#F1 #MSCCruises #UnitedStatesGP 2025 Preview.
Formula 1 Pirelli United States Grand Prix 2024 Race Start, Circuit of The Americas, Austin, Texas. Image credit to Mark Thompson/Getty Images. 2025 US GP Preview, 2025 United States GP, United States GP Preview, Formula 1 US Preview, F1 US GP Preview.
2025 US GP Preview – After George Russell clinched his second victory of the season on the streets of Marina Bay in Singapore as McLaren wrapped up their back-to-back Constructor’s Championship, round 19 of the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas for the Formula 1 MSC Cruises United States Grand Prix 2025. This marks the 46th time that the United States Grand Prix has been run as a round of the World Championship since its inception in 1950 and the twelfth time being held in Austin, Texas. This will be the fourth Grand Prix of the season that will feature the Sprint format. This will be back-to-back race weekends with Mexico.
2025 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 eleven victories.
2025 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 2024 United States Grand Prix by Lando Norris in his McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes MCL38, with the British driver posting a 1:32.330. You can watch the video right here at the link: Lando Norris’ Pole Lap | 2024 United States Grand Prix | Pirelli
2025 US GP Preview – The Last Five United States Grand Prix Winners
2024: Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari. 2023: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2022: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2021: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2020: Not Held. 2019: Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1.
2025 US GP Preview – Tyres
Pirelli will be bringing with them to Texas the white side-walled C1 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 six sets of the softs, four sets of the mediums and two sets of the harder tyres.
2025 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.
2025 US GP Preview – Pitlane Speed Limits
Pitlane speed limits will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.
ICYMI: Russell scores Singapore GP victory as McLaren secure Constructors title
George Russell led a flawless drive from start-to-finish to take his dominant second victory of the season at the Singapore GP ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen as both McLaren’s of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri completed the top four for the Woking based-outfit to wrap up their tenth World Constructor’s Championship crown.
This was Russell’s fifth-career victory and the second for Mercedes this season whilst McLaren secured their back-to-back Constructors title on the trot.
When the 62-lap Singapore GP began, pole-sitter Russell got a good getaway into turn one as second-placed Verstappen covered Piastri into turn one and two as Norris out of the exit of turn three made his way ahead of team-mate Piastri to move up into third.
Both McLaren’s made slight contact out of turn three with Norris suffering damage to his left end-plate of his front wing after the Briton made contact with Verstappen.
At the beginning of the second tour, Russell held a 1.282 second lead over Verstappen with Norris third, Piastri fourth, Leclerc fifth, Antonelli sixth, Hamilton seventh, Hadjar eighth, Alonso ninth as Bearman rounded out the top ten.
On the 3rd tour – Piastri had asked his team if they were “okay” with Norris barging his way through. The subtext there was whether the team should swap them given the manner in which Norris made his way past. that incident was been noted by the stewards.
The stewards deemed no further investigation between Norris and Piastri.
On lap four – This was all about McLaren and their intra-team battle. But actually, Russell was leading the race by 1.9 seconds from Verstappen, who is on the softer compounds and thus will likely need an earlier stop than the Mercedes driver.
Further back, Leclerc was ahead of Antonelli and Ferrari team-mate Hamilton, Alonso was eighth in-front of Hadjar and Bearman.
Replays showed the contact between Hadjar and Bearman on the opening tour with the latter almost being spun out, in which the incident was noted by the race stewards.
On the sixth tour – Piastri had been told the team are taking no further action between the duo. “That’s not fair, that’s not fair,” Piastri said frustratingly.
On the seventh lap – Russell was pulling away. He was leading by 3.2 seconds from Verstappen, who is 1.8 seconds clear of Norris. Piastri was being dropped, he was 2.6 seconds back from his McLaren team-mate.
Lap eight – Everyone was still running but the yellow flags were waving, and DRS was disabled for the moment – likely for some debris on-track. There were some gaps appearing, but the whole pack were still relatively tight in terms of a marshal running out to recover anything, so we should be back under DRS conditions shortly.
Haas’s Esteban Ocon had just radioed to say he has a brake issue.
Lap 10 saw Russell’s lead increased to 4.770 seconds over Verstappen, with Norris holding third, Piastri fourth, Leclerc fifth, Antonelli sixth, Hamilton seventh, Alonso eighth, Hadjar ninth as Bearman rounded out the top ten.
