All info you need to see before the 2024 US F1 GP starts

While Formula 1 headed to Austin in 2023 with both World Championships decided in Red Bull's favor due to the all-conquering RB19, the 2024 US Grand Prix comes with certain doubts regarding the teams and drivers' standings.

McLaren Challenges Red Bull’s Texas Streak as Title Battle Heats Up

Ahead of the 19th race of the 2024 Formula 1 World Championship season, Red Bull's dominance seems to be something from the past. McLaren (Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri) is leading the World Constructors' Championship ahead of the Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez. McLaren has 516 points against Red Bull's 475.

McLaren has won four of the last six races (two with Norris and two with Piastri) and the trend has put Norris in contention for the World Drivers' Championship. It'd still be a long shot for Norris, as Verstappen and Red Bull dominated the first half of the season with seven wins in 10 races.

Verstappen (331) leads the WDC with a 52-point margin over Norris (279). The Dutchman has seven wins this year, while Norris has three.

Red Bull arrives in Austin with three consecutive wins at the venue and would hope to continue that march. It could be difficult for the Austrian outfit, but after almost a month from the previous race, the team is hopeful of having recharged batteries to compete in the final six races.

Moreover, the Sprint format for the weekend could open up huge chances for those who can adjust quickly to the track and the new upgrades.

On the drivers' market, Liam Lawson will drive for RB at Austin after replacing Daniel Ricciardo in Red Bull's B team. Lawson drove for the team in five races last year and scored two points.

2024 US F1 GP Facts & Figures

The 2024 edition of the US Grand Prix will be the 78th Formula 1 World Championship race held in the country and the second of three in the US in 2024, after the Miami Grand Prix and before the second edition of the Las Vegas race.

Of course, the United States’ story in the Formula 1 World Championship is full of different stages, as the country has held over 70 Grands Prix already (the fourth-most in F1 history), but the 2024 event will be the 45th race with the “US Grand Prix” title that is part of the World Championship of Drivers.

The country has hosted eight different GPs by title, including the Indianapolis 500 (11 between 1950 and 1960), US Grand Prix (four different eras since 1959), US Grand Prix West (eight between 1976 and 1983), a couple of Caesars Palace GPs in 1981 and 1982, Detroit GP (from 1982 to 1988), Dallas GP in 1984, Miami Grand Prix since 2022 and Las Vegas Grand Prix since 2023.

No other country has hosted more different GPs by name than the US, with Italy coming in second place with five (Italian, Pescara, San Marino, Tuscan and Emilia Romagna GP).

The United States Grand Prix has been held in six different circuits, starting with Sebring in 1959, Riverside in 1960, Watkins Glen from 1961 to 1980, Phoenix from 1989 to 1991, Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 2000 to 2007, and Austin since 2012.

The event has seen pretty much all sides of Formula 1, including tragic scenes, championship-winning efforts, maiden wins, scandals, a six-car race, a famous return to the top of the podium, and more.

Sir Jack Brabham clinched the first of his three World Drivers’ Championships at the US, in 1959, while Innes Ireland gave Team Lotus its first win in 1961 at Watkins Glen, his only Grand Prix triumph. Jochen Rindt achieved his maiden win at the US in 1969, while Emerson Fittipaldi’s first-ever win clinched the posthumous WDC for Rindt, who had tragically died at Monza earlier in 1970, and the 1970 World Constructors’ Championship for Lotus.

Francois Cevert won the 1971 event, but his story with the circuit ended tragically in 1973 when he died during practice for the race. Cevert was Jackie Stewart’s Tyrrell teammate, and he had finished second in 1972 in a 1-2 for the team.

Stewart retired right before the 1973 event due to Cevert’s death. He had already planned to retire after winning his third Formula 1 championship but did not start what would’ve been his 100th Grand Prix after his friend’s death.

During the US Grand Prix’s first decades in the F1 circus, the race was often scheduled as the last race of the year or near the end of the calendar, which is why some titles were decided in the US.

In 1974, Emerson Fittipaldi sealed his second Formula 1 World Championship driving his McLaren M23, and beating Ferrari’s Clay Regazzoni for the WDC. However, the race was marred by the fatal accident of Austrian Helmuth Koinigg.

Austrian legend Niki Lauda sealed his second Formula 1 World Championship driving his Ferrari 312T2 to P4 while James Hunt took his second consecutive win at the US.

