As expected before the race, two-stop strategies were the preferred option for most teams in the United States Grand Prix.
In the fight for victory, Red Bull opted for shorter first and second stints compared to Mercedes. Max Verstappen had doubts about the “aggressive” strategy which left his final stint lasting 26 laps, almost half the race distance.Trying to regain the advantage they lost when Verstappen pitted before them the first time around, Mercedes put Lewis Hamilton on longer stints, in the hope of having fresher tyres at the end. The net result was his tyres at the end were eight laps fresher than his rival’s, allowing him to close in on the Red Bull, though he ran out of time to attack it.
The only two to start on soft tyres were Yuki Tsunoda and Carlos Sainz Jnr, because they were locked into them after qualifying. They ran relatively short first stints, though the soft rubber fared better than they might have expected. They matched or exceeded the first stints of plenty of cars on medium compound starting tyres – Sainz did 14 laps, Tsunoda 12, about the same as when many cars were coming in on mediums.
Pit stop length, as well as stint, was also key to how the order eventually shook out. A slow second pit stop for Sainz cost him around two seconds and, he said after the race, ended his hopes of beating Daniel Ricciardo.
That could have presented a big opportunity for McLaren, but Lando Norris also lost time on his second stop. McLaren brought both drivers in on the same lap, Norris just eight seconds behind Ricciardo, and the second car’s stop was somewhat sluggish as a result.
Sergio Perez finished over 40 seconds behind his team mate but struggled all race with the physical limitation of the drinks system failing in his car. His lap times dropped further off the two cars ahead of him as the race wore on.
At the other end of the spectrum Nikita Mazepin was frequently more than a second slower per lap than the next slowest cars. He also reported severe discomfort from heat in his cockpit footwell and had to pit early when his headrest came loose.
Three cars retired from the race, all with technical problems, including both Alpines. Fernando Alonso parked with a rear wing fault while Esteban Ocon had “a problem with the rear of the car” which appeared to be suspension-related.
The other driver to drop out was Pierre Gasly, who had a worrying moment when his power unit refused to start before the race, but eventually dropped out with a suspension problem.
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2021 United States Grand Prix lap chart
The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
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2021 United States Grand Prix race chart
The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
Position change
Driver | Start position | Lap one position change | Race position change |
---|---|---|---|
Lewis Hamilton | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Valtteri Bottas | 9 | 0 | 3 |
Max Verstappen | 1 | -1 | 0 |
Sergio Perez | 3 | 0 | 0 |
Lando Norris | 7 | 0 | -1 |
Daniel Ricciardo | 6 | 1 | 1 |
Lance Stroll | 13 | -5 | 1 |
Sebastian Vettel | 18 | 3 | 8 |
Esteban Ocon | 11 | -2 | |
Fernando Alonso | 19 | 3 | |
Charles Leclerc | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Carlos Sainz Jnr | 5 | -1 | -2 |
Pierre Gasly | 8 | -2 | |
Yuki Tsunoda | 10 | 2 | 1 |
Kimi Raikkonen | 15 | 3 | 2 |
Antonio Giovinazzi | 12 | 1 | 1 |
Mick Schumacher | 16 | -1 | 0 |
Nikita Mazepin | 17 | -3 | 0 |
George Russell | 20 | 6 | 6 |
Nicholas Latifi | 14 | -5 | -1 |
2021 United States Grand Prix lap times
All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:
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2021 United States Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
Rank | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Gap | On lap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’38.485 | 41 | |
2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’39.096 | 0.611 | 52 |
3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’39.303 | 0.818 | 41 |
4 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda | 1’39.566 | 1.081 | 32 |
5 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1’40.067 | 1.582 | 46 |
6 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’40.147 | 1.662 | 41 |
7 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’40.228 | 1.743 | 41 |
8 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’40.345 | 1.860 | 43 |
9 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 1’40.377 | 1.892 | 40 |
10 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’40.481 | 1.996 | 40 |
11 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’40.792 | 2.307 | 28 |
12 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’41.120 | 2.635 | 36 |
13 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’41.151 | 2.666 | 47 |
14 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’41.189 | 2.704 | 36 |
15 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’41.340 | 2.855 | 43 |
16 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1’41.395 | 2.910 | 36 |
