1. Mercedes’ F1 strategy blunder in Austin
The initial question after the race – before the sting in the tail that followed – was, could Lewis Hamilton have won this race with a better strategy? His subsequent disqualification for a technical infringement made it a moot point anyway, but the Verstappen vs Norris vs Hamilton battle was a fascinating scrap that bodes well for the rest of the season.
Norris looked comfortable as he led the early stages, with both Hamilton and Verstappen – who only started sixth – having to work their way past the Ferraris before they could get to the McLaren. Verstappen was the first to pit, on lap 16, and Norris reacted to avoid an undercut the following time around, coming in for a set of hard Pirellis. But Mercedes kept Hamilton out until lap 20 as it weighed up a one-stop strategy. This having been a sprint race weekend (another Verstappen win), the teams had only one free practice session which limited their data gathering on tyre wear. Had Mercedes been armed with more knowledge perhaps it would have made a different call, because as it turned out and with the benefit of hindsight the one-stop was never really on at Austin (as Charles Leclerc found out).
The Mercedes delay lost Hamilton about 10 seconds to Verstappen in five laps before he finally stopped, which left him with a mountain to climb – as he said on the radio. Now Norris led Verstappen by 2.5 seconds, with Hamilton just over seven seconds off the Red Bull. A methodical Verstappen finally made a successful move for the lead, passing Norris on lap 28, although the McLaren remained a threat – and Hamilton’s strategic offset kept him in contention too. He stopped three laps later than the Red Bull for his final set of medium tyres, successfully hunted down and passed Norris for second on the road, but was left with just too much to do to catch the hard-tyred Verstappen to challenge for the win. Still, it had been a tense and gripping chase nonetheless.