F1 returns after a four-week break with the US Grand Prix in Austin and the fourth sprint weekend of the 2024 season.
Lando Norris won last time out in Singapore to cut Max Verstappen’s drivers’ championship lead to 52 points with six rounds remaining.
Oscar Piastri, Norris’ teammate at McLaren, finished third in the city-state, while Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will look to end their time together on a high before Hamilton heads to Ferrari next year.
Verstappen has won the last three editions of the American Grand Prix and also won the Austin sprint race last year. It will also be the first race for Liam Lawson this year, with the New Zealander replacing Daniel Ricciardo for the rest of the season.
Follow live updates from the US Grand Prix with The Independent
F1 US Grand Prix LIVE: Oscar Piastri on the edge!
Piastri in P14 with two minutes to go as Sergio Perez puts it together for P7!
Current top-five (16-20): Colapinto, Ocon, Hulkenberg, Bottas, Zhou
Kieran JacksonOctober 18, 2024 10:41 p.m
F1 US Grand Prix LIVE: Lewis Hamilton fastest early in SQ1!
This is a quickfire session!
The times keep falling and it’s Lewis Hamilton at the top, less than a tenth ahead of Charles Leclerc in second and Lando Norris in third.
More importantly, the bottom five (16-20) and on the way out as it stands: Ocon, Hulkenberg, Bottas, Zhou, Perez
Kieran JacksonOctober 18, 2024 10:38 p.m
F1 US Grand Prix LIVE: SQ1 underway!
The Red Bull of Max Verstappen takes us around the first sprint qualifying session – 12 minutes and all the cars on medium tyres!
Kieran JacksonOctober 18, 2024 10:31 p.m
F1 US Grand Prix LIVE: Sprint qualifying approaching!
So it’s our first competition action this weekend and after a chaotic practice session it feels like anything could happen in Austin tonight!
Sprint qualifying will follow the same Q1-Q2-Q3 format, but the session times will be shorter than traditional qualifying: SQ1 (medium tires) will be 12 minutes, SQ2 (medium tires) will be 10 minutes and SQ3 (soft tires) will be eight minutes.
Who will be on pole for the sprint tomorrow?!
Kieran Jackson18 October 2024 22:29
Martin Brundle insists there is ‘no smoking gun’ in the Red Bull F1 bib device saga
Kieran JacksonOctober 18, 2024 10:24 p.m
SPRINT WEEKEND FORMAT
Friday: Free Exercise 1 (DONE); sprint qualification (for Saturday’s sprint race)
Saturday: Sprint races (Top eight receive points, order of finish has no effect on the grand prix grid); Grand Prix qualification
How many points are offered in the sprint race?
Kieran JacksonOctober 18, 2024 10:21 p.m
A reminder of tee times this weekend in Austin:
All times BST
- Sprint qualification: 10:30 p.m
- Sprint race: 19.00
- Qualification: 23.00
Kieran JacksonOctober 18, 2024 10:15 p.m
What is the state of the driver’s championship?
1. Max Verstappen – 331 points
2. Lando Norris – 279 points
3. Charles Leclerc – 245 points
4. Oscar Piastri – 237 points
5. Carlos Sainz – 190 points
6. Lewis Hamilton – 174 points
7. George Russell – 155 points
8. Sergio Perez – 144 points
9. Fernando Alonso – 62 points
10. Nico Hulkenberg – 24 points
11. Lance Stroll – 24 points
12. Yuki Tsunoda – 22 points
13. Alex Albon – 12 points
14. Daniel Ricciardo – 12 points
15. Pierre Gasly – 8 points
16. Ollie Bearman – 7 points
17. Kevin Magnussen – 6 points
18. Esteban Ocon – 5 points
19. Franco Colapinto – 4 points
20. Zhou Guanyu – 0 points
21. Logan Sargeant – 0 points
22. Valtteri Bottas – 0 points
Kieran JacksonOctober 18, 2024 10:03 p.m
F1 makes shock fastest lap rule change for 2025 season
The FIA, F1’s governing body, has decided to remove the bonus point available for setting the fastest lap for the 2025 season onwards.
The extra point awarded to the driver who sets the fastest lap in Sunday’s Grand Prix (if he finishes in the top-10) was introduced in 2019.
This often results in drivers piling up late in the race for an extra point, especially if it doesn’t affect their top-10 finish.
Kieran JacksonOctober 18, 2024 9:40 p.m
What is a sprint race in F1 and how does the qualifying shootout work?
The sprint format continues in Formula 1 this weekend as the American Grand Prix hosts the fourth sprint weekend of the 2024 season.
The sprint was first introduced in 2021 at Silverstone as a way to make more sessions over the weekend competitive with the aim of generating interest in F1. In 2021 and 2022 there were three sprints per year.
2023 saw a new format. The number of sprint races was doubled to six, while Saturday was designed as ‘sprint day’ – with a new “sprint shootout” qualifying session determining the grid for the sprint race. In addition, the result of the sprint race had no reveal of the Grand Prix on Sunday.
However, the format has been tweaked again in 2024 and we will see it in action for the fourth time this weekend at the Circuit of the Americas:
Kieran JacksonOctober 18, 2024 9:23 p.m