2025 US GP: Post Race Analysis

The problem with Sprint races is they tend to give a preview to what we can expect in the race, and in this case it was another snooze fest. We can say F1 and Pirelli need to figure out the tires so they can actually race, but it's been 15 years and they are still haven't got it right. It's hopeless.

Red Bull had a great day. Max of course winning from start to finish and closing the points deficit to Oscar by 23 points. Yuki had a very positive weekend on his side of the garage. 7th in both the sprint and the race. His small contributions may actually be important as Red Bull is now just 10 points out of 2nd in the WCC.

McLaren while still having the best car definitely had an off day. No information from the Sprint race perhaps effected their race pace. Lando had a wonderful battle with Charles Leclerc and eventually got passed to score 2nd. Oscar another poor weekend finishing just 5th with no pace to even attack Lewis ahead. No doubt the pressure is starting to build.

Ferrari looked miserable on Friday and did a fantastic job to turn it around for Sunday. Charles drove brilliantly to hold off Lando as long as he did. Perfect defense for so many laps. Lewis had a good day as well. Not terribly far off Leclerc's pace and a good 4th place finish. It appears Charles is determined to race Lewis hard, even in unnecessary moments. A little unusual from his side but definitely welcome.

Mercedes had a good enough car but track position meant a lot. Perhaps not as much as George liked to say but dirty air does matter. P5 for George and a disappointing P13 for Kimi, but that was the result of getting punted by Sainz.

Sauber in the points. Hulkenberg was a stud all weekend and made the most of the package he had. One of the stars of the race. Bortoleto started from the back and just couldn't make any progress. Another example of how dirty air matters.

Haas is getting most of their production from rookie Ollie Bearman at this stage. Another great performance that perhaps could have been even better but his little scuffle with Tsunoda cost him. Fortunately it wasn't a major collision. Ocon in P15 is his 4th straight race without a point.

Aston Martin probably expected a little bit more. Surely they thought they'd be above Sauber. Alonso had decent qualifying performance but looked to struggle in the race. At one point was just 2 seconds ahead of his teammate who started dead last. Still collected a point. Lance Stroll had a good race by his standards. Kept it clean and even made a couple of passes while on better tires.

RB didn't look particularly good this weekend. Lawson was on the heels of Alonso but 11th was all he could do. Hadjar his share of struggles and mistakes which left him P16.

Williams a big disappointment. A nice throw back livery was probably their highlight. Sainz seemed to have decent pace but his throw it down the inside and drive his competitive off the track move that did work and was technically within the rules, eventually caught up with him and he crashed into Kimi. DNF for him. Albon starting from the back didn't move forward like expected. Even Stroll did a better job.

Alpine was simply a piece of junk and likely will be for the remainder of the season. For once Colapinto looked faster than Gasly, but who cares when it's for 17th.

Driver of the Day: Charles Leclerc. Driving perfection when defending against Lando in a faster car and with the better tires. Even more impressive when you consider how far off they were in the Sprint Race.

 

I should add that I liked the Long Horn trophy they gave out. It beats the hell out of the usual cheap ceramic vase they give out.