In Pictures: USA 2022
ROUND 19 | USA | COTA
Formula One came back to America for a couple of back-to-back races in Austin and Mexico City for rounds 19 and 20 respectively and having Max Verstappen win the Drivers’ Championship in Japan, Red Bull could wrap up the Constructors’ Championship either in USA or Mexico, if certain combinations are achieved. Nevertheless, the talks about Red Bull’s Cost-Cap breach continued to be the main concern of some drivers and the media.
As with Suzuka, the Circuit of the Americas is a drivers’ favorite, with its flowing turns, elevation changes, and fast straights, is a fan favorite, so much so that 2022 was the most attended F1 event in U.S. history.
This year, COTA renamed two corners, the hairpin Turn 11 is now the “Bobby Pin”, in honor of Circuit of the American’s chairman Bobby Epstein, and Turn 20, the final corner is now the “Andretti Corner” in honor to the 1978 World Champion Mario Andretti.
Another big news this weekend was the presence of Brad Pitt, Apple’s Tim Cook, and "Top Gun: Maverick" director Joseph Kosinski, among other personalities involved in an Apple Original Films production of a new F1 movie to be shot during the 2023 season.
FRIDAY
FP1
Beautiful weather in Austin contrasted the one in Japan, and FP1 started with five, yes, five rookies tarring places with the regulars:
#28 Alex Palou, in Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren
#39 Robert Shwartzman, in Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari
#45 Logan Sargeant, in Nicholas Latifi’s Williams
#98 Theo Pourchaire, in Valtteri Bottas’ Alfa Romeo
#99 Antonio Giovinazzi, in Kevin Magnussen’s Haas
As mentioned before, glorious weather with bright blue skies, perfect for some Formula One cars going round a track.
Then, just 8 minutes into the session, Giovinazzi lost the rear going into turn 6 and got stuck against the barrier, bringing out a red flag. He managed to get back on track but had damaged his front wing and rear suspension. The session was restarted quickly.
forty minutes into the session and with so many cars running for so long in this amazing weather was making for some fast track times and it was Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll going fastest, albeit just 0.002 of a second faster than Max Verstappen. In any case, lap times started falling rapidly, and in the end, it was Carlos Sainz setting the fastest time, followed by Verstappen, Hamilton, Stroll, and Perez.
It was later confirmed that Perez (Red Bull) and Zhou (Alfa Romeo) were to take some grid penalties as they both take their fifth V6 of the season.
FP2
Since Pirelli could not test their prototype tires for 2023 in Japan, they did so in Austin, hence FP2 was 90 minutes long. Tires did not carry colored sidewalls, so only Pirelli knew which compound was which.
Huge crowds filling up the grandstands and the general admission areas, impressive for a Friday afternoon.
Lots of laps from most drivers, and even though lap times were somewhat irrelevant as most were done with the test tires, it was Charles Leclerc setting the fastest one, a 1:36.810. Followed by Bottas, Ricciardo, Sainz, and Mick Schumacher.
SATURDAY
Another gorgeous day at COTA. Huge crowds again filled the stands and general admission areas. It is great to see so much love for F1 in the States.
FP3
Conditions were a bit tricky as the wind had picked up and was blowing around some of the fast-sweeping corners. Drivers were eager to come out to do their respective installation laps, and some fast ones as well, preparing for qualifying later on.
In the middle of the session, it was announced that Logan Sargeant will be driving for Williams F1 Team in 2023, fantastic news for the driver from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Also, it was confirmed that Fernando Alonso was going to get a new Power Unit, hence a 5-place grid penalty. A bit later, it was confirmed that Charles Leclerc was going to get a 10-place grid penalty for new P.U. and other components in his Ferrari.
In the end, it was Max Verstappen setting the pace by quite a margin, with a fast lap of 1:35.825 in the final moments of the third practice. Behind him, Leclerc, Sainz, Perez, and Hamilton.
QUALIFYING
It was hot and windy late afternoon in Austin, making for some complicated conditions for qualifying.
Sad news ahead of qualifying. Red Bull owner and Motorsports lover Dietrich Mateschitz has passed away aged 78. Rest in peace.
Q1
Exciting laps for the first knock out stage in qualifying, regretfully, not going through to Q2 were: Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Mick Schumacher (Haas), and Nicholas Latifi (Williams).
Q2
Pit-lane open but not a single driver coming out, waiting for the preferred time to get out. Gasly, Tsunoda, and Albon were the first to do some flying laps.
Fantastic final attempt by Zhou going to 9th but had his lap deleted for exceeding track limits going back down to 14th. Eliminated were Alex Albon (Williams), Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin), Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo), and Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri).
Q3
The final shootout started with the sun almost setting down, making it somewhat difficult for the driver’s eyes. Leclerc was the first to come out, followed by everyone else…
In the end, it was Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) doing the fastest lap, a blistering 1:34.356, 0.065 ahead of Charles Leclerc (Ferrari). Then came Max Verstappen (Red Bull), Sergio Perez (Red Bull), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), George Russell (Mercedes), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Fernando Alonso (Alpine), Lando Norris (McLaren), and Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo). In any case, there were several drivers with grid penalties, so the starting order was to be shuffled.
““It was fun, a lot of fun. Very tricky out there with these winds that we have… but I managed to put together a good lap without mistakes and pole position that was a long time coming after a few qualis in the dry getting very close to it but not getting there.
“I’m not going to lie, for tomorrow Red Bull are still favorites, I think they normally have the better race pace. They normally get us in the race because Max does a good job and Red Bull have a very good car in race trim. But we are going to do everything we can to try and stay ahead tomorrow and win the race, which would be an amazing way to start these last four races.
