#F1 Lenovo #UnitedStatesGP 2023 Preview. #Formula1 #USGP
Formula 1 Aramco United States Grand Prix 2022 Race Start, Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas, United States of America. Image credit to Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images. 2023 US GP Preview, United States GP Preview, 2023 F1 US GP Preview, Formula 1 US GP Preview.
2023 US GP Preview – After Max Verstappen wrapped up his third consecutive World Driver’s Championship with a second-placed finish in the Sprint and dominated the Qatar Grand Prix with his tenth-victory of the season, round 19 of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas for the Formula 1 Lenovo United States Grand Prix 2023. This marks the 44th time that the United States Grand Prix has been run as a round of the World Championship since its inception in 1950 and the tenth time being held in Austin, Texas. This will be the fifth Grand Prix of the season that will feature the Sprint format. This will be back-to-back-to-back race weekends with Mexico and Brazil.
2023 US GP Preview – A look at the Circuit of the Americas
Circuit of the Americas is a permanent racing circuit located in Elroy, Travis County on the south-eastern periphery of Austin city limits in Central Texas. The circuit and Grand Prix were proposed in 2010 and was the first in the United States to be purposely built for Formula 1. The layout was conceived by Tavo Hellmund and 1993 World Motorcycle Champion Kevin Schwantz with assistance from circuit designer and architect Hermann Tilke. The circuit was opened on October 21, 2012. The Circuit of the Americas is also used for MotoGP, the FIA World Endurance Championship and the Tudor United SportsCar Championship.
The circuit draws inspiration from some of the best circuits in the world, as well as taking advantage of the site’s natural contours which features dramatic elevation changes of up to 40 metres.
There is a steep, uphill run into the first corner hairpin, which quickly became the track’s signature corner. Turns three to six looks nearly similar to Silverstone’s high-speed Maggotts/Becketts/Chapel complex; turns 12 through 15 is similar to Hockenheim’s stadium section; and turns 16 through 18 mirrors the popular turn eight at Turkey’s Istanbul Park Circuit.
Support buildings include a medical facility, 14 executive meeting suites, a conference centre, a banquet hall, as well as an outdoor live music space.
The Circuit of the Americas is 5.513km (3.427 miles) in length with 20 corners and runs in an anti-clockwise direction.
Race distance is 308.405km (191.634 miles) in length with 56 laps in total.
Charles Leclerc holds the fastest lap record at the circuit with a 1:36.169 set at the 2019 event in his Scuderia Ferrari SF90.
Lewis Hamilton holds the record for most United States Grand Prix victories with six.
Scuderia Ferrari are the most successful constructor at the United States Grand Prix with ten victories.
2023 US GP Preview – Onboard Pole Lap of The Circuit of the Americas
Here is the onboard pole lap of the Circuit of the Americas set at the 2022 United States Grand Prix by Carlos Sainz in his Scuderia Ferrari F1-75, with the Spaniard posting a 1:34.356. You can watch the video right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6R9Hzib0vw
2023 US GP Preview – The Last Five United States Grand Prix winners
2022: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2021: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2020: Not Held. 2019: Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1. 2018: Kimi Raikkonen, Scuderia Ferrari. 2017: Lewis Hamilton: Mercedes AMG F1.
2023 US GP Preview – Tyres
Pirelli will be bringing with them to Texas the white side-walled C2 Hard rubber, the yellow-branded C3 Medium compounds and the C4 red-marked Soft tyres due to the Circuit of the America’s combination of fast corners and more technical sections along with the green-branded Intermediate and blue-marked Full Wet tyre compounds in case of rain.
Drivers will have eight sets of the softs, three sets of the mediums and two sets of the harder tyres.
2023 US GP Preview – DRS Zones
There will be two DRS Zones at the Circuit of the Americas with the first detection point 150 metres after turn 10 with the activation point 320 metres after turn 11. The second detection point is 65 metres after turn 18 with the activation point 80 metres after the final corner on the main-straight.
2023 US GP Preview – Pitlane Speed Limits
Pitlane speed limits will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.
