What a race during and after—with “random checks,” not unlike TSA’s, of cars causing 2 DQs (Hamilton and Leclerc).

Before the robbery, Hamilton’s P2 run showed us that the greats from before are still there. This Red Bull (Max Verstappen) dominant era has made races more boring overall. However, this US GP at the COTA, alongside McLaren’s recent performance, has shown us that the greats can still fight it out. Verstappen only won by +2.225s.

Who are the Greats?

More recently, we can see this constructor trend in points:

The graphs make obvious the recent Red Bull dominance; however, we can see that Mercedes has a rich history as a great followed by Ferrari and McLaren. In the past two seasons, Red Bull nearly doubled its points earned while Mercedes slightly sunk. However, we see that the constructors with >2,000 points overall tend to stay above the rest for the most part—establishing them as greats.

Formula 1 Evolution

Though consistent trends are hard to find. It is easier to see that Formula 1 is an ever-evolving sport, as said by a Red Bull engineer post-race.

Ever since McLaren’s dominance in P2 & P3 at Japan and Qatar, Hamilton has called that McLaren found the right direction with their car. And Mercedes managed to mimic that advantage, leading to a great run by Hamilton. If only he was not shunted by 2 sluggish pit stops (slow relative to Max’s 23.756 s)

Box 1	Box 2
24.916 s	24.916 s

All in all, today’s race gives a glimmer of competitive hope for F1. What are your predictions for Mexico—Abu Dhabi? To me, it looks like we could have at least one race coming up where a car finally beats the RB19.

Race Lore

Here is some lore from the 2023 US GP to close out this post.

Verstappen’s victory happened on the one-year anniversary of the passing of Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz.

In honor of the Austrian, Horner—Team Principal of the Red Bull Formula One team—said:

Hopefully he would have enjoyed that looking down. He only ever wore a pair of jeans and so, that’s why the whole team is wearing jeans, just to tip our hat to him and you know, it has been a remarkable 12 months for the team. We simply wouldn’t be here without him so remembering him here and hearing the Rolling Stones playing out after the race, hopefully, he’s looking down and enjoyed that one.

Christian Horner