What the teams said – Race day in the United States

Red Bull

Verstappen led off the line and from there was not troubled once as he sailed to a fifth win of the season. It was the perfect weekend for the Dutchman, who grabbed both pole positions and the Sprint victory as well. But crucially, the Dutchman cut his gap in the Championship down to 40 points, after taking 23 points out of Piastri across the weekend. Tsunoda made it two cars in the points after a strong drive from P13 on the grid. He made a great start, but had one dicey moment when battling Bearman midway through. He just about managed to avoid the spinning Haas, and grabbed his second-best Grand Prix finish of the year.

Max Verstappen, 1st

“It was a perfect weekend and I think the start was key today. The pace wasn’t magic but we got a good start on the first stint and Charles got in the middle of myself and Lando which helped a lot and as soon as Lando was in clean air he was very fast. We just did the best we could and tried to manage our tyres in the best way possible even though they were overheating a bit. This performance was exactly what we need until the end of the season to fight for the title. The Team has done a great job, I’m having fun and it’s exciting for everyone. The performance of the car has been better and we need to keep the momentum going. We really maximised everything with the points and we need to continue having these perfect weekends until the end of the season. I am very happy to win again.”

Yuki Tsunoda, 7th

“Today was a great start and lap one once again, the first few laps were good, I had nice pace and managed to overtake a lot of cars. I enjoyed both races and had good confidence. I have scored points in both races this weekend so, overall, the weekend was positive. The pace today was ok, I could have maybe done a slightly better job with that, in the second stint especially. I have to keep scoring the points in the next few races and improve on the short runs in particular, as we have been struggling there. That has to be the focus now, I have to work on that and put it all together for the short run for Mexico and beyond.”

Laurent Mekies, Team Principal

"This has definitely been our strongest weekend in a long while. On a burning hot track, where we have found it tricky here in the past, Max kept extending the gap to his opponents in every session. If you see how tight it was on Friday, even though he was on pole for the Sprint, and then today, it was a substantial improvement. Once again, I want to thank everyone at the track and those back at base, who have been taking risks in terms of pushing everything to the limit, it’s uncomfortable, but the work they are doing is unbelievable and it’s paying off. They have unlocked so much from the car. We never took anything for granted, ultimately finding more and more performance as the weekend progressed. Max is driving at an incredible level and keeps raising the bar. We are going to continue with our approach for the upcoming races, starting by seeing how we can put the best possible car on track in Mexico. Yuki also enjoyed a strong weekend, especially today when he made up six places in the race, bringing home some useful points to add to those he scored in the Sprint yesterday. Finally, thank you and congratulations to our partners Mobil and Mobil 1 as we celebrate our 75th win together. It's been a strong and successful partnership and we look forward to celebrating many more together."

McLaren

Norris lost out to a soft-shod Leclerc off the line, and was forced to play the waiting game behind the Ferrari in the opening stint. He eventually made his way through after some entertaining wheel-to-wheel racing, but by then Verstappen had pulled too much of a gap for the lead to be challenged. Norris had to have a second go at Leclerc after overcutting the Ferrari, and got past a second time to boot as he grabbed a well-earned rostrum. As for Piastri, he gained a place at the start but from there struggled for grip on both his medium and soft tyres. He briefly looked like he might challenge Hamilton ahead, but faded to finish fifth as he saw his Championship lead cut to just 14 points.

Oscar Piastri, 5th

"A bit of a tricky race. Similar to yesterday, I was struggling for pace. We gained one spot, which was positive, but it was hard to make any progress from there. Not the weekend we were looking for, but we’ll review and bounce back next weekend."

Lando Norris, 2nd

"It was an interesting race today, and a good battle with Charles [Leclerc]. However, it took a little too long to get by and, as a result, we had to settle for second. It was tough, but the strategy was good, and it worked out well in the end. Full focus now switches to Mexico and doing the best job I can there."