Russell was putting the clean air to good use out-front. He was out of undercut range of Verstappen, not that that is a factor given they are on different tyres. Russell’s lead was 5.3 seconds at this stage of proceedings, but Norris is clinging to the back of the Dutchman and was in undercut range of the reigning world champion.
Verstappen being on softs threw a spanner in the works.
On the 11th tour, second-placed Verstappen reported upshift problems at this stage.
Lap 12 – The situation was that race leader Russell was nearly six seconds clear as he hunted a second victory of the season – and perhaps the sort of result, which could speed up contract negotiations between him and the Silver Arrows.
On lap 14, Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto made it back to the pits for a new front wing and a fresh set of the harder compounds along with Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda who also bolted on the C3’s. The pairing emerged at the rear.
Replays showed Bortoleto’s front wing damage was the result of contact with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll at turn one.
A lap later, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto also stopped for the C4 yellow-branded mediums and came out in 18th.
On the 17th lap – Russell’s lead was at 8.271 seconds over Verstappen with Norris a further nine-and-a-half seconds back in third, Piastri fourth, Leclerc fifth, Antonelli sixth, Hamilton seventh, Alonso eighth, Hadjar ninth as Bearman completed the top ten.
McLaren ordered Norris to box to undercut Verstappen – but the McLaren team tried to pull a bluff to Red Bull and brought the pit-crew back in as the Briton stayed out.
On the 20th lap – McLaren attempted the dummy as second-placed Verstappen pitted for his fresh set of the C3 harder tyre and came out in seventh place behind Hamilton and in clear air.
Lap 21 saw ninth-placed Hadjar pit for harder tyres and emerged wheel-to-wheel alongside Colapinto and the Frenchman managed to keep ahead of the Argentine in 17th place.
On the 22nd lap – Leclerc pitted from fourth for the hards and came behind Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg in tenth place.
Leclerc with DRS and a late lunge on the inside at turn seven crucially made the move stick to grab ninth place from the German.
Lap 23 – “Everything is working against me this race,” Verstappen told Race Engineer Giampiero Lambiase when he was told he was free to push – The Dutchman was sixth, chasing down Hamilton in fifth who was yet to pit.
Bearman pitted from eighth on lap 24 for his fresh set of the C3’s and came out in-front of Hadjar in 16th place – Out-front – Russell’s lead was nine seconds, and he was told to get a wriggle on. But he responded that the tyres were dropping.
On lap 25 – Hamilton made his stop from fifth freeing Verstappen as the Ferrari driver suffered a slow stop and emerged in ninth behind Hulkenberg.
The 26th tour saw race leader Russell pit along with team-mate Antonelli in a double-stack – the former came out in third and Antonelli down in seventh.
Norris pitted a lap later for his fresh set of the C3 harder rubber and came out in fourth place behind Verstappen in fourth place as Piastri is told to box the following tour – further back Hadjar was told of an engine issue by his RB team.
Piastri stopped on the 28th lap and suffered a slow 5.2 second stop but still emerged out in fourth and crucially ahead of Leclerc as Alonso stopped and also suffered a very slow stop with his front-right to come out in 15th place behind Hadjar.
On the 30th lap – Russell’s lead was at 4.092 seconds over Verstappen with Norris third, Piastri fourth, Leclerc fifth, Antonelli sixth and the quickest man out on-track at this stage, Hamilton seventh, Lawson eighth, Stroll ninth as Ocon completed the top ten runners.
Further back Alonso reported to his team furiously after his slow stop – “If you speak to me every lap, I will disconnect the radio.”
Ocon made his stop on lap 31 for his fresh set of the harder rubber to come out at the back and behind Alpine’s Pierre Gasly – Upfront – Russell lead the race by 3.6 seconds from Verstappen, who gained time by pitting earlier than his rival. Norris was a further 4.4 seconds down the road, whilst Piastri lost some time thanks to that slow stop and was now 9.6 seconds behind his McLaren team-mate.
On lap 32 – the situation was that Lawson, Stroll, Sainz and Albon are the cars that had not been in yet and were all hanging it out for a Safety Car – Stroll needs one quickly, as he was still out there on his starting C5 softer tyres.
Lap 33 – Verstappen had not given up on the win here just yet, he had just taken a few tenths out of Russell, who doesn’t look as strong on these tyres at this stage.
