Rounds 19 and 20 of the 2024 Formula 1 (F1) World Championship were held in Austin on Oct. 19 and Mexico on Oct. 27, respectively.
Circuit of the Americas, Austin, TX
The start of the second remaining triple-header, Circuit of the Americas, found McLaren’s Lando Norris, second in the driver’s championship and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, leader of the driver’s championship, on pole and second, respectively. In the first turn, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who started fourth, took advantage of Verstappen and Norris going wheel-to-wheel and bypassed both and his teammate, Carlos Sainz, to lead the race.
On the third lap, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton spun into the gravel, ending his race and bringing out the safety car. This maintains a neutral race environment by keeping drivers aligned in a single formation and reducing speeds, preventing overtaking while the car or any debris on the track is cleared. This was the first deployment of a safety car during a race since Montreal in June.
With Leclerc at first and Sainz second, the last 15 laps found Verstappen and Norris in a fiery battle for third. On lap 52 of 56, Norris overtook Verstappen outside the track. Since he did not give the place back, the British driver received a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. This ensured Verstappen was third and Norris fourth.
Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls took grid penalties due to replacing many parts of his car, starting 19th on the grid but climbing up 10 places during the race to earn him points on his first race back as an official F1 driver. Franco Colapinto of Williams, who joined mid-season, also scored a point, starting 15th and finishing just behind Lawson. Team principals are looking at these promising new drivers, Lawson and Colapinto, for potential seats on next year’s grid.
Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg finished eighth, giving the American team their best finish at a home Grand Prix. This was Ferrari’s first one-two finish in the US since 2006 and Leclerc’s eighth race win of his career.
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico
The home race of Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez saw the race’s first lap interrupted by a safety car due to the collision of Yuki Tsunoda of Racing Bulls and Alexander Albon of Williams. Verstappen, who started second, took the lead from Sainz, who started on pole in the first turn but regained it on the ninth lap. Verstappen and Norris, who started third, found themselves wheel-to-wheel again, allowing Leclerc, who started fourth, to pass through for second. Verstappen received a 10-second time penalty for forcing Norris off the track. Another 10 seconds was given for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
This was Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso’s 400th race entry, but unfortunately, he was unable to finish due to a brake cooling issue. While being chased by Norris for second place, Leclerc lost proper grip on his car due to the degradation of tires and went off track, allowing Norris to overtake him. Leclerc quickly regained himself, managed to get the fastest lap and finished third. Verstappen finished sixth, and Pérez finished last place at 17th due to poor qualifying and car damage caused by friction when battling with Lawson.
Norris’ teammate, Oscar Piastri, started 18th due to violating track limits during qualifying. This resulted in his original time getting deleted, and he was incapable of setting a faster time due to worn tires. He finished ten places above, in eighth place. The Mexico 2024 Grand Prix was Sainz’s fourth career win and his second this season. The Spanish driver will be leaving Ferrari at the end of this season, replaced by Hamilton, and continuing his career at Williams.
With a double podium finish for Ferrari in these two races, they have overtaken Red Bull for second place in the Constructors Championship. Red Bull dropped to third place while McLaren still holds strong onto their lead. Verstappen is still leading the driver’s championship, with most of the team’s points coming from him. The next race takes place on Nov. 3 in São Paulo, Brazil.