ICYMI: Verstappen cruises to dominant Qatar GP victory
Verstappen Qatar GP Victory – Newly-crowned three-time world champion Max Verstappen cruised to a dominant victory at the Qatar GP ahead of McLaren pairing Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
The Dutchman lead from start-to-finish to take his 14th win of the season and took the fastest lap bonus point.
When the 57 lap Qatar GP began, pole-sitter Verstappen got a great start into turn one covering off both Mercedes as both F1 W14’s of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton collided into the opening corner with the latter forced to retire and it deployed the safety car.
The replays showed Russell move into the middle alongside Verstappen and Hamilton dived in on the left to sandwich the former into turn one as Russell hit the right rear of Hamilton sending the Mercedes into a spin and out of the race.
Russell came in to stop to replace his front wing and a fresh set of hards.
The incident involving both Mercedes is currently investigated by the stewards.
On lap four, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas, Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and AlphaTauri’s Liam Lawson all came in for a fresh set of tyres.
When the race resumed on lap five, Verstappen pulled away from Piastri with Alonso third, Leclerc fourth, Ocon fifth and Norris completing the top six.
Behind them Russell made a move on Red Bull’s Sergio Perez in the battle for 13th at turn five, but the latter covered the Briton.
On the beginning of the sixth lap, Verstappen held a 1.233 second gap over second-placed Piastri, with Alonso in third, Leclerc fourth, Ocon fifth and Norris rounded out the top six.
Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg overtook AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda for eighth place, meanwhile, Russell found his way ahead of Perez to grab 13th after passing the RB19 around the outside into turn five.
Hulkenberg was hit with a ten-second timed penalty by the stewards for an incorrect starting position, with the replays showing the Haas driver parked in Sainz’s vacated grid slot.
On lap nine, Russell breezed his way with DRS assistance passed the Williams of Logan Sargeant and dived on the inside of the FW45 into turn one to take 11th place.
Lap ten saw Verstappen’s lead up to 2.092 seconds over Piastri, with Alonso holding third, Leclerc in fourth, Ocon fifth and Norris rounding out the top six.
A tour later, Ocon pitted from sixth for a fresh set of C2 yellow side-walled mediums and emerged in 17th placed behind the hard tyre-fitted AT04 of Lawson.
Alonso and Gasly stopped from fourth and sixth respectively with both drivers putting on mediums and came out in 15th and 17th in the order as Ocon slotted in between the pairing.
A lap later, second-placed Piastri and fourth-placed Leclerc both pitted for a set of medium rubber and came out in 13th and 14th respectively and behind them Alonso fought his way ahead of Leclerc to snatch the position on the inside from turn four into turn five.
On lap 14, Norris stopped from second, also for mediums, and came out behind Leclerc in 12th place.
A tour later, Russell came in for another fresh set of mediums and emerged in 15th behind Gasly’s Alpine.
On lap 16, race leader and the yet-to-pit Verstappen held a 22.572 gap over Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon and Red Bull’s Perez third after overtaking Alfa’s Zhou Guanyu for third place and Bottas completed the top five.
Behind them, Piastri with DRS on the main straight passed the Aston of Stroll for sixth place on the inside of turn one, whilst Leclerc also with DRS assistance, made his way ahead of Magnussen on the main-straight for eighth.
A lap later, Verstappen pitted from the lead for a fresh set of mediums and came out in second place, whilst his Red Bull team-mate also followed suit and emerged in 16th placed behind Tsunoda.
On lap 19, Albon relinquished the lead and stopped, also for a fresh set of mediums and came out in 14th behind Tsunoda and in-front of Perez.
Norris also forced his way around the outside of Leclerc’s Ferrari around the outside into turn one take seventh place, meanwhile, further ahead Stroll was ordered by his Aston Martin team to let team-mate Alonso ahead into fifth.
On the 20th lap, Verstappen’s lead increased to 7.601 seconds over Piastri with Alonso back up into third place after passing Bottas as Stroll completed the top five.
Lap 21 saw Norris make the same identical move as he did on Leclerc to overtake Stroll for fifth place with DRS assistance and picking up the slipstream to overtake the AMR23 around the outside into turn one.
A lap later, both Bottas and Stroll stopped for a fresh set of hards and mediums respectively and came out in 15th and 16th behind Hulkenberg.
