Welcome to our coverage for the 2024 United States Grand Prix from the Circuit of the Americas, just outside of Austin. I have written this many times before but, for my money, Cota is one of the best tracks on the calendar alongside Suzuka and Silverstone. I think Spa-Francorchamps has become neutered by the modern machines, but this circuit is really a test for the drivers and provides, quite often, excellent overtaking opportunities.
What will we have in store for us today? Well, the trend throughout the weekend was one of Red Bull (or rather Max Verstappen) looking strong. In fact, arguably his strongest weekend since he last won a race in Spain in June earlier this year. He took pole for the sprint race on Friday and delivered that with a comfortable (if not exactly dominant) victory yesterday afternoon ahead of Carlos Sainz.
Verstappen’s rival for the F1 title this year, Lando Norris, finished third in his McLaren. That means Verstappen’s advantage increased to 54 points. Obviously it is not a killer blow, exactly, but it is obvious that Norris needs to be taking points out of Verstappen rather than losing more to him.
Fortunately for Norris, he had a bit of luck of his own in main qualifying later on Saturday. With the McLaren probably looking the third if not fourth quickest car at times this weekend, Norris found his best lap of the day with his first run in Q3. Verstappen came close to matching it but a slightly untidy final sector meant he finished 0.031sec behind the McLaren.
The Dutchman was on course to beat Norris’s time, with Norris unlikely to improve, but then George Russell put his Mercedes in the barriers, in effect bringing an end to the session and securing Norris his sixth pole in the last eight rounds. It gives Norris a small advantage over Verstappen, though even if he wins he will have to hope the Red Bull man has a scrappy afternoon.
Carlos Sainz was third for Ferrari ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc with Piastri in fifth in the second McLaren. Sergio Perez was down in 10th.
It was another day to forget for Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton did not make it out of Q3 whilst Russell will now start from the pit-lane after his crash in Q3. The race begins at 8pm BST and we will be here for all of the build-up, live updates and reaction.
