Rookie Numbers

PLP Season 1 Edition 5 🏁

It’s Race Weekend!

It’s hump week in our Americas triple header as we head to Mexico City for Round 20 on the F1 calendar. A breezy 2h20m flight due south is all that’s necessary travel wise. Piece of cake compared to most weekends. There’s no sprint so we’ll slow things down slightly with the normally scheduled race programming (EDT):

• Practice 1: Friday, Oct 27 2:30pm - 3:30pm

• Practice 2: Friday, Oct 27 6:00pm - 7:00pm

• Practice 3: Saturday, Oct 28 1:30pm - 2:30pm

• Qualifying: Saturday, Oct 28 5:00pm - 6:00pm

• Race: Sunday, Oct 29 4:00pm

Quick Quiz: Logan Sargeant became the first American driver to score points in Formula 1 in 30 years. Who was last American to do it?

Find out below ⬇

US GP Recap

Sprint

Podium: 🥇VER - 🥈HAM - 🥉LEC

DNF: STR

While we’ve seen some great sprint races in 2023, unfortunately this weekend’s was not one of them. As a diehard fan though there’s always something interesting to take away, even if Verstappen did claim the victory by a gap of 9.5 seconds on only 19 laps.

The start saw Max on pole push Charles Leclerc waaaaay wide to the left, almost into the outside pit wall. It felt like something the FIA might want to look into, but with lap 1 always a bit chaotic it seems like it can be chalked up to tight racing. While Charles said the squeeze was “on the limit”, he admitted he’d have done “exactly the same” if given the chance.

Carlos Sainz was the only driver to start on the soft tire - which paid dividends at the start as he jumped ahead a few positions, but ultimately fell back to where he started the race as the tires wore faster than everyone else on mediums. Norris picked up his pace over the second half of the race and took 6 seconds off Leclerc’s lead, almost beating the Ferrari driver onto the podium and foreshadowing his performance in the GP. Hamilton held steady with Max (as much as one can be expected too) in the first half, but ultimately fell back off the Red Bull and held on for P2. Piastri had a tough time keeping the car within track limits and tumbled back to 10th place. Russell overcame a penalty to just edge out the last points place in P8 ahead of good effort from Albon in P9.

Grand Prix

Podium: 🥇VER - 🥈NOR - 🥉SAI

DQs: HAM - LEC

DNF: OCO - PIA - ALO

While Carlos Sainz made it onto the podium, you wouldn’t have known it at the conclusion of the race. While a surging Hamilton gave a struggling Verstappen a much tighter race than he would have liked (he would have had a shot at an overtake and the win if the race was just a couple laps longer), the Mercedes driver had his P2 stripped for a plank wear violation (Leclerc suffered the same fate - more on that below).

Lando Norris got a quick start and beat pole sitter Charles Leclerc into turn 1 - a lead he would hold onto for almost half the race. As expected, Max was able to make it past the McLaren on lap 28, showing more patience than he typically did in his earlier years. While the 2023 Champion was able to hang on and secure his 50th race victory, braking issues on the RB19 had him fighting all the way to the end - A fact that gave us the absolute best radio of the race:

While Mercedes employed an alternative strategy to try to fight Red Bull, their switch from a one-stop to two-stop strategy mid race could possibly have given Hamilton the victory if they had done their first pit stop earlier. (Turns out it wouldn’t have mattered with the DQ, but it sure would have been exciting). Max did give some props to his rival after the race - stating his 50 wins were “rookie numbers” compared to Hamilton’s 103.

Leclerc’s one-stop strategy unfortunately did not pan out, with a DQ rubbing salt in the wound. Lance Stroll showed some impressive pace at the end of the race, shaking off some recent bad juju and finishing P7- demonstrating that the Aston Martin upgrades could be working. Yuki Tsunoda took his last stint on the soft tire to secure P8 and the fastest lap of the race. With HAM and LEC knocked out, Williams scored double points with Albon in P9, and Logan Sargeant scoring his first points in Formula 1 with a P10 finish.

• 5 Takeaways from the US GP

• Weekly Power Rankings after Austin

• Sargeant on the boost he needed, putting the U.S. back on the score board

Mexico GP Preview

Don’t blink - we’re in the thick of a triple header and the next stop is Mexico City. One thing is for certain - Don’t expect a friendly reaction if Verstappen sits atop the podium above hometown hero Sergio Perez.

The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez was built in 1959 and hosted it’s first official Grand Prix in 1963, with Jim Clark taking the victory. The circuit sits over a mile above sea level with the thin air leading to low drag and adding extra challenge for the drivers. One of the most unique views in F1 can be seen from inside the old Foro Sol baseball stadium, with the track twisting right on through:

Can Perez use home field advantage to challenge the champ? Plus, McLaren and Mercedes will continue to duke it out (with hopefully a good showing from Ferarri), Aston Martin will try to prove their upgrades are working with a clean race, and Sargeant will try to keep up the momentum from Austin. Viva la Mexico!

• 5 Storylines to follow

• Race highlights from 2022

HAM and LEC Walk the Plank

Hamilton’s adrenaline of challenging for a win was interrupted - and Leclerc’s tough day was undoubtedly made worse - when the decision came down hours after the race that both drivers had been disqualified. The culprit was the plank, or “skid block” on the underside of the car. Introduced in 1994, it is designed to control ground clearance levels and ground effect on car handling. Zhou Guanyu’s can be seen clearly during his Silverstone crash last year:

The rule states the plank must still be at least 9mm deep when measured after the race. Not all planks are measured after each race- technical checks are random in nature. Although, funnily enough it’s been Mercedes and Ferrari that have been selected the most times so far this year:

Mercedes principal Toto Wolff said they need to take the DQ “on the chin”, while Leclerc was “surprised” by the situation after there were no signs of issues in practice.

Down the Grid

Tech Talk

• Gap to VER from @FDataAnalysis: Stroll had competitive pace, Max managed his gap to Lewis despite brake issues

• How Mercedes and Ferrari fell victim to plank wear rules - for the first time in years

• If you’re still craving more plank, get all the details here

Off the Grid

• Prince Harry one of many celeb sightings in Austin

• Opening ceremony of the Vegas GP planned for Wednesday, November 15th kicks off the spectacle on the strip

• Puma names A$AP Rocky creative director for F1 partnership

• Max will have body guards this weekend

• Got to take a spin (quite literally) in the simulator at Feile Irish Pub in NYC after the race on Sunday - and immediately put it into the wall at turn 1 😅. Only took about a lap or two to get a good feel for it, though it certainly helps that the sim mode highlighted the braking zone 😁. Was able to put some clean laps together, but let’s just say I won’t be sticking it on pole anytime soon.

Enjoy the racing this weekend - we’ll be back next Friday to recap all the action.

Questions? Comments? Did we get something wrong (never 😁)? Let us know ▶ [email protected]