Formula 1 Aramco United States Grand Prix 2021 Preview

The sport of Formula One goes to Texas this weekend for the American GP, in round 17 of the World Driver’s Championship, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen leading seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton by six points in what has been an intense battle between the two.

America has not hosted a race since the 2019 season, due to last year’s cancellation, meaning that Valtteri Bottas was the last winner here, ahead of his teammate Hamilton, who collected his sixth World Driver’s Championship, whilst Verstappen finished third in the race, seeing the most common podium in F1 history reunited.

Last time out at Turkey, Bottas won the GP, with Verstappen finishing second in what was an uneventful race for front two, whilst Sergio Perez worked his way up the field onto the podium, following some superb defensive driving against the likes of Hamilton, which saw the Brit finish in fifth-place, whilst Ferrari’s Charles LeClerc managed impressive pace, capitalising on Mercedes tactical mishap to finish fourth.

Mercedes come into this race with a good track record at America, as they have won the GP itself five times in their last six visits, with Kimi Raikkonen’s victory in 2018 being the anomaly, whilst Hamilton has won in America six times if you include the last Indianapolis GP in 2007 with McLaren-Mercedes, as well as with his old team in 2012 before transferring over to Mercedes GP. Bottas’ only win at this circuit came last year, whilst Red Bull’s last was with Sebastien Vettel in 2013.

The German constructor will know that Hamilton must outscore Verstappen here or face an uphill task of challenging the Dutchman at Mexico next time out, a circuit where Red Bull are notoriously good at having won there in two of the last three seasons that a race has been held there.

Hamilton will expect to be challenging for the front row and with the chances of rain currently laying low, it is likely that the Brit and Verstappen will be going toe-to-toe for pole position, as the fight for the title that is growing in intensity with every passing race week. However, in recent weeks Bottas has been the standout performer, scoring more points than any other driver since announcing his move to Alfa Romeo for the 2022 season.

Prediction: Pole Position - Hamilton. 2. Verstappen. 3. Bottas.

Red Bull come into this weekend trailing Mercedes by 36 points in the Constructor’s standings, so will ultimately need a strong set of results from their driver’s if they are to narrow down the gap, but, as shown in recent weeks, their main focus will be on Verstappen’s chances of winning the World Driver’s Championship for the first time in his career. If the Dutchman finishes ahead of Hamilton here, then the Brit may well have a troublesome time catching the 24-year-old.

The points gap since the British GP has been no wider than eight points and this statistic could well stay the same after the Circuit of the Americas event. What could be crucial though, is yet again, the battle of Perez versus Bottas as we saw last time out, with both drivers taking points of their teammates’ championship rival.

Prediction: Hamilton. 2. Bottas. 3. Verstappen

In recent races, Carlos Sainz has shown impressive form, finishing sixth in Italy, as well as third in Sochi, Russia and eighth last time out despite taking a hefty grid penalty. Meanwhile, his teammate LeClerc will also be looking to help enhance his team’s chances of beating McLaren to third in the Constructor’s Championship following his fourth-place finish last time out. At present, there is just half a point separating the two so far in the standings.

Lando Norris will be looking to improve on the lofty standards that he set at the start of the season, as the Brit has managed two seventh-place finishes in a row since helping teammate Daniel Ricciardo to a one-two finish at Italy. Ricciardo has managed a fourth-place finish, as well as 13th last time out, the Australian has notably picked up his form in the second half of the season despite his result in Turkey.

Pierre Gasly has been one of the drivers of the season and is ninth in the standings, perhaps showing that he could be in line for another chance at Red Bull in the future, the Frenchman will be looking to build on a solid sixth-place finish last time out at Turkey, where he was eve challenging Hamilton in the latter laps of the GP. With 74 points of Alphatauri’s 92 points this season, it looks as though he is challenging Alpine for fifth-place on his own, barring drastic improvements from Yuki Tsunoda.

In Turkey, Fernando Alonso showed impressive pace, but, was unfortunate to be clipped at the start of the race by Gasly, ruining what looked like a promising weekend for the two-time world champion, the Spaniard will be desperate to bounce back and challenge the Frenchman for ninth in the championship in the latter races of the season. Meanwhile, Esteban Ocon is having a steady season, having scored 46 points, including that memorable maiden win in Hungary.

Vettel has scored points just once in his last nine outings and the four-time world champion will be desperate to finish the season strongly, as usually, when he earns points, he does so in large amounts, having finished fifth in Monaco and Belgium, as well as second in Azerbaijan.