[shibujp]

Formula 1 Aramco United States Grand Prix 2021



Known as COTA or Circuit of The Americas, it was completed in 2012 and inaugurated by Mario Andretti. A Herman Tilke circuit it has a mix of slow corners and long straights.

Total Length : 5.513 km
Number of laps : 56
Top sped is 320 kmph on Turn 12.
Full throttle is 63 percent of the time
Gear changes are 54 per lap
Fuel consumption is 1.8kg per lap which is average
ERS is deployed for 35 percent of the lap.

Around 40% of the track is resurfaced this year since the last race in 2019 so teams are unsure about what to expect. Certain places of the track are bumpy as well and drivers are already complaining about the difficulty to reach the right balance.




Race Timings

Race : 25th October : 00:30 AM - 02:30 AM
Qualifying : 24th October : 02:30 AM - 03:30 AM
Practice 3 : 23 October : 23:30 PM - 00:30 AM

Tyre Choice


Weather
It is highly unlikely that the drama that we saw in Turkey will repeat given that rain is highly unlikely. However Austin is characterised by low temperatures which brings a certain degree of complexity to conditions.



The championship is at a crucial juncture and both teams need to be on their toes to win it. Red Bull is 36 points behind in the manufacturers title and 6 points ahead. Mercedes seems to be facing engine reliability issues and Red Bull has setup concerns coupled with straight line speed deficit. Adrian Newey's arrival seems to have shed some light on setup concerns but qualifying and the race will tell us how effective this would be.

Drive on,
Shibu

[Akshay6988]

In case this happens, you saw it here first



On other hands Bottas gets grid penalty for new engine. That makes it 3 engines in 4 races, what's going on ?

[shibujp]

Originally Posted by Akshay6988

In case this happens, you saw it here first

Bottas gets grid penalty for new engine.[/url] That makes it 3 engines in 4 races, what's going on ?

Since signing his long term contract with Alfa Romeo, Bottas seems to be racing with much less pressure which has produced a better turn of speed. So this possibility cannot be ruled out.

Engines reliability is a very precisely calculated science in F1. The team calculate precisely how many laps engines can run at full tilt to fulfill the hours of life required. That is why engines are turned down once drivers are comfortably leading. Every time this is done it means that the full bore power mode can be used more at another race that requires it. This season the challenge from Red Bull seems to be pushing Mercedes to the limit and may be exceeding there engine life that they initially planned for which is why we may be seeing more replacements. This may also well be strategic to ensure that they are well placed with respect to reliability at the end of the season.

This is sure to go down to the wire, assuming there are not DNFs going forward. If the free practices are anything to go by the balance of power is see sawing between Red Bull and Mercedes with Red Bull coming on top in FP2. I have a feeling that Red Bull is sandbagging quite a bit here with it's true pace revealed only during qualifying. Verstappen was able to match Mercedes' long run pace in FP2 as well. Other players are also strong notably Ferrari who seems to be on a resurgence of sorts.

Drive on,
Shibu

[shibujp]

0.9s was the gap separating Max and Hamilton at the finish line. Enough said.

What an epic race! You could hardly separate the two teams.

Drive on,
Shibu

[VRJ]

MAX MAX MAX SUPER MAX MAX MAX Oh god what a race This picture sums up the last five laps of the race:



When Ham pit the second time, he was 8 seconds behind Max. Just in 4-5 laps, he was only 4 seconds behind, thanks to fresher tyres and the annoying backmarker Mazepin. Every lap Ham just kept eating in to Max’s lead. It was intense. This is the closest race I’ve seen this season. What a drive from Max and Ham.

The first pitstop was a brilliant move by RB and gave Max track position and a 6 second lead. However, the second pitstop is what got me worried. Max did get a 8 second lead, but Ham had much fresher tyres. What a brilliant drive by Max Verstappen. Not very happy with Perez, he just couldn’t keep up with the top 2 and was never able to put any pressure on Ham. I couldn’t understand what RB’s strategy for Perez was today.

Great battles in the midfield. Ferrari vs McLaren in this race, especially in the opening lap, was lovely to watch. I feel Alonso always tests the stewards, lol. Overall, a brilliant race.

Cheers!

[Shiftlock]

Originally Posted by VRJ

Not very happy with Perez, he just couldn’t keep up with the top 2 and was never able to put any pressure on Ham. I couldn’t understand what RB’s strategy for Perez was today.

I believe that his Drink system had issues in the middle of the race which resulted in dehydration. This is what affected his performance towards the end.

