Formula One returned to the United States this weekend, racing around the fan-favorite Circuit of the Americas in Austin. With the track hosting a sprint weekend for the first time in its 11-year F1 history, there were plenty of big takeaways from the action both on and off the circuit. From a maiden points finish to dramatic disqualifications, here are five of the biggest stories from the entire U.S. Grand Prix weekend.
Courtesy of Mercedes Media Centre
Hamilton and Leclerc disqualified
Arguably the biggest headline from the weekend came hours after the checkered flag had flown. Post-race celebrations came to an end when the FIA (F1’s governing body) shared a document that stated two cars were being investigated for breaching the technical regulations. The two in question? Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
The drama began when the FIA completed their regular post-race checks to make sure a selection of cars were legal. Four cars were chosen at random, including Hamilton’s and Leclerc’s, but the inspection of their respective floors and plank wear on their cars were not in compliance with the rulebook. The plank is based within an F1 car’s floor, and helps make sure that cars don’t run their cars too low which might result in them suddenly losing all their downforce.
Breaking the technical rules could be seen as getting an unfair advantage, and so in most cases the answer is a straight up disqualification from the results. For Hamilton, this meant he lost his well-fought second-place finish, after hunting down eventual-winner Red Bull’s Max Verstappen during the last chunk of the race. This will also be his second consecutive Grand Prix where he failed to score any points, after losing out in a first-lap collision with his teammate in Qatar earlier this month. Although he was able to pick up points in Saturday’s sprint, it means that the battle for second in the Drivers’ Championship is swaying more in Sergio Perez’s (Red Bull) favor as we approach the final four rounds.
Mercedes also acknowledged the measurement that was performed by the FIA technical team, and agreed with their findings. However, they did state that the high wear was likely a result of the “unique combination of the bumpy track and the sprint race schedule that minimized the time to set up and check the car before the race.” Hamilton’s disqualification also meant that McLaren’s Lando Norris was promoted up into second with Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz ending up in third.
Leclerc and Ferrari, who had originally finished sixth, also had the same reasoning for the error as Mercedes. Both Hamilton and Leclerc also collaborated on an Instagram post the following day, with a photo of the two of them in a press conference looking disappointed with the caption “mood.”
Courtesy of Williams Racing
First points for home hero Sargeant
There was a lot of pressure on Logan Sargeant coming into this weekend. His debut season started off relatively well, but took a hit in recent races with a series of crashes and lackluster performances. With his seat the only one not confirmed for next season, there are still questions over his future. However, he has now got his first championship points on the board, and at a home race to boot.
After Hamilton and Leclerc’s disqualification from Sunday’s results, Sargeant was promoted from 12th—where he originally finished—and into 10th for the final points-scoring position. By finishing in this position, he became the first American to secure points in F1 since Michael Andretti at the 1993 Italian Grand Prix, 30 years ago. Because the decision from the FIA about Hamilton and Leclerc came in so late, the Florida-born Sargeant was already on a plane ready to fly to his next destination.
Having qualified in 20th and last, he was promoted to 16th on the starting grid after both Aston Martin and Haas cars started from the pit lane. From there he stayed out of trouble, kept it clean and consistent and progressed up the field to finish in 12th and just behind his teammate Alexander Albon. The disqualifications also means the Williams Racing team achieved double points for the first time this season.
Courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool
The sprint needs a shake up
For the 2023 season, F1 decided to double the number of race weekends with the sprint format from three to six. It also underwent several changes this year, including the addition of a sprint shootout to determine the order of the sprint and making Friday’s qualifying result affect only Sunday’s lineup, but more might need to be done.
The 31 minute 100km race, which some fans dubbed the most boring event of the season so far, saw Verstappen lead from the first lap to eventually win by nine seconds. The event, which had only one non-finisher when Lance Stroll of Aston Martin retired with a technical problem, has fans and some drivers pleading for further tweaks in the future.
"If you want my honest opinion about sprint weekends, I don't really get excited by it," Verstappen said after winning his third sprint of the season.
"I just feel like once you complete qualifying, you are a bit lost. We only need one qualifying in the weekend where you really put everything on the line and it feels great. This morning, I put it on P1 and was like ‘It's a Saturday, there's not many points anyway for the race'. And besides that, now we've done this race, everyone more or less knows what's going to happen tomorrow between all the cars in terms of pace, so it takes away a bit the excitement of it.
"If we had not done today, and we only had the qualifying that we had yesterday, you don't really know what's going to happen in the race. It's exciting to turn on the TV because you don't know, and also we don't know ... but now we know."
Although not everyone is on Verstappen’s wavelength, with several happy to have more time racing and less time practicing, it does pose the question of what needs to be done to make things more exciting. Drivers like Sainz have suggested a reverse grid order, which would flip all or part of the grid upside down.
Courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool
Brake issues couldn’t keep Max from victory
He might have still won Sunday’s race, but Verstappen didn’t have it quite so easy. Not only did he start from sixth after having a lap time deleted in qualifying, but he was also hit with a brakes issue during the Grand Prix. The three-time World Championship said the problem impacted his tire life and braking was understandably inconsistent. Yet, despite the hindrance, he still managed to get to the front of the pack and stay there after a strong strategy from Red Bull.
The victory was also the 50th for Verstappen, despite him being just 26 years old. He joins a very exclusive list of drivers to join the 50-win club, including Hamilton, Michael Schumcher, Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel. Verstappen also has the chance to break another record next time out in Mexico, as his win from the weekend took him to 15 over the 2023 season, the same number he managed last year. If he can clinch another first-place finish in a race over the next four rounds, which seems highly likely, he will also achieve the most wins in a single season.
Mark Sutton/Sutton Images/IMAGO
Alpine’s new investors were out in force
The Alpine F1 team were the talk of the paddock this weekend after welcoming not one but two global superstars to their team across the weekend. Legendary golfer Rory McIlroy and boxing champ Anthony Joshua were both notable figures in the F1 circus this weekend as they attended their first race since investing in the Alpine Formula 1 team.
Earlier in the season it was confirmed that Alpine sold shares to a host of premiere investors that includes the likes of actors Ryan Reynolds and Michael B Jordan. However, it later came to light that additional sporting figures got in on the action. As well as McIlroy and Joshua, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Trent Alexander-Arnold are all involved, but have yet to be guests of Alpine at a Grand Prix during the weekend. The €200m investment meant that these host of stars have acquired a 24% chunk of the French race team.
As well as sporting royalty, there was actual royalty at the event as Prince Harry made an appearance as a guest of Mercedes AMG Petronas. Enjoying the views from the garage, he was also spotted chatting with driver George Russell and admiring his latest retro-inspired Austin collection.
Sporting stars like Sha’Carri Richardson were also in attendance, with the runner putting her skills to a different type of sprint as she handed out the awards for the F1 sprint on Saturday.
