🏁 Fiesta de Velocidad

🥇Max Verstappen [354]: Had no sympathy for Lando’s penalty that bumped him from the last podium spot. “I mean, they complain about a lot lately anyway, but it’s very clear in the rules. Outside the white line, you cannot pass. I’ve been done for it as well in the past. But overall I still really enjoyed that battle that we had.”

🥈Lando Norris [297]: Didn’t give position back to Max since he thought he was in the right and was pushed off track. “I still think we were, considering Max went off the track – normally if you defend your position and you go off the track, you have to give the position up. Max drove well, it was a fun race between us, a good battle. He defended well, he did everything he had to do.”

🥉Charles Leclerc [275]: On his move from P4 into P1 at turn 1, he anticipated the opportunity: “I kind of knew that max would go flat out into turn 1..he's a driver that I know very very well.” With a strong weekend, he says the team is “still targeting the title.” Constructors’ that is.. it would take a couple DNFs and more wins from Charles for the WDC. A long shot, but not mathematically impossible…

4️⃣ Oscar Piastri [247]: Took team orders to slow down after Lando’s penalty, so his championship chasing teammate wouldn’t not drop another position from his 5s penalty and give up more points to Max. Latest rumor: His manager Mark Webber is gauging Red Bull’s interest in his client..

5️⃣ Carlos Sainz [215]: In what was a very strong weekend for him personally, he was “incredibly happy for the team” and for Charles. On not quite being able to put pressure on him teammate at the end of the GP he said: “Unfortunately, we got a bit blocked at the start, then we had a couple of issues during the first stint with the power unit. I just lost too much time at the beginning.”

6️⃣ Lewis Hamilton [177]: A great start saw him move from P17 to P12, only for it to come crashing down on lap 3: “It was only the second lap, so I’m not flat out, not pushing particularly – just trying to manage the tires. The car started bouncing on the way in and then it just lost all load of the rear and just went around on me.” George had a similar crash out in Quali. Merc couldn’t seem to nail the set up all weekend, even with Lewis nearly taking Sprint pole if it weren’t for yellow flags.

7️⃣ George Russell [167]: Left puzzled by the team’s car issue in Austin, saying it’s “the beast we’re dealing with right now.” Even so, his recovery drive from a pit lane start to finishing P6 ahead of Checo was quite impressive.

8️⃣ Sergio Perez [150]: Currently on a 14 race podium-less streak, knows he needs a big weekend at his home GP to stop the speculation: “If I get a strong result, it can definitely change my season massively in terms of personal feeling.”

9️⃣ Fernando Alonso [62]: Thinks it will be an “uphill battle” to score points. “I think we outperformed the car’s natural position in qualifying and we knew it would be an uphill battle to stay inside the top 10.” Check out his special helmet for his 400th GP this weekend.

🔟Nico Hulkenberg [29]: A long opening stint helped him finish P8 from a P11 start, says he “maximized” his race in Austin.

11. Lance Stroll [24]: Struggled to keep his tires up to temp during the safety car and struggled on the restart. Lance also now holds the record for most race starts without recording the fastest lap. He’s got 5 more chances before they no longer award a point for it next year.

12. Yuki Tsunoda [22]: Honda is pushing for the driver to get a Red Bull run, targeting a potential tire test at the end of the season. Lawson’s strong performance in Austin has his name at the top of the Red Bull list. I fear Yuki will once again be overlooked here (not a short pun).

13. Alex Albon [12]: “Leaning more towards” Colapinto’s set up for Mexico due to his struggles in low speed corners.

14. Daniel Ricciardo [12]: Was spotted a hat last week that said: “I’m retired. Having a good time is my job.” He’s always been good at that job.

15. Kevin Magnussen 📈 [8]: Frustrated by “messy” strategy calls that saw him pit early in anticipation of a two stop race, and lost time in traffic to rivals who only pitted once.

16. Pierre Gasly 📉 [8]: Had a strong quali for a P6 grid start in the GP, but only went backwards after reacting to a pit from Magnussen: “We had a slow stop, ended up in the traffic, couldn’t switch on the hard tires and were just way to slow with the hard compared to the medium.” Even the best drivers in the world have to deal with traffic. They’re just like us!

17. Ollie Bearman 📉 [7]: Did you know Ollie is 6’1’’? That ties for tallest on the grid with Ocon and Albon. Albon a sneaky 6’1’’ right? You don’t really expect it. This has been Olliefacts™️.

18. Franco Colapinto 📈 [5]: Had the quote of the weekend regarding Ocon taking fastest lap from him towards the end of the race: “The Frenchman took the fastest lap off me. It’s a shame. Why did they pit there, it wastes tires. Take care of the planet.” Bold prediction I saw on the internet - Franco finishes with more points than Alex, putting Williams in a pickle.

19. Esteban Ocon 📉 [5]: His race was compromised after getting spun in turn 1, but was able to steal a point from Williams with the fastest lap at the end. On getting upgrades this weekend: “Until I have it on the car I will not let myself dream."