On the 34th tour – Verstappen was finding a really good rhythm, he was under three seconds off the lead now. Russell needed to watch himself at this stage, even if he did have that tyre off set between him and the Dutchman.
Further back, neither Norris nor Piastri were making inroads into Verstappen.
The 35th lap saw Russell not streaking away here at this stage, but Antonelli a few positions back was having a very solid race. He lost out at the start, but since then had kept the Ferrari’s around him very honest. And the Italian was trying to get back within DRS range of Leclerc – who had clearly been told to put the throttle down, as he had just set a new personal best tour. The gap was under two seconds in the battle for fifth place.
Replays showed Verstappen suffering a front-right lock-up into turn 14 on lap 36 giving race leader Russell some breathing space as the Dutchman angrily said: “***** man, it’s so ***** hard to drive,” as further back – Alonso barged his way past Hadjar for 13th place.
Alonso jokingly said: “Trophy for the hero of the race,” after overtaking the Racing Bulls driver.
On the 39th lap – The Dutchman was struggling to slow his car down now and had a moment at Turn 2 costing him more time. Further back, Stroll was backing up the pack having not pitted yet, which is helping his team mate here as Alonso tries to close in on Albon, who had yet to stop.
Lap 40 – Medium were bolted on for Stroll, given how long he had gone in this race on the softer tyres. The Canadian dropped to the rear.
But back to the battle at the front, second-placed Verstappen was asking for help as he said, “The rear is like a handbrake.”
On the 41st tour – Verstappen’s struggles meant Norris was closing in, the Briton was 1.5 seconds back and radioed to say he was struggling in the dirty air behind the Red Bull.
“Max is struggling int he clean air,” he was told.
These two have previous – Verstappen was annoyed with Norris yesterday, feeling the McLaren man costed him a flying lap in Q3 – and they made contact on the opening lap.
Lap 42 saw third-placed Norris lose time as he had a scruffy lap. The turbulent air was not helping him here. Norris was now 2.3 seconds behind Verstappen, on tyres that were seven laps fresher.
On the 43rd tour – Russell had been struggling in the dirty air behind Stroll, who the Briton had then just lapped.
Further back, Norris’ scruffy lap where he came close to the wall meant he was now 2.5 seconds behind Verstappen, who had just called his car “undriveable.”
On the 44th tour – There were some entertaining fights in the midfield. Lawson and Sainz remained in the points having not pitted, with Bearman in tenth.
Alonso had wrestled his way back to 11th, having picked off Albon after the Williams driver locked up, with Hadjar hanging on in 11th place despite his engine issue.
Lap 45 – Norris was now just 1.5 seconds behind Verstappen and headed for a fight for second, as the yellows come out for Hulkenberg – the Sauber driver spun off at Turn 7, but he had managed to rejoin.
Replays showed the German lost the rear behind a car braking heavily. He dropped to last.
On the 46th lap – “Get out the way,” Russell yells at the backmarkers, as he started to finally sound rattled. Mistakes were suddenly a factor, as tempers fray in the intense heat and humidity at Singapore.
Norris was 1.2 seconds behind Verstappen in the battle for second.
Hamilton pitted for a set of the C5 softer compounds from seventh place on lap 47 with a comfortable 50 second gap to Lawson who was eighth – Verstappen was struggling according to his radio messages, and Norris was just seven tenths of a second back on the Red Bull. This was for three more Driver’s Championship points.
Lap 48 – Norris was just 0.5 seconds back, but Verstappen had DRS as he was right behind some backmarkers – Bortoleto is the one gifting the Dutchman some DRS assistance.
This was the battle for second, as the laps started to tick down.
On lap 50 – Russell’s gap to Verstappen was 6.044 seconds with Norris just 0.771 seconds behind the Dutchman in third, Piastri fourth, Leclerc fifth, Antonelli sixth, Hamilton seventh, Alonso eighth, Sainz ninth as Bearman rounded out the top ten as Lawson pitted for the C5 softer tyre to emerged in 19th place behind Albon.
On lap 52, Sainz finally pitted from ninth and put on a set of the softs to re-join in 15th place behind Stroll – Upfront – Russell was leading by nearly six seconds and was approaching some more traffic. Norris still had DRS but could find no way past Verstappen.
