Leclerc in Austin: a GP that could have ended at the start
The United States Grand Prix it ended with the disqualification of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, heavily penalized by the Race Direction for the uneven surface of the cars. However, at least for the Monegasque, the disappointing race in Austin could have ended much earlier than expected, even at departure. Not for damage or for any technical reason, but for a high risk of contact with your teammate Carlos Sainz.
The same trajectory as another circuit
The maneuver that would have potentially put an end to the race for both would have in fact seen the Spaniard as the culprit, who openly confessed to having overtaken Lewis Hamilton in Turn 1 for 3rd place by taking inspiration from a trajectory faced in a given circuit: “It was hard because what if I blocked or whatever – declared ad Autosport – I would have brought Charles and Norris with mebecause in Austin there is a very narrow corner. I did a bit of the Loews curve in Munich and I made it work! Here the first lap is always tight, very tight.”
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⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️LIGHTS OUT IN AUSTIN!!!
The perfect start for Lando Norris! The McLaren driver leads into Turn 1 🤩#F1 #USGP pic.twitter.com/emjixZp7d8
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 22, 2023
The ups and downs in the USA, and beyond
Aside from the thrill at the start, Sainz, who then finished in 3rd place following the aforementioned disqualifications, said he was satisfied with almost finishing in Norris’ exhaustion at the end: “After seeing how much we struggled against the McLarens and Mercedes, if you had told me we would fight with them in the race I would have been quite happy – He admitted – Lando was well ahead at one point in the first stint, and then we did a good job to recover, with a good pace. We didn’t invent anything, we simply did our race and we were very fast, so I’m quite satisfied. I think I was relatively strong in the race, I have to check the qualificationsbecause in the last two races they were nothing special.”
#Sainz #risky #maneuver #overtake #Hamilton #Austin #FormulaPassion