GP USA 2021 power rating: Red Bull breaks the trend

Red Bull winning trend stopped. Before that, Mercedes had the fastest car three times in a row. This time, one-tenth of the World Cup opponents were missing. This is an unusually large amount. The reasons are still puzzled. We analyzed the performance of all 10 teams in the model check.

On paper, it looked like a tie at the US Grand Prix. Austin Circuit has a little bit of everything. Fast corners, slow corners with different radii, long straight. And above all a lot of bumps. This forced the engineers to raise their cars.

Perhaps it was this combination that stumbled upon Mercedes. Silver Arrows were only superior in the first training session. But then Honda was still running its engine at full speed. Red Bull was still looking for the right setup. On Saturday afternoon, Red Bull was two dozen ahead. That’s a lot in a duel that mostly lasted about a hundredth of a second. This was exactly the opposite of the balance of power between Monza, Sochi and Istanbul.

Red Bull’s dominance in the race continued. More visible on medium tires than on hard soles. But be careful. The impression that Mercedes was better on the hard tyres is misleading. Max Verstappen started the second job very quickly and eventually paid for it. In the third division, he did just the opposite and quickly ended up with Hamilton on tires eight laps older.

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Ferrari cemented its position as the third powerhouse on the field in Austin.

Ferrari benefits from hybrid upgrade

In the duel for third place, Ferrari was ahead. This is surprising, because they have already trusted McLaren the most in this regard. Mainly because papaya yellow cars are usually more careful with their tyres. In free practice, it looked like the paper version would be confirmed for a while. But from Saturday it turned Ferrari. The optimal format was found. The new hybrid system will feature on every road.

In the midfield, the same picture was presented as in Turkey. The Alpha Tauri was faster than the Alpine and Aston Martin. The Alps in particular have faltered in the Circuit of the Americas. Fernando Alonso had to wait until the race until he felt reasonably comfortable in his car. But then a double failure gave the French their first clear run since Bahrain.