Despite taking pole, I naturally feel sad after learning of the passing of Dietrich Mateschitz. He was an exceptional man to whom the world of sports owes a lot, and he will be dearly missed. My deepest condolences to his family and friends and to the entire Red Bull family.” ”
SUNDAY
More penalties and grid changes were announced Sunday morning, with Yuki Tsunoda having a new gearbox in his AlphaTauri and Esteban Ocon for changing PU components without approval from the technical delegate.
So, here's the starting grid with recent penalties into account:
It was warm and windy; the pitlane opened and cars started their way to the grid, many taking the long way coming through the pits to do more practice laps and standing starts.
As part of the Pre-Race celebrations, Formula 1 celebrated the memory of Dietrich Mateschitz, Red Bull’s owner who passed away the day before, with massive applause from everyone on track.
The circuit was jam-packed as never before. It was nice to see how much love for F1 was shown from all the fans, more than 440,000 across the three days.
The race started with a phenomenal start from Max Verstappen, but upon going through turn 1, Russell touched Sainz’s Ferrari, going into a spin and losing several places. He also had a puncture and sadly, had to retire the F1-75 from the race with further damage in the cooling system.
Up front, it was Verstappen leading Hamilton Stroll, Russel, and Vettel the top five. Vettel had a monstrous start, overtaking five cars during that chaotic first lap.
A five-second time penalty for causing a collision was dictated by the stewards to Russell for taking Sainz out of the race.
The race continued with different strategies among the top teams. Then by lap 18, Bottas had a spin heading into turn 19, getting stuck in the gravel trap. Safety Car was deployed. Leclerc and Vettel took advantage of it and got their pit stops sorted out. Leclerc came out right behind Perez in fourth position.
By the end of lap 21, the Safety Car period ended, and racing resumed. A lap later, Alonso and Stroll got together in the middle of the back straight, with Fernando Alonso’s Alpine getting airborne after touching Stroll’s rear left with his front right. Another Safety Car was deployed. Amazingly, Alonso was able to go back to the pits, get new tires and front wing, and come back to the race. It was a shame for Aston Martin as they were in a good position at the time to earn some points.
Safety Car came in by the end of lap 25 of 56, and racing resumed.
On lap 30, Leclerc overtook Perez after a bold move going into turn 12. Fantastic racing from both drivers. And now, Leclerc set his sights on Hamilton in second.
On lap 35, Hamilton came into the pits for a new set of hards, and so did Norris for McLaren. A lap later, Verstappen was called to pit next lap, and so did Leclerc, but what an awful stop for Verstappen, both on mediums by the way. Verstappen came out behind Leclerc, who was behind Hamilton.
With so much shuffling up front, it was Sebastian Vettel leading the Grand Prix in the Aston Martin.
What a fantastic scrap from Verstappen and Leclerc fighting for that second place. But by the end of lap 39, Max overtook Leclerc at the end of the back straight. Same great racing from Perez and Russell, with the Mexican taking fifth place.
On lap 41 Vettel came into the pits from second place but after an awful stop, losing more than sixteen seconds, he came out in thirteenth place, losing all the potential points he had fought all race long to earn.
On lap 50, Verstappen finally caught Hamilton and overtook him going into T12, but Hamilton did not give up and kept pursuing Verstappen. Meanwhile, some great, great driving from Vettel coming from P13 to P9, overtaking Albon in the fast right-hander.
And after a highly entertaining United States Grand Prix, it was Max Verstappen winning ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. With this finish, Red Bull clinched the 2022 Constructors’ Championship. With this win, Verstappen equaled Vettel’s (2013) and Schumacher’s (2004) record 13 wins in a season.
Behind them, a phenomenal Vettel overtook Magnussen in the same fast right-hander he passed Albon a few laps earlier, to claim eighth place. He was voted Driver of the Day. Alonso, after getting airborne in his contact with Stroll, managed to finish seventh, although he lost that place after a Haas protest and the stewards giving the Spaniard a 10 seconds stop-n-go penalty for driving his Alpine in an unsafe condition, losing his right mirror at speed, so 30 seconds were added to his time, dropping him from seventh to fifteenth.
QUOTES FROM THE PODIUM
““It was tough one. It was all looking good and then, of course, the pit stop was a bit longer than we would like, so I had to fight my way forward again. But we gave it everything out there today,” said race winner Verstappen.
Of course, it’s a very difficult weekend for us, so this one is definitely dedicated to Dietrich himself. What he has done for everyone... the only thing we could do today was win and, even though after the pit stop it was not looking great, I gave it everything out there and pushed it to the limit to come back.””
““I’m shattered. It felt amazing to be in the lead, but the car was a handful today. We came here with upgrades, and we closed the gap a little bit. It was so close, and I did everything I could to try and stay ahead, but Red Bull were just a little bit too quick. We’ve been working so hard as a Team over this year, and there are lots of positives from this race, as a team we showed great pit stop and strategy performance. I’m also happy with my performance and it was showing when we have a competitive car, I can bring it home. So we’ll keep pushing and we’ll try and give it everything we can over the next three races – it’ll come to us at some stage.””
““It was a fun race and I really enjoyed the battles with Max (Verstappen) and Checo (Perez) on track today. I had a solid start and after that, the first few laps were all about practicing patience. Things looked quite good and we even got lucky with the timing of the Safety Car, but unfortunately, we had a little too much tire degradation for the rest of the race and couldn’t fight for higher positions. It was great to be back in the US and see how much popularity our sport has gained here over the past years.””
