After a good month away, Formula One is back for the business end of the 2024 season as the teams look to resume and close out what has been one of the most competitive seasons in recent F1 history, starting with the United States Grand Prix.
As the grid heads to Austin for the United States Grand Prix 2024, here’s our race preview and predictions.
United States GP 2024: Verstappen raring to go
It’s been eight races since reigning three-time world champion Max Verstappen stood on the top step of the podium and even though the Dutchman hasn’t won a single race since Spain, he still holds on to his lead in the Drivers’ Championship. In that time, since Verstappen won a race, McLaren have been the team to stop with Mercedes picking up three surprise wins as well. Lando Norris, who is Verstappen’s biggest title rival this season, has taken just two wins since Spain though with his young Australian teammate Oscar Piastri being the more consistent McLaren driver in this period.
Verstappen and Red Bull have been on the back foot for a while now and didn’t have the machinery to match McLaren but after a lengthy break, Red Bull, like a host of other teams, will be bringing upgrades to the United States Grand Prix 2024. With the upgrades set to play a big role in the Championship battle, it is going to be a crucial couple of races to resume the final portion of the season and with the United States race having a Sprint race as well, it is the perfect opportunity for Verstappen to not only get back to winning ways but start to extend his lead to Norris.
We should be in for another cracker of a weekend with both McLaren and Red Bull in the mix for the win but should Red Bull be able to deliver on their upgrades, expect Verstappen to be back on the top step of the podium.
Pole prediction: Max Verstappen / Lando Norris
Race win prediction: Max Verstappen
United States GP 2024: All eyes on Liam Lawson
Liam Lawson is back to VCARB as he replaces the recently-booted Daniel Ricciardo with the veteran Australian failing to deliver on his comeback and has been removed by the team since. Lawson, who stood in for the team in 2023 for a couple of races for Ricciardo itself, when the latter had broken his hand, will drive with Yuki Tsunoda for the remainder of the season.
Lawson comes into a VCARB team, who haven’t been the most competitive and while he will not only have all eyes on him to see whether Red Bull made the right call to axe Ricciardo, he will also need to make an impact to get a seat for the upcoming season and show the world that he belongs on the grid. Lawson has a best finish of third in the Formula 2 championship (2022) and finished runner up in Super Formula for Team Mugen last season as well. The task though, is cut out for the New Zealand driver and it will be a tough end to the season for him.
Also read: Formula One Sponsors 2024
United States GP 2024: No end to Sauber’s struggles?
18 rounds into the Formula One 2024 season, Sauber remains the only team on the grid to have not scored any points with the Swiss team struggling almost every weekend and has a best finish of P11 (Zhou Guanyu in Bahrain).
Zhou’s teammate Valtteri Bottas though has more on his plate. Bottas, a certified race winner, would want to lock in a seat for the Formula One 2025 and the Sauber/Audi seat beside Nico Hülkenberg is the only remaining option (it is unlikely Red Bull take Bottas for the 2025 season for Lawson or Sergio Pérez) and Bottas would want to end the season with a couple of strong performance to show that he’s still capable of putting in a solid drive. Sauber is set to bring upgrades to Austin but given where the team is currently, expect another tough weekend for Bottas and Zhou.
Struggler of the weekend – Sauber
United States Grand Prix 2024: Race Details
Circuit: Circuit of the Americas
Venue: Austin, Texas, USA
Practice Session 1 time: 23:00, October 18
Sprint Qualifying time: 03:30, October 19
Sprint time: 23:00, October 19
Qualifying time: 03:30, October 20
Main race time: 00:30, October 21
Where to watch: F1 TV Pro / FanCode
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