After a long autumn break, Formula 1 is finally back. The paddock reaches Austin, Texas, where the final stretch of the 2024 season kicks off with a sprint weekend.
The absence of racing for one never-ending month might have been a blessing in disguise for some teams, while others might have preferred to continue racing without giving a chance to the rivals to – maybe – catch up.
Every outfit on the grid could work on their weaknesses to improve their cars and tweak the areas that created issues up until Singapore – the last GP -. Despite that, trying to modify things to improve the car doesn’t always mean achieving better performance, as only the track will reveal whether the engineers have done a good job or not.
Both the drivers and constructors’ championships are still open, with McLaren in the lead in the latter one. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen is trying to defend his leadership in the drivers’ standings, as Red Bull hasn’t been that competitive lately. Therefore, this long break might help them jump back and challenge McLaren more closely.
Regarding the fight between those two outfits, both are set to introduce updates in Austin. So far, what McLaren brought to the track has always worked, and their new floor might allow them to open up the gap to their rivals even more. On the other hand, Red Bull has been struggling to make its upgrades work, but they surely had time to work on the simulator to fix those issues. Thus, the fight is still on, and only the track will tell who will come out on top.
Moreover, Ferrari has also been competitive after the summer break, so they need to be taken into account for this final stretch of six races. The Italian team won’t bring any updates to Austin, as they preferred to work on the already introduced upgrades to make them work even better. Charles Leclerc is in great shape, and he could be an ally for Lando Norris, who is hunting Verstappen for the title. Not only that, but Carlos Sainz will surely want to finish his story with Ferrari on a high note.
To add to that, there’s also Mercedes, which has been a bit more inconsistent than the other teams but will surely try to stay in the fight. If both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell perform well and leave Sergio Perez behind them, they could be yet another ally for McLaren in the constructors’ championship.
Austin is just the first of the last six races, but it will surely give us an idea of how the pecking order will be up until the end of the season. The margin for mistakes is close to zero, as the teams are about to face a triple header. Therefore, adjusting issues to the car should the new updates not work won’t be easy, if not almost impossible.
Will Norris be able to be perfect in every single race and beat Verstappen to the title, or will Red Bull rise back up again and give their star driver the chance to defend the lead? We can’t wait to find out!