The last F1 race held at Watkins Glen came in 1980, with Alan Jones winning and Carlos Reutemann second in a Williams 1-2. World Champions Fittipaldi and Jody Scheckter competed in F1 for the final time during the 1980 event.

The US Grand Prix returned to the calendar in 1989 and was held at Phoenix until 1991. Those years were in the middle of the McLaren-Honda domination, and the team won all three races at Phoenix, with Alain Prost winning in 1989 and Ayrton Senna in 1990 and 1991.

The event was again out of the calendar for nine years until its return in 2000, but this time, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway held the US round in its 4.192 km Grand Prix Road Course.

The US Grand Prix took place at Indianapolis eight times, and Ferrari won six times, with Michael Schumacher winning five races and ‘giving’ Rubens Barrichello the 2002 event by 0.011 seconds.

In the 2001 event, Mika Hakkinen took the 20th and last win of his Formula 1 career for McLaren-Mercedes, while Lewis Hamilton achieved his second GP win in 2007 after a battle with teammate Fernando Alonso.

The 2005 US Grand Prix saw only the six Bridgestone-equipped teams compete as a result of a massive withdrawal from those teams with Michelin tyres (including frontrunners Renault and McLaren) due to safety concerns.

The six-car race was a weird sight for F1 fans on the circuit and watching on TV and was won by Michael Schumacher in a Ferrari 1-2, while Tiago Monteiro achieved the only podium of his career for Jordan.

The 2007 event was the last F1 race at Indy to date, as financial issues generated by the fee paid by the track owners at the time put the track away from the Formula 1 calendar.

The Circuit of the Americas held the return of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix in 2012 and the Hermann Tilke-designed track lived up to expectations and earned a good reputation among drivers.

Hamilton won in F1’s return to the United States after a late overtake on Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull. It was Hamilton’s final win for McLaren and the second consecutive for him in the US, after his 2007 triumph for the same team.

Vettel went on to win from Pole Position in 2013, in what was his eighth consecutive victory of the season and established a record (which would go to nine straight wins in the final race of that season, broken by Max Verstappen in 2023).

Hamilton won for Mercedes from 2014 to 2017, while Kimi Raikkonen famously won the 2018 event driving the Ferrari SF71H ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Hamilton. It was Raikkonen’s first win since the 2013 Australian Grand Prix, his first for Ferrari since the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix, and the 21st of his career, breaking Mika Hakkinen’s record for wins by a Finnish driver.

Raikkonen had to wait for 113 races to return to the top of the podium, which is the longest gap between wins by a driver in F1 history.

Hamilton finished second in the 2019 event, behind another Finnish race-winner at Austin, Valtteri Bottas, and secured his sixth Formula 1 World Championship. The pandemic did not allow the race to go ahead in 2020, but it made a big return with the 2021 round, with Verstappen's Red Bull winning ahead of Hamilton.

The 2022 race saw another fight for the win between Verstappen and Hamilton, with the Dutchman winning the event for the second straight season. Verstappen added a third straight victory in Austin in 2023.

Among drivers, Sir Lewis Hamilton is the all-time leader in wins at the United States Grand Prix with six, one at Indy and five at Austin. Among teams, Ferrari leads with 10 triumphs, ahead of Lotus and McLaren (eight each).

Circuit of the Americas Track Info

The Circuit of the Americas, at Austin, Texas, is a 5.513-km-long circuit designed by Hermann Tilke.

The circuit has it all, with a tremendous first sector that is similar to the Suzuka esses or the Maggotts-Becketts-Chapel section of Silverstone, a long back straight (1.00 km), and a multi-apex right-hander in the final sector which is similar to Istanbul’s Turn 8.

It has 20 turns and is a complex that requires good setup compromise to cope with many curves, a long straight, and elevation changes.

Mainly during MotoGP outings, riders have been very vocal while criticizing the bumpy nature of the circuit, but organizers have been a bit diligent and the surface has been smoothed out in 2022 to give a better feel to competitors and improve safety.

The lap records at the Circuit of the Americas were established by Charles Leclerc, driving for Ferrari in 2019, with a 1:36.169 min lap in the 2019 race. Valtteri Bottas established the outright Fastest Lap in Qualifying for the 2019 race, with a 1:32.029 min lap in the Mercedes W10.

