The Mercedes pair have been closely matched on points for most of the season, with Russell ahead of his team mate mostly until the events of Spa Francorchamp. Despite winning the race, Russell was disqualified for his car being underweight handing the victory to Hamilton and creating a swing of 32 points between the pair.
George is currently nineteen points behind his team mate and whilst titles are to of reach for the silver arrows this season, the intra team battle between the drivers will rage until the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi.
Having had just over a three week break, the teams returned to Austin many with shiny new upgrades. In the only practice session, Mercedes looked to be fourth quickest with Hamilton and Russell languishing in six and seventh position on the timesheets.
Yet come Sprint qualifying things were to be very different. Hamilton topped the times in SQ1 with Verstappen, Leclerc and Norris all within 0.2 to 0.27 seconds behind.
Lewis again set the quickest time in SQ2 only to be pipped at the last minute by Max Verstappen (0.096s quicker) and then Carlos Sainz (a further 0.16s ahead). Russell too was in the frame just 0.2 seconds and two places further back.
Then in the shortened eight minute session of SQ3 for the pole position shootout it was Russell who set the standard for the field with his 1:32.845 on the mandated soft tyre. Even though George’s rivals ran later in the session with potentially better track conditions, only Max Verstappen could overhaul the British driver and then only with a time just 12 thousands of a second quicker than the Mercedes driver.
Hamilton was left bemoaning the timing of his last attempt given the amount of traffic on the circuit, Lewis was unable to deliver the ultimate lap. Hamilton in fact starts a disappointing P7 and with Oscar Piastri out in SQ1 this was an opportunity missed.
Ahead of the world champion is Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) and the Ferrari duo, also Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and his own team mate Russell.
The teams trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin, reacted following the session. “We can take many positives but ultimately, we end the day slightly frustrated,” says Shovlin. “Lewis was on for a lap that would have been more than enough for P1. We had opted to go on the early side to avoid any interruptions with yellows on a busy track at the end of the session.”
Hamilton did in fact catch a yellow flag on his final run after Williams driver Franco Colapinto spun his car at turn 12, the end of the long back straight.
Clearly the session went better for team mate Russell although Mercedes felt it was Hamilton who should have been better equipped to face the Sprint Shoutout. “George wasn’t as comfortable with the car today as Lewis but it’s a clear sign of progress that he was still able to take P2. We have brought an update kit this weekend and its introduction has been straightforward,” Shovlin added.
Mercedes are in a desperate chase to hunt down Ferrari in the constructors’ title race with the Scuderia at present enjoying a 112 point advantage over their rivals. Whilst the W15 is not a master of all types of circuit, when Mercedes find themselves at a track and leading, they’ve proven they can finish off the weekends with a victory.
Shovlin cautions that only day one of three has been completed, but he believes the momentum can be take forward into the rest of the weekend. “It is of course only one day of running but it does look like we are seeing the gains we hoped for. We will look to continue that momentum into the rest of the weekend.” Shovlin concluded.
Mercedes along with McLaren brought a big package of upgrades to its car for this weekends USGP. his included an entirely new front wing and front suspension package, which the team noted will “reduce front wing wake which improves flow to the rear of the car.”
The Brackley squad also brought new bodywork to Austin, re-profiling the sidepod inlets to increase airflow moving to cool components inside the cover. The W15 importantly has a new floor featuring a new edge wing, an added vein together with floor fences to deliver more performance from the underside of the car. Much of this rolls back the team’s disastrous floor introduced for the Belgium Grand Prix, which ultimately was removed due to turbos with setup.
Despite missing pole position by tiny fractions, George Russell appeared relaxed after the tricky session. “To be honest, really happy because it’s been a while since we’ve been on the front row, and it was a pretty tricky session,” Russell told F1 TV. “But I really pulled the lap together at the end, and my last exit was really, really strong. I think that’s what made the difference.”
George noted the yellow flag incident which affected his team mate, describing it as “a shame” because both Mercedes cars could have locked out the front row of the grid. “It was definitely a handful, but I think we managed to get on top of it,” Russell revealed. “We knew we had potential in the car because I don’t think we made the most of our quick laps this morning, but the car has been feeling great so far with these upgrades. It’s clearly close out there, but we definitely surprised ourselves a little bit with that.”
Ferrari had high hopes coming into the weekend but Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz could only manage P3 & P5 respectively separated by the lone Mclaren of Lando Norris.
