The United States Grand Prix 2023 was the 18th round of the 2023 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, USA, during the weekend of the 20th to the 22nd of October.
Max Verstappen won the race after starting in the 6th position, followed by Lando Norris, and Carlos Sainz completing the podium.
Charles Leclerc started from the pole position, but didn't manage to cross the finish line, as he , and had to retire on lap 56th.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 36 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 9-11: 5 stops
- Laps 16-21: 11 stops
- Laps 27-29: 4 stops
- Laps 34-35: 5 stops
- Laps 37-40: 5 stops
The fastest pit stop was Lando Norris's, stopping the clock at 23.361 seconds during his pit stop on lap 34, while the slowest one was was Nico Hülkenberg's, who stopped the clock at 26.573 seconds, 3.212 seconds slower than Norris, during his pit stop on lap 19.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 2 stops. Only 1 driver tried a 1 stop, and 1 driver tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Max Verstappen, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
19Charles Leclerc
2 stops
-
1Guanyu Zhou
-
1Valtteri Bottas
-
14Kevin Magnussen
-
6Alexander Albon
-
6Logan Sargeant
-
5Max Verstappen
-
5Sergio Pérez
-
1Carlos Sainz
-
-Lando Norris
-
1Pierre Gasly
-
16Fernando Alonso
-
11Nico Hülkenberg
-
16Lewis Hamilton
-
7Lance Stroll
-
-George Russell
-
1Daniel Ricciardo
3 stops
-
3Yuki Tsunoda
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 0.64 positions, while those on a 3 stops strategy gained 3 positions on average.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 3 stops strategy was the best option, even if Max Verstappen managed to win the race making 2 stops.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Circuit of the Americas, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There were some incidents during the race, with 5 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Fernando Alonso, who had a problem with the undertray on lap 49, Oscar Piastri, who had a problem with the radiator of the car on lap 10, and Esteban Ocon, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 6.
Undertray
-
Fernando AlonsoLap 49
Radiator
-
Oscar PiastriLap 10
Collision damage
-
Esteban OconLap 6
There was also action outise of the track itself, and the stwearts decided to disqualify 2 drivers at the end of the race.
Disqualified
-
Lewis HamiltonLap 56
-
Charles LeclercLap 56
Qualifying
Charles Leclerc managed to get the pole position by 0.13 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:34.723. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Lando Norris.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 13 out of the 15 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that 9 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.