On the 23rd lap, in the battle for seventh, Russell forced his way around Gasly’s Alpine on the outside into turn one and had Ocon in sight with his recovery drive.
The 25th tour saw Verstappen’s lead increased to 8.349 seconds over Piastri with Alonso 6.502 seconds down the track in third place, as Norris was fourth and Leclerc completed the top five.
On the 26th tour, Piastri, Leclerc and Ocon all made their second stops for mediums, and the latter drivers both on hards and emerged in eighth, 14th and 15th respectively.
Lap 27 saw Alonso stop from third place and took on a set of hards and came out in seventh place behind Zhou’s C43 entry.
Fourth-placed Perez was hit with a five-second timed-penalty for multiple track limits violations.
The 28th lap saw Norris pit from second to take on a fresh set of mediums and emerged in seventh clearing Alonso after a solid stint beforehand.
In the fight for fourth place, Piastri got a solid slipstream on the Williams of Albon down the main straight with DRS assistance and overtook the FW45 comfortably on the inside into turn one.
On lap 30, Verstappen’s lead was up to 22.668 seconds over Russell with Perez in third place, Piastri fourth, Albon fifth and Norris rounding out the top six runners.
A tour later, Leclerc around the outside pushed his way ahead of Stroll to take tenth place after being stuck behind the Aston Martin since his pitstop.
Lap 32 saw both Perez and Albon stop with the former serving his five-second penalty, putting on a set of mediums and came out in 12th whilst the latter came out in 14th place then fell behind Tsunoda and down to 15th.
On the 33rd lap, Russell pitted from second and emerged in fifth behind the yet-to-pit Zhou, meanwhile, also suffered a snap of over-steer and had an excursion into the gravel trap and dangerously came ahead of Leclerc, before the Spaniard was overtaken by Leclerc.
Race leader Verstappen stopped on lap 35 for a fresh set of the durable C1 harder compound and came out 8.107 seconds in-front of Piastri with fast lap holder Norris third, Russell made his way ahead of Zhou to take fourth place.
Lap 36, saw the out-of-sync Zhou pit from fifth for a fresh set of hards and came out in 15th place behind Tsunoda.
With 20 laps remaining, Verstappen’s lead was 6.395 seconds over Piastri as Norris held third place, Russell was fourth and Leclerc rounded out the top five positions.
Behind them, both Alpine A523 entries of Ocon and Gasly forced their way ahead of both Bottas and Stroll to take seventh and ninth respectively.
Perez was also hit with another five second timed-penalty for multiple track limit infringements meanwhile, Sargeant retired due to feeling unwell on lap 42.
With 15 minutes remaining, Verstappen lead increased to 10.270 seconds over Piastri with Norris third, Russell fourth and Leclerc completing the top five.
Lap 44 saw the final pit-stop sequence from the top five begin as Piastri and Leclerc both stop for a fresh set of hards and mediums, to come out in third behind Russell and sixth place behind Gasly respectively.
A tour later, Norris came in for a fresh set of hards to emerge in fourth place behind McLaren team-mate Piastri, meanwhile behind them Alonso stopped for mediums to come out behind sixth-placed Zhou.
With ten tours left, Verstappen had a comfortable 25.833 second lead over Russell with Piastri third, Norris fourth and Leclerc rounding out the top five.
With six laps remaining, Russell pitted from second to take on a set of the C3 softer compounds and emerged in fourth behind the McLaren pairing meanwhile, race leader Verstappen also pitted for a set of mediums and came out 6.126 clear of Piastri.
On lap 53, Zhou was the last driver to complete the mandatory pit stops and came out in 12th place behind Gasly and on a set of softs.
Verstappen crossed the line to clinch the Qatar GP victory 4.833 seconds over Piastri and seal his 49th-career win as Norris rounded out the top three in a double podium finish for McLaren.
Mercedes’ Russell recovered to fourth place as Leclerc completed the top five in the sole Ferrari SF-23.
Aston Martin’s Alonso placed sixth and in-front of Alpine’s Ocon who took seventh as Alfa Romeo pairing Bottas and Zhou were eighth and ninth respectively.