And Hamilton was flying on his softs down in seventh place – and potentially could catch Antonelli before the end of the Grand Prix.
On lap 53, Norris had a look around the outside of Verstappen at the end of turn seven but could not get by.
Out-front – Russell was losing time again as he lapped some backmarkers. But Verstappen was too busy keeping Norris at bay to have any real chance to hunt the Mercedes man down.
Antonelli was within DRS of Leclerc.
Lap 54 saw Antonelli overtook Leclerc in the battle for fifth.
The gaps were stabilising out there on lap 55, so it was all on Norris here to see if he can get past Verstappen or not. That and Ferrari could definitely swap their drivers given they were on different strategies.
On the 56th lap – Hamilton was let through by Leclerc to try push his way ahead of Antonelli whilst Hadjar pulled aside and lets both Verstappen and Norris through, as Russell went up to the back of Bearman to lap another car.
Lap 58 – There was nothing doing for Norris at this stage, he could not seem to threaten Verstappen into a mistake, the Dutchman’s car looked to be handling better and the tyres are holding on fine.
Piastri’s charge had also faltered, he remained three seconds adrift of his McLaren team-mate.
On lap 60 – Hamilton reported he lost his brakes after making a mistake whilst in the battle for second – and further back, Sainz on fresher tyres had made his way ahead of Hadjar for tenth and the final points place.
On the penultimate lap – Russell lead Verstappen and Norris by almost six seconds.
Behind them Norris remained eight tenths back on Verstappen, but this had been a solid defensive masterclass from the reigning world champion since Norris picked up DRS. And further back – Ferrari had swapped their drivers back around, given Hamilton’s pace had gone with his brake issue.
Russell crossed the line to take the Singapore GP victory by 5.430 seconds ahead of Verstappen as Norris and Piastri came home third and fourth respectively to secure McLaren their back-to-back Constructor’s Championship title.
Antonelli came home fifth ahead of Ferrari’s Leclerc and Alonso who reached the chequered flag sixth and seventh respectively.
Hamilton finished the Singapore Grand Prix in eighth after receiving his five second penalty for a series of track limits infringements as Bearman and Sainz completed the top ten.
*****Hamilton was given a five-second-timed-penalty by the stewards for a series of track limits infringements*****
2025 US GP Preview – The Situation
Formula 1 heads to Texas to start a crucial phase of the 2025 World title run as the Circuit of the Americas hosts the fourth Sprint round of the campaign.
The first leg of a double header with the Mexican Grand Prix and then followed by trips to Interlagos and Las Vegas, the run of Grands Prix in the Americas could play a big role in the ultimate outcome of this season’s World Driver’s Championship.
It’s a title fight, which closed up again after controversy on the streets of Marina Bay with Lando Norris snipping McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri’s lead down to 22 points and the flying Dutchman Max Verstappen closing down his deficit to 63 points.
An F1 Sprint weekend means there is a maximum of 33 points up for grabs for a driver in Austin, making a quick start and weekend-long consistency very important for all three title contenders.
With the World Constructor’s Championship title now all completed in record time, McLaren will aim to get back to winning ways for first time in four Grands Prix and keep a seal on any tension on circuit between Piastri and Norris after the duo banged wheels on the opening tour of the Singapore Grand Prix.
Mercedes’ George Russell will be pushing to run at the front again after his solid victory at Marina Bay ahead of the championship contenders, whilst Ferrari are hoping the US/Mexico City back-to-back will bring some late joy to their disappointing campaign as they return to the circuits of their last two wins from a year ago.
Piastri returns to Texas on top of the World Driver’s Championship standings with 336 points and a 22-point advantage over McLaren team-mate Norris who is second on 314 points whilst Red Bull’s Verstappen is third and a further 63 behind the Australian on 273 points.
McLaren Formula 1 Team returns to the Circuit of the Americas with the World Constructors Championship standings wrapped up and sit on 650 points and a huge 325-point gap over nearest rivals Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team who are second on 325 points whilst Scuderia Ferrari are a further 352 behind the Woking based-outfit in third on 298 points.
Click here for the 2025 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructor’s Championship Standings
The Formula 1 MSC Cruises United States Grand Prix 2025 weekend kicks off Friday October 17 with Free Practice 1 and Sprint Qualifying, followed by the 100km Sprint and Qualifying Saturday October 18 and the 56 lap Race Sunday October 19.
