The 2021 United States Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Aramco United States Grand Prix 2021) was a Formula One motor race, held on October 24, 2021, at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, United States. The race was the 17th round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship and the 50th running of the United States Grand Prix, the 42nd time the race was run as a World Championship event since the inaugural season, and the ninth time a World Championship round was held at the venue.
Background
The race returned after being cancelled in due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There was a 20% risk of rain for qualifying and 40% for the race. From this race onward, any practice times set during waved yellow flags would be deleted. The final two rounds of the 2021 W Series were held as support races for the Grand Prix. This was the ninth time that Austin has hosted a Formula One Grand Prix. Some restrictions on paddock access related to the COVID-19 pandemic were lowered starting from this event. 400,000 spectators attended the event across the three days.
Championship standings before the race After finishing second in the preceding Turkish Grand Prix, Max Verstappen led the drivers' championship from Lewis Hamilton by six points, Verstappen with 262.5 and Hamilton with 256.5. Behind them, Valtteri Bottas was in third place with 177 points. Lando Norris trailed him by 32 points, and Sergio Pérez trailed Norris by 10 points. In the constructors' championship, Mercedes led Red Bull Racing by 36 points. Behind them, third-placed McLaren led fourth-placed Ferrari by 7.5 points with 240 points, with Alpine a distant fifth with 104 points.
Entrants
The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.
The title sponsor of Ferrari, Mission Winnow, returned for this race. The name and sponsor logos were used by Ferrari at the Bahrain, Emilia Romagna, Portuguese, Spanish, Monaco, Azerbaijan, and Russian Grands Prix, but were not used in any races from the to the Italian Grand Prix, and the Turkish Grand Prix, for legal reasons. For this weekend exclusively, Honda-powered teams Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri raced with sponsorship by Honda's American brand Acura, replacing the engine manufacturer's logos in their cars' respective liveries.
Tyre choices Sole tyre supplier Pirelli allocated the C2, C3, and C4 compounds of tyre to be used in the race.
Practice The first practice session started at 11:30 local time (UTC−05:00) on Friday, October 22. Valtteri Bottas was the fastest in the session, with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen behind. The second session started at 15:00 local time, also on Friday, and ended with Sergio Pérez fastest ahead of Lando Norris and Hamilton. The third practice session started at 13:00 local time on Saturday, October 23. There were very stiff winds and high temperatures catching the drivers out throughout the session and Verstappen and Hamilton both had quicker lap times deleted for exceeding track limits on Turns 19 and 9, respectively, Pérez was once again the fastest driver, ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr. for Ferrari and Verstappen.
Qualifying Qualifying started at 16:00 local time (UTC−05:00) on Saturday, October 23. The surface temperature was around . Before qualifying, Red Bull made alterations to the rear wings of their cars after a crack was found on one of them. Verstappen qualified on pole. Hamilton qualified second, a fifth of a second slower than Verstappen. Pérez qualified third, while Bottas qualified fourth, although the latter had a five-place grid penalty and was relegated to ninth on the starting grid.
Qualifying classification DriverConstructor133 Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-Honda1:34.3521:33.4641:32.9101244 Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:34.5791:33.7971:33.1192311 Sergio PérezRed Bull Racing-Honda1:34.3691:34.1781:33.1343477 Valtteri BottasMercedes1:34.5901:33.9591:33.4759516 Charles LeclercFerrari1:34.1531:33.9281:33.6064655 Carlos Sainz Jr.Ferrari1:34.5581:34.1261:33.792573 Daniel RicciardoMcLaren-Mercedes1:34.4071:34.6431:33.808684 Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes1:34.5511:33.8801:33.8877910 Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-Honda1:34.5671:34.5831:34.11881022 Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri-Honda1:35.3601:35.1371:34.918101131 Esteban OconAlpine-Renault1:35.7471:35.377N/A11125 Sebastian VettelAston Martin-Mercedes1:35.2811:35.500N/A1813991:35.9201:35.794N/A121414 Fernando AlonsoAlpine-Renault1:35.7561:44.549N/A191563 George RussellWilliams-Mercedes1:35.746No timeN/A201618 Lance StrollAston Martin-Mercedes1:35.983N/AN/A13176 Nicholas LatifiWilliams-Mercedes1:35.995N/AN/A14187 Kimi RäikkönenAlfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari1:36.311N/AN/A151947 Mick SchumacherHaas-Ferrari1:36.499N/AN/A16209Nikita MazepinHaas-Ferrari1:36.796N/AN/A17107% time: 1:40.743Source: Notes – Valtteri Bottas received a five-place grid penalty for a new internal combustion engine. – Sebastian Vettel was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements. – Fernando Alonso was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements. – George Russell was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.