Red Bull’s Perez was demoted to tenth following his five-second time penalty hit due to exceeding track limits multiple times.
The other AMR23 entry of Stroll came home 11th and ahead of Alpine’s Gasly who was 12th and Albon who placed 13th in the classification for Williams.
Haas F1 Team’s Magnussen and Hulkenberg finished the Qatar Grand Prix in 14th and 16th respectively as AlphaTauri’s Tsunoda and Lawson ended the race 13th and at the rear as all four drivers were all a lap down from race winner Verstappen.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was ruled out of the Grand Prix an hour before the race began due to a fuel-systems issue.
2023 US GP Preview – The Situation
There may not be any titles up for grabs to be won in Formula 1, but there are still five Grand Prix victories left on the table, beginning with this weekend’s United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas.
Max Verstappen secured his third world title crown last time out in Qatar, so the attention now draws to his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez to see if he can beat Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton to the runner up spot in the World Drivers’ Championship standings.
The pressure is continuing to mount on Perez, who does not have a contract to stay at the Milton Keynes based-squad for 2025, after another disappointing weekend saw the Mexican retire from the Sprint and finished tenth in the Qatar Grand Prix.
Perez currently holds a 30-point lead over Hamilton, who will be looking to bounce back from his opening lap collision with Mercedes team-mate George Russell at the Losail International Circuit last time out.
Mercedes will be bringing a new floor upgrade to it’s F1 W14 in Austin but are not expecting to make big jumps in their bid to close the gap to rivals Red Bull ahead of 2024.
Ferrari are only 28 points behind the Silver Arrows in the Constructors Championship in the fight for second place and McLaren have gotten within 11 points of Aston Martin in the battle for fourth, thanks to another double podium for Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in Qatar.
For the first time in the sport, there are back-to-back Sprint weekends on the calendar so there will be competitive sessions for all three days.
Defending US GP winner Verstappen returns to Texas with his third World Driver’s Championship crown wrapped up with 433 points and a 209-point advantage over Red Bull team-mate Perez who is second on 224 points whilst Hamilton is third and a further 239 behind the Dutchman on 194 points.
Oracle Red Bull Racing returns to the Circuit of the Americas on top of the World Constructors Championship standings secured with 657 points and a 331-point gap over nearest rivals Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team who are second on 326 points whilst Scuderia Ferrari are a further 359 behind the Milton Keynes based-outfit in third on 298 points.
2023 US GP Preview – F1 Quick-Fire News
- Formula 1 announced last Friday, the extension of the Belgian Grand Prix at the legendary Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps until 2025. The iconic track has hosted 56 Grands Prix since it’s first race in 1950. “Spa is synonymous with Formula 1 having been one of the circuits in our first ever season and is much-loved by fans and drivers alike, so I am delighted to extend our relationship with them until 2025,” explained President and CEO of Formula 1, Mr. Stefano Domenicali. “The promoter has taken big strides in the last few years to improve the fan experience and infrastructure, and work is ongoing between all the stakeholders with a clear focus on delivering safe and exciting racing. I would like to thank the promoter and the Government of Wallonia for their continued support.” Domenicali concluded. Credit to F1 for the quote.
- McLaren announced they will be trialling the use of cutting-edge recycled carbon fibre on Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s MCL60 racers at this weekend’s United States Grand Prix. It marked the latest step in the Woking based-outfit’s goal to develop a fully-circular car by 2030 to help and identify and test pioneering technologies and materials on the journey of achieving it’s net-zero targets.
