver who has that part down pat and sorted, it would by far be given to Max Verstappen.
(Photo by Getty Images)
Lawson will be at Red Bull next year
Liam Lawson drove the race of his life on Sunday in Austin to finish in ninth place, securing two points for RB and showing why he is so heavily rated by those in the Red Bull F1 family.
What made this performance even more impressive was the fact that he started dead last on the grid, finished five spots ahead of his teammate Yuki Tsunoda and only 11 seconds behind the Red Bull of Sergio Perez.
It is that car he is eyeing up to take over in 2025, and this so-called ‘audition’ for the final part of the season couldn’t have started off any better.
Perez continues to struggle in that second Red Bull, and the fact that the team have all but lost any hope of retaining the Constructors’ Championship while he remains in the car only adds extra weight to the performance of Lawson and just how capable he will be in that second car at the senior team.
Make no mistake of it, Lawson will be in that Red Bull in 2025 if he continues the remainder of the year in the same way he did in Austin.
Drivers divided over removal of fastest lap point
A random announcement was made in the paddock across the weekend in Austin, with the point awarded for fastest lap being removed from next season onwards.
This point was first introduced in 2019 and given to a driver who manages to set the fastest lap of the race while finishing in the top ten.
It was never a rule that was screaming to be introduced, and it wasn’t exactly something that was always beloved by either the drivers or the fans, but the removal of it seemingly came out of nowhere.
Several drivers spoke about the change across the weekend, with a mixed bag of opinions.
Race winner Charles Leclerc told The Roar that he was “glad that the fastest lap point has been removed” as “I’ve always felt like this point was very superficial because it always depends on your race situation, and it wasn’t really rewarding a particular skill.”
George Russell also spoke about the positives of it being removed, saying “I never really saw the benefit of it, so I’m glad to see that’s gone.”
Sergio Perez however said he was disappointed it was being removed, telling reporters in the paddock that “you’re talking about 24 points a season… I don’t know why it changed.
(Photo by Getty Images)
“When you go for it at the end of the race, and it’s quite a lot of pressure for the mechanics to deliver the right stop for you to deliver the right lap.
“So yes, I don’t think it was the best move there.”
In an ironic twist, no fastest lap point was awarded in Austin after Esteban Ocon, who finished the race in 18th place, set the fastest lap on lap 53.
Ricciardo’s awkward Texan ghost
A final note on something I observed in Austin across the weekend.
There were many promotional banners in the city advertising the race and there was one driver featuring heavily in the promotions: Daniel Ricciardo.
Of course this makes sense given just how much Danny Ric loved it in Austin and how much he would talk up both the city and the Circuit of the Americas. But given his axing at the hands of RB in the previous round and the fact that he wasn’t at the race, it made for a bit of an awkward presence hanging over the event.
Sure, marketing material is made a fair way in advance and of course the marketers can’t anticipate something like the axing of a driver. But given there was a four-week break in between the Singapore Grand Prix and the event in Austin, surely there could’ve been something arranged to remove the elephant in the room.
Let’s hope for Danny Ric’s sake that he perhaps got some residuals from still being used as a way to promote the event.
This article was originally written for The Roar. You can read the published version here
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