Race The race started at 14:00 local time (UTC−05:00) on Sunday, October 24. The race ran for over fifty-six laps of the circuit under clear skies with an ambient temperature between and a surface temperature between . There were 140,000 spectators in attendance that day. Hamilton overtook Verstappen at the first corner, with Pérez attempting to pass Hamilton but backing out to avoid risking a collision with his teammate Verstappen. Stroll and Latifi clashed at the first corner, leaving the pair at the back of the field. Ricciardo moved into fifth-place when he overtook Sainz at the sixteenth corner on the first lap. Russell started last, but was in fourteenth place by the end of the first lap. Tsunoda had passed Bottas and Gasly on the first lap, with Gasly then overtaking Bottas on the third lap. Ocon made a pit stop to repair damage at the end of the third lap, dropping him to last place. At the end of the tenth lap Verstappen made a pit stop to change from old medium-compound tyres to new hard-compound tyres. Pérez made a pit stop at the end of the twelfth lap and changed onto another pair of used medium tyres. Red Bull successfully undercut Mercedes when Hamilton stopped from the lead at the end of the thirteenth lap and emerged on the fourteenth lap five-and-a-half seconds behind Verstappen. On the fourteenth lap Gasly retired due to a suspension failure. Verstappen won the race by a margin of one-and-a-third seconds from Hamilton, with third-placed Pérez over forty seconds behind and fourth-placed Leclerc the only other driver within a minute of the two leaders at the end.
Race classification DriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredPoints133 Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-Honda561:34:36.552125244 Lewis HamiltonMercedes56 +1.333219311 Sergio PérezRed Bull Racing-Honda56 +42.223315416 Charles LeclercFerrari56 +52.24641253 Daniel RicciardoMcLaren-Mercedes56 +1:16.854610677 Valtteri BottasMercedes56 +1:20.12898755 Carlos Sainz Jr.Ferrari56 +1:23.5455684 Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes56 +1:24.39574922 Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri-Honda55 +1 lap102105 Sebastian VettelAston Martin-Mercedes55 +1 lap181119955 +1 lap121218 Lance StrollAston Martin-Mercedes55 +1 lap13137 Kimi RäikkönenAlfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari55 +1 lap151463 George RussellWilliams-Mercedes55 +1 lap20156 Nicholas LatifiWilliams-Mercedes55 +1 lap141647 Mick SchumacherHaas-Ferrari54 +2 laps16179Nikita MazepinHaas-Ferrari54 +2 laps17 14 Fernando AlonsoAlpine-Renault49Rear wing19 31 Esteban OconAlpine-Renault40Mechanical11 10 Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-Honda14Suspension8Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – 1:38.485 (lap 41)Source: Notes – Includes one point for fastest lap.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Driver Points1 Max Verstappen*287.52 Lewis Hamilton*275.53 Valtteri Bottas*185 14 Sergio Pérez150 15 Lando Norris149Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Constructor Points1 Mercedes*460.52 Red Bull Racing-Honda*437.53 McLaren-Mercedes*2544 Ferrari*250.55 Alpine-Renault104Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Bold text and an asterisk indicates competitors who still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
See also
2021 W Series Austin round
Notes
References
External links