- F1 Academy driver Bianca Bustamente became the newest addition to the McLaren Driver Development Programme, with the 18-year-old making history as the first female driver to join the Woking based-squads development programme. Bustamente will also be running the McLaren livery om here F1 Academy race car for the 2024 campaign. She is a promising female talent in motorsport who has been involved in racing since the age of five, winning multiple karting championships across Asia. The Philippian has competed so far in the W Series, Formula 4 UAE Championship, Italian Formula 4, USF Juniors and more recently the 2023 F1 Academy where she has scored to victories and podiums heading into the final round of the championship this weekend in Austin, Texas. Bustamente’s involvement in the McLaren Driver Development Programme, led by Emanuele Pirro, will see her join the Woking based-outfit’s talent pipeline, which has an aim to help drivers reach Formula One, IndyCar and Formula E. “This is such an unreal moment in my career, to sign with McLaren and ART Grand Prix is way beyond anything I could’ve ever imagined growing up racing karts in the Philippines,” Bustamente explained. “I still have a hard time seeing my name next to McLaren without getting emotional, as the history and heritage linked to this team leaves me truly speechless. I’m so grateful for this opportunity as I believe I now have the best possible development structure around me to take the next step up in my career, and for this I am so thankful. 2023 was all about improving my speed which I demonstrated across several races this year, but in 2024 my aim is to establish consistency and improve my mental strength in order to make a title challenge in the coming F1 Academy season. For now, my focus is to finish off the F1 Academy season strongly here in Austin, but we’ll get to work immediately on the 2024 season. I’ve never been more motivated in my life! A big thanks goes to Susie Wolff and the team at F1 Academy for fighting so hard for us girls and to give us this opportunity to be the best we can be. Additional thanks go to Zak Brown, Andrea Stella, Emanuele Pirro, Sebastian Philippe, my sponsors, and all my supporters for believing in me and making this all possible. I am full of gratitude, and I promise to give it my all.” Bustamente said. Credit to McLaren for the quote.
- Alpine F1 Team and Otro Capital have welcomed some of the world’s biggest sporting stars as new strategic investors into their $200 million dollar fund, including Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Rory McIlroy, Juan Mata and Anthony Joshua. Otro Capital have welcomed these partners into their existing group of investors at the Enstone based-outfit, which had already added RedBird Capital Partners and Maximum Effort Investments – along with actor Ryan Reynolds. Earlier this season they invested €200 million and acquired a 24% stake in the Anglo-French alliance.
- Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo confirmed that he will be back racing for the Faenza based-squad this weekend in Austin, Texas bringing an end to his five races on the sidelines following a broken hand suffered at the Dutch Grand Prix. The Australian started the campaign as a reserve driver for Red Bull, then replaced Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri in July for the Hungarian Grand Prix, however, Ricciardo missed the last five Grands Prix after breaking his metacarpal in his left hand, which required surgery due to crashing into a barrier at Zandvoort in August. Ricciardo was working his way back to full fitness by completing laps in Red Bull’s simulator, and also got back behind the wheel of the RB7 in-front of 30,000 fans earlier in the week in Nashville, Tennessee. “It’s good to be back! My hand is much better, and the simulator was a useful way of assessing it. I tried it out in the week before Qatar, but I didn’t feel it was at full potential, so I spent the rest of that week in the UK, spending more time in the sim, and got to a point where I felt ready to go,” Explained Ricciardo. “My overall fitness is fine as I kept training as much as I could, although I obviously couldn’t do much with my left hand or arm for a while. It was definitely frustrating watching the past few races, especially as I’d gotten myself to a place where I was so ready to go again and race, and then I did two events and had to hit “Pause” again, but actually, the time without racing went quite quickly. The current car has moved on a bit since I last drove it, but the sim was useful to get an idea of what the changes and updates have delivered. I felt a little bit of their effect, but it’s one of those things I think, once I get on track, I’ll feel them to their full effect. I was there in Singapore when they tried it the first time, and it was interesting to hear the feedback and comments, which were mostly positive. So, I’m excited to see what it’s like first-hand. As for this weekend, I’ve always enjoyed Austin. It’s very unique for a modern-day circuit, and the undulations and bumps mean it’s physical. It does beat you up, but I think I like that. I like the challenge. A lot of the apexes are quite wide as well, so there are some peculiar corners which make the track exceptional and stand out.” Ricciardo concluded. Credit to AlphaTauri for the quote.
Click here for the 2023 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings
The Formula 1 Lenovo United States Grand Prix 2023 weekend begins Friday October 20 with Free Practice 1 and Qualifying, followed by the Sprint Shootout and the 100km F1 Sprint race Saturday October 21 along with the 56 lap Grand Prix Sunday October 22.
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