17 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’41.818 | 3.333 | 46 |
18 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’42.015 | 3.530 | 12 |
19 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1’42.194 | 3.709 | 28 |
20 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas-Ferrari | 1’42.886 | 4.401 | 42 |
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2021 United States Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | Stint 4 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Max Verstappen | C3 (10) | C2 (19) | C2 (27) | |
Lewis Hamilton | C3 (13) | C2 (24) | C2 (19) | |
Sergio Perez | C3 (12) | C3 (18) | C2 (26) | |
Charles Leclerc | C3 (12) | C2 (20) | C2 (24) | |
Daniel Ricciardo | C3 (11) | C2 (19) | C2 (26) | |
Valtteri Bottas | C3 (15) | C2 (19) | C2 (22) | |
Carlos Sainz Jnr | C4 (11) | C2 (18) | C2 (27) | |
Lando Norris | C3 (10) | C2 (20) | C2 (26) | |
Yuki Tsunoda | C4 (9) | C2 (23) | C2 (23) | |
Sebastian Vettel | C3 (17) | C3 (21) | C2 (17) | |
Antonio Giovinazzi | C3 (8) | C3 (18) | C2 (29) | |
Lance Stroll | C3 (18) | C3 (16) | C2 (21) | |
Kimi Raikkonen | C3 (12) | C3 (19) | C2 (24) | |
George Russell | C3 (9) | C2 (22) | C2 (24) | |
Nicholas Latifi | C3 (5) | C2 (20) | C2 (30) | |
Mick Schumacher | C3 (11) | C2 (23) | C3 (20) | |
Nikita Mazepin | C3 (1) | C2 (23) | C3 (13) | C3 (17) |
Fernando Alonso | C3 (7) | C2 (21) | C2 (11) | C3 (10) |
Esteban Ocon | C3 (3) | C2 (22) | C3 (15) | |
Pierre Gasly | C3 (10) | C2 (4) |
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2021 United States Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
1 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 23.314 | 39 | |
2 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 23.414 | 0.100 | 11 |
3 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 23.455 | 0.141 | 34 |
4 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 23.502 | 0.188 | 26 |
5 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 23.529 | 0.215 | 32 |
6 | George Russell | Williams | 23.572 | 0.258 | 9 |
7 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 23.576 | 0.262 | 7 |
8 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 23.604 | 0.290 | 30 |
9 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 23.619 | 0.305 | 34 |
10 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 23.653 | 0.339 | 25 |
11 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 23.676 | 0.362 | 37 |
12 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 23.727 | 0.413 | 10 |
13 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 23.745 | 0.431 | 10 |
14 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 23.802 | 0.488 | 9 |
15 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 23.805 | 0.491 | 32 |
16 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 23.827 | 0.513 | 18 |
17 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 23.844 | 0.530 | 28 |
18 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 23.849 | 0.535 | 38 |
19 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 23.919 | 0.605 | 25 |
20 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 23.993 | 0.679 | 8 |
21 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 24.011 | 0.697 | 12 |
22 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 24.036 | 0.722 | 30 |
23 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 24.052 | 0.738 | 29 |
24 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 24.090 | 0.776 | 31 |
25 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | 24.169 | 0.855 | 37 |
26 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 24.176 | 0.862 | 11 |
27 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 24.191 | 0.877 | 12 |
28 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 24.247 | 0.933 | 34 |
29 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 24.293 | 0.979 | 11 |
30 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 24.385 | 1.071 | 10 |
31 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 24.444 | 1.130 | 15 |
32 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 24.481 | 1.167 | 13 |
33 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | 24.611 | 1.297 | 24 |
34 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 24.977 | 1.663 | 17 |
35 | George Russell | Williams | 24.980 | 1.666 | 31 |
36 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 25.018 | 1.704 | 12 |
37 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 25.548 | 2.234 | 30 |
38 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 26.866 | 3.552 | 29 |
39 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | 30.673 | 7.359 | 1 |
40 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 32.610 | 9.296 | 5 |
41 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 40.800 | 17.486 | 3 |
rpiian (@rpiian)
25th October 2021, 13:15
Holy smokes. I know Mazepin had a lot of issues. But honestly he is completely outclassed, every race.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
5th November 2021, 23:48
@rpiian
Every race except one: Silverstone. The media makes an effort to forget that (which is not very hard though).