20. Liam Lawson 📈 [2]: Christian Horner had high praise for the rookie on his first race back: "I think if you're getting into a spat and getting your elbows out with Fernando on your first race back in, you're doing alright…I think that he drove an exceptional race today from 19th to ninth. He was fast, he was courageous and I thought it was an excellent comeback for him."

21. Zhou Guanyu 📉 [0]: It’s a longshot, but he’s holing out hope for the last Sauber seat: “Everything is in the hands of Mattia who is here this weekend, making further talks with my management team.”

22. Logan Sargeant 📉 [0]: Picturing him in a fake mustache trying to sneak into the Williams garage to relive the race in Austin last year where he scored his lone point.

23. Valtteri Bottas 📉 [0]: Thinks the team “took a step” in race pace, but admits they “need more.” Hoping for more because we don’t want VB to finish 23rd in a 20 driver championship. It ain’t right!

🥇McLaren [544]: TP Stella was not happy with Lando’s penalty: “The stewards interfered with a beautiful piece of motorsport was inappropriate because both cars went off track so both cars gained an advantage. It’s a shame because it cost us a podium, it cost us a race where we stayed patient after we were pushed off in the first lap, the first corner.” Motorsport… “the beautiful game.”

🥈Red Bull [504]: No surprise that Christian Horner sees the Lando/Max penalty situation a bit differently: “For us, it was crystal clear that the pass had been made off the track. Norris should have given the place back. He chose not to, so therefore there was a penalty. For us, it was very much a black and white scenario.” Motorsport… “the black and white game.”

🥉Ferrari [496]: TP Vasseur is taking things day by day: “We’re not thinking about the championship and I want to keep the team in this mood because I think it’s important to be focused on pure performance, session after session, and not to have somewhere in your mind the championship.”

4️⃣ Mercedes [344]: Toto Wolff says Lewis’ spin in the race and George’s crash in quali were issues with the car, not the driver. “We’ve seen it [in qualifying] with George, and that was maybe over pushing it, but still abruptly losing it, putting it in the wall. We have definitely have an issue. I don’t know whether it was yesterday the same as today. Definitely Lewis Hamilton doesn’t lose the car like this.”

5️⃣ Aston Martin [86]: TP Krack on a tough weekend: “It is really disappointing to come away from the weekend without any points. The midfield is incredibly tight and we were on the wrong side of the competition. We just didn't have any pace all weekend.”

6️⃣ Haas 📈 [38]: Although the weekend was successful with double points in the Sprint and Hulk scoring points in the race, TP Komatsu thinks they left some on the table with Magnussen after pointing to messy communication on pit stop strategy: ““I feel that we should’ve scored points with both cars today, although Kevin may have struggled to hang on top P10, at least he would’ve had a chance.”

7️⃣ VCARB 📉 [36]: TP Mekies wasn’t happy with how the Ricciardo decision was handled: “We should have done a better job.” Regarding the outpouring of support he received: “We felt the fans found a way, and we all love Daniel, and he has proven there that he is bigger than Formula 1.”

8️⃣ Williams [17]: TP Vowles on his rookie philosophy: “In my DNA and Williams's DNA is investing in future generations, both within graduates for employing and early careers but also in drivers.”

9️⃣ Alpine [13]: TP Oakes opens up on the decision to stop their engine program: “It wasn’t an easy decision. I’m pretty sure we’ll have some news before the end of the year to share with everybody.”

🔟Kick Sauber [0]: An exhaustive list of all the driver options their considering: Bottas, Bortoleto, Colapinto, Schumacher, Guanyu, Pourchaire. Maybe just give them four races each and see who’s the best at this point.

• Red Bull Upgrade: New sidepods, contoured coke bottle section, and floor edge helped the team shake off some of the issues that had been plaguing them since Max’s last win in Spain - propelling him to the Sprint race victory.

• The SF-24 is Now Solid: With Ferrari correcting their bouncing issue, the engineers now have a stable base on which the can tweak set ups.

• Ride Height Fix: How the 2026 regulations will solve the ride height conundrum faced by engineers by not relying on downforce generation from ground effects as heavily as today’s generation of cars.

• Where’s the Trophy? The original US GP trophies were pulled last minute due to “potential similarities with other designs.” Now where have I see those two ears before… Turns out it was actually a brand called Bearbrick that had similar collectables. So do they own the whole idea of a bear now? Seems silly.

• Substitute Trophy: Watch Carlos’ dropped replacement tire trophy bounce all over the podium. At least is wasn’t breakable (cough Lando in Hungry 2023 cough).

• More G’s Please: F1 isn’t enough for the now 8-time race winner Charles Leclerc, who recently took a ride in a fighter jet.

Quick Question (My answer)

Leclerc will surge - but Max just doesn’t make mistakes. I think a DNF or two is unlikely, so Max will hold on. But I think Charles takes P2 in the WDC and Ferrari wins the WCC.