2024 US Grand Prix - Tyres

The dry tyres for the 2024 US Grand Prix will be the C2 as P Zero White hard, C3 as P Zero Yellow Medium, and C4 as P Zero Red soft.

From Pirelli's press release for the event: "This year’s United States Grand Prix, the first leg of an all-American triple-header also sees changes to the track at COTA (the Circuit of the Americas) as much of it has been resurfaced, completing the work begun two years ago. This includes the sections between turns 9 and 12 and 16 and 3, which thus includes the two longest straights where DRS can be used.

The abrasiveness of the track could therefore have changed since last year, given that a new layer of bitumen is usually smoother than an old track surface. This adds to the importance of acquiring as much data as possible during the one and only hour of free practice, early on Friday afternoon as the Sprint format returns for the Austin weekend. Other changes include the use of fake gravel for the run-off areas at some corners, as already seen at other tracks, Zandvoort for example.

This has been done to alleviate the controversy that can arise over exceeding track limits, without the problem of real gravel being thrown onto the track. The new surface should also have dealt with the problem of the small bumps that have developed on the racing line at some points over the years, which made life hard for the drivers and upset the car’s handling.

The dry weather compounds chosen are the same as those used for the past two editions of the Austin round, namely the C2 as Hard, the C3 as Medium and the C4 as Soft. COTA really does have a bit of everything, partly because the track designed by Hermann Tilke takes its inspiration from some of the most demanding and much loved tracks such as Silverstone and Suzuka (turns 3 to 6), Hockenheim (a sort of Motodrom from 12 to 15) and the section from 16 to 18, which owes something to the never-ending turn 8 at Istanbul’s Otopark.

However, Austin’s stand-out feature is the steep climb off the line to the first corner, which is very wide and therefore sees drivers taking a variety of lines through it, which always makes for spectacular viewing.

In terms of the forces exerted on the tyres, the loads at COTA are fairly evenly distributed between the front and rear axles and are more lateral than vertical. Usually, degradation is thermal and is therefore linked to the ambient temperature which in Texas in October can fluctuate considerably from one day to the next.

In terms of strategy, one will need to wait and see how this might be affected by the new surface, keeping in mind that Saturday’s Sprint should provide plenty of useful data. In last year’s short race, the Medium was chosen by the majority of drivers, although some risked using the Soft, which was then only used in the final stages of the following day’s Grand Prix in an attempt to secure the additional point for setting the fastest race lap.

Normally, a two-stop has always been the quickest here, especially as a one-stop involves a lot of careful degradation management, to the obvious detriment of performance. In 2023, the most used compound was the C3, which was more effective than the C2 and now it will be interesting to see if the new asphalt could bring the Hard back into play."

The minimum starting pressures for the tyres will be 23.5 PSI (front) and 22.0 PSI (rear).

2024 US Grand Prix - Weather Forecast

Friday, Oct 18th - FP & Sprint Shootout
Conditions: Partly sunny; a warm day at the track; stay hydrated
Max. temperature: 28°C
Chance of rain: 8%

Saturday, Oct 19th - Sprint Race & Main Qualifying
Conditions: Times of clouds and sun
Max. temperature: 27°C
Chance of rain: 12%

Sunday, Oct 20th - Main Race
Conditions: Mostly sunny
Max. temperature: 29°C
Chance of rain: 10%

Who will be on the 2024 US Grand Prix Podium?

Race winner Max Verstappen (Red Bull) celebrates on the podium following the F1 Grand Prix of US at Circuit of The Americas on October 22, 2023 in Austin, Texas

Red Bull was dominant in 2022 and 2023 at the Circuit of the Americas. Still, the team has not enjoyed that performance gap against rivals in recent events and isn't likely to dominate the weekend.

Red Bull can still compete for a victory at Austin, but the Austrian team might be equaled or behind McLaren's race pace. Moreover, Ferrari (Charles Lecler and Carlos Sainz) could also compete for top spots on Sunday in a track where Charles Leclerc qualified for Pole Position in 2023. Ferrari has won three races in 2024.

Mercedes (Sir Lewis Hamilton and George Russell) remains a mystery and could either compete for podium places on Sunday or simply ride in no man's land throughout the Grand Prix.

The prediction for the top three of the 2024 US Grand Prix is 1. Max Verstappen, 2. Lando Norris, 3. Oscar Piastri.

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