Both Formula 1 championships have now been awarded. The Constructors’ World Championship is officially back in Milton Keynes, it hadn’t happened since 2013. All this takes place a few days after the death of owner Dietrich Mateschiz, honored with a victory taken by Max Verstappen despite losing more than ten seconds at his second pit stop.
With a superior car, the Dutchman regained the leadership that got out of hand in the pits. Lewis Hamilton finished in second place, in an improved Mercedes car, but still limited by its characteristics in the fight with Red Bull. For Ferrari there are a few positive aspects from the United States Grand Prix ideas, even if the gap remains on Sunday. We analyze the decisions made on the track, based on the pure performance of the three cars of the top teams.
As anticipated before the race, no one decided to use the Soft tire for the start of the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas. There is a clear difference in terms of performance between medium and softer tires. The Medium has a higher temperature window and is therefore easier to avoid overheating. With the presence of many large radius corners taken at high speed, a lot of stress is imposed on the compounds.
The consequence lies in the great energy introduced into the carcass. In the sequence of corners in the first sector it is easy to “ask” too much from the tires and take them out of the ideal operating range indicated by Pirelli. Therefore it is crucial to manage the front tyres, especially the left one. The high degradation made all teams focus on a two-strategy pit stop in Austin.
After the brilliant start, Max Verstappen immediately built a safety gap in front of Lewis Hamilton, who became second with Carlos Sainz out of the game due to the collision with George Russell. The two Mercedes, in fact, had the same deficit as compared to Ferrari, namely top speeds. Overall, on Friday, the silver arrows had a better pace than the Ferrari-Red Bull duo.
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In general the W13 was more unbalanced and had a more oversteer tendency. Already during the first laps of the race, Lewis Hamilton’s left front tire began to degrade. In fact, the German car showed a front limited behaviour. The differences between the two contending cars for the win were seen very early on.
From the graph you can easily see the strength of Red Bull, 3 tenths better than the first of the two Mercedes car. A much better pace for Charles Leclerc, which is why he managed to extend the stint by a few laps.
The graph relating to degradation confirms what has been said, namely the lower degradation of the Mediums on the F1-75, a factor that allowed the Monegasque driver to go longer in the first part of the race. The best degradation was in fact that of the F1-75 car, even better than Verstappen. More degradation affected the Mercedes car, which also due to a non-optimal balance had more difficulties in managing the compound.
On the twelfth lap, Lewis Hamilton returned to the box and mounted the hards. The white compound was the most logical choice, since in had an even larger operating window. Obviously the Soft option was discarded from the start.
The reigning world champion also returned on the next lap, reacting to the Mercedes pit stop. Red Bull could have decided to stay out for a few more laps in order to immediately build an advantage for the next lap. However, they decided to react to Mercedes’ stop with the fear that the undercut might be particularly powerful.
Charles Leclerc stayed out for a long time with the mediums, managing to keep them alive for several laps. With the entry of the Safety Car, the stop times were shortened and the Monegasque gained some very useful “race time”. This could have even brought him in front of Sergio Perez, but for a few meters he ended up behind the Mexican at the exit from the pits. Overall, the Ferrari driver still found himself close to the leading group, with hard tyres that were about five laps newer.
In the middle stint with medium tires, Red Bull and Ferrari showed an equal level of pace. Slightly slower times for Mercedes which, however, remained very close. On the Hard tyres, as expected, the German car was more competitive. The gap between Hamilton and Verstappen remained smaller after the Safety Car.
The Brackley strategists then decided to shuffle the cards and slightly anticipate the stop. In doing so, they put pressure on the Red Bull men who decided to stop the RB18 at the next lap: a very slow stop that favored Hamilton’s undercut who found himself virtually in the lad. Charles Leclerc also took advantage of Max’s unsuccessful pit stop and gained the position over the Dutchman.
Both Charles and Verstappen mounted a medium set, considering them more appropriate to tackle the last part of the race. Hamilton, on the other hand, decided to use the Hard compounds as, according to the data collected by the technicians, they matched better with their car.
A correct choice that could have allowed them to race with more durable compound for the end of the United States Grand Prix. However, this was not the case, with Red Bull once again giving a clear show of strength in terms of tyre management.
Overall, even if the F1-75 seems to have put things right in tire management compared to the recent past, there remains a certain deficit on the race pace when compared to that of the world champion team. In fact, there are about 6 tenths of difference between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc over the course of the entire race …
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