On a different note, Superb drive by Max today, that DRS from mick in the last lap probably kept his lead just enough this time. Just goes to show how close margins are in this sport!

Really great to see some of the mid field battles: McLaren vs Ferrari this weekend was exhilarating.

[red_nemesis]

Indeed a great race it was with Max coming out on top this time.
Kept everyone on their feet right till the final laps, especially when Mick Schumacher got in the mix a little bit to give us that extra scare.
But overall it was a great race throughout with battles seen across the field.

We better cherish the final few races of this season, not sure if the battles will be as close with new regulations coming in. With matured regulations, the cars are so close in terms of performance that it brings out the real brilliance of the drivers.

Anyways, glad that this one didn't turn out to be a boring one.

[red_nemesis]

Originally Posted by Shiftlock

I believe that his Drink system had issues in the middle of the race which resulted in dehydration. This is what affected his performance towards the end.

Yeah. For a driver with 200+ GPs of experience to say that physically it was the most challenging race he has driven says a lot. He mentioned that he was physically drained in the 2nd stint. Would definitely have impacted his performance.

[iamahunter]

Originally Posted by VRJ

MAX MAX MAX SUPER MAX MAX MAX Oh god what a race This picture sums up the last five laps of the race:

Attachment 2223318


Cheers!

Exactly the same man!! I so wanted to let out a loud YES! when Max crossed the finishing line. That pressure build-up was just too much.

Redbull got their first pit stop perfect for the undercut, but the second could have been a few laps later.

Huge respect for both the driver, more for Max because even after the slightly early 2nd pitstop, getting held up by most of the back-markers, he still managed to fight till the end and come out a winner.

I know that the race would boil down to the final 3-5 laps, but that was close.

A huge respect for Perez as well. He managed to finish the race despite the hot weather and no water during the entire race.

Some fun moments between Kimi and Alonso, nice fights between Riccardo, Sainz and Norris, Tsunodo defended well against Bottas and Bottas did a clean execution of that overtake.

Look at the size comparison of Shaquille O'Neal.


Winners today.


12 points separate the Max and Lewis while Perez now ahead of Norris by 1 point.


Mercedes lead reduced to 23 points.

By far the most interesting and nail-biting race of the season if I may say so.

[Mat095]

One of the few clean races that had me glued to the seat, no safety car but still entertaining to the very last lap, amazing race by both Max and Hamilton.

Checo’s race can be summed up with one sentence:- “No, Checo, you will not have the drink”

On the other hand, the Constructors Championship is also getting interesting with only 4 points separating Ferrari and Mclaren from the third place.

[promit]

I usually sleep early. I stayed up till 12:30 AM to watch this one and boy, am I glad I did. Super race. Incredible performance by the front runners. The McLarens And Ferraris also put up a good battle. I am very happy for Max. Although his early second stop did not seem like the best idea at the time. It just about worked out.

[Excommunicado]

Originally Posted by shibujp

0.9s was the gap separating Max and Hamilton at the finish line. Enough said.

The gap was 1.3s sir and yes, the race was epic! It is going to be a fight till the end. Expecting it to be as close as the one Lewis had with Rosberg.

[Fiestaboy]

Lovely race.
Heart beat was increasing drastically towards the end, esp in the last 2 laps.
Glad to see Max winning, retaining the lead & taking it now to 12 points.

In constructor's points, Merc was sitting comfortably till US GP. Slowly Redbull are cutting it out now & great to see that Perez is improving a lot in 2nd half of the season.

The happiness & emotion let out by the Honda guy in podium tells how much effort they were putting back in the factory (esp. considering where they started with Mclaren & where they are going to leave the sport now.)

[mayankk]

Well, that was a disappointing weekend, both in F1 and MotoGP. (The heartbreak in the latter was much more drastic though for Pecco.)
Mercedes really need to get the strategy part to work actively rather than reactively. The remainder of the season is more or less evenly split between Bull and Mercedes, and 2 unknown calendar entities too.
This is turning into a nail-biter of a season, but Hamilton really needs a Win gap within the next three rounds to alleviate/avoid any ulcers for me
May the best Man(ilton) win!

[mnram]

What a lovely race! Was a nail biting one especially after HAM's 2nd pit stop.

This race again proves how great HAM and MAX are. Both of them finishing like 40sec ahead of Perez and him being unable to keep up with them in a Red Bull shows how talented both of them are in extracting the max from their cars.
Another highlight for me has been Leclerc. He has been consistently off the radar in several races and always cruising ahead of his rivals with a minimum of atleast 5 sec lead. Even today, he finished 20 sec ahead of RIC. He is a champion in the making.