Andrea Stella, Team Principal

"We struggled to fully realise the potential of the car this weekend after a disappointing Saturday, so while we were able to secure a podium and some good points, it felt like we under-delivered compared to our potential.

"On Lando’s side, the battle with Leclerc meant that he wasn’t able to close down Verstappen and challenge for the win. This is something we believe the car was in contention for, and also reaffirms that we can continue to be in the position to fight for victories after some difficult races on circuits that suit our competitors more.

"Looking at Oscar’s race, the pace wasn’t there today, and he wasn’t able to make the progress we had hoped for after a strong start. This is something that we will now review as a team and make sure we come back stronger next week.

"Overall, it wasn’t the weekend we wanted. We always aim to come away with a 1-2, and this isn’t something we achieved. We must now refocus, improve from our learnings and build on the positives before aiming to have a better weekend in Mexico."

Ferrari

Leclerc was the only car in the top 10 to start on the soft tyre. That risk paid off, as he made his way past Norris through Turn 1. The Ferrari man then did well to keep his soft tyres alive, as he battled with Norris for lap after lap. He did not put a foot wrong in defence, but did eventually lose out to the McLaren man. On the mediums, he also lost out to Norris later in the race when the pit stops played out, but still managed to score his first podium since Belgium. Hamilton started on the mediums like the majority. He ran fourth for most of the race, and just did not quite have the pace to challenge Norris and Leclerc for the podium at the end.

Charles Leclerc, 3rd

"I’m happy with our weekend. We made a very good recovery, from starting out with an issue in FP1 which put us on the back foot, to making progress in Sprint Qualifying and the Sprint race, delivering a solid qualifying, and being rewarded with a podium after staying focused on the job.

"We were on a more aggressive strategy today, so my target was to gain positions at the start. Arriving on the grid as the only car on the Softs looked risky, but ultimately, it paid off. Our team did a good job and we will push to keep this momentum as we head into the final rounds of this season."

Lewis Hamilton, 4th

"It’s been a productive Sunday overall. Today’s race was a strong result for the team and we gained some good points. My first stint was encouraging, and I was in the fight for third, but after my pit stop the gap to the top three became too difficult to close.

"As a whole, the weekend has been a positive one. It showed the progress we’re making as a team and confirmed there’s still more potential to unlock in the SF-25. Thank you to all the fans here, who brought incredible energy all weekend."

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal

"It’s great to be back on the podium with Charles and to have Lewis in fourth place. It’s good for them and great for the team. It’s extra motivation for everyone for the rest of the championship. I’m particularly happy with how we were able to fight back after a very difficult start to the weekend. The progress came from fine tuning the car and focussing a lot on the tyres. If you don’t get them in the window you can lose five or six tenths and that’s what happened to us on Friday. So, I’m proud of the team and how they reacted. Today, the pace was there and we decided to be aggressive with the strategy with Charles to try and be P1 going into the first corner and it worked in part as he gained one place. But now our focus must switch to being back on track on Friday in Mexico and try again."

Mercedes

Russell found himself squeezed at the start, and lost out to both Hamilton and Piastri. From there he ran sixth, briefly looking like he might chase down an ailing Piastri before running out of tyre life. Antonelli had a more eventful time of it in Austin. He was solidly in the points before colliding with Sainz, who tried to send one up the inside into Turn 1. The resultant spin and trip into the gravel dropped the teenager to last place, but he did well to keep his medium tyres going and stay on the planned strategy. On the softs, he climbed back through the field but could not recover to the points.

George Russell, 6th

"I thought before the race that it was likely wherever we exited turn one would be the place we finished. That was due to the expected level of degradation and similar pace of the front-running cars. That is exactly how it played out and, sadly for us, we lost positions at that first corner. I made a good start but got boxed in behind Lando (Norris), and Lewis (Hamilton) and Oscar (Piastri) were able to overtake me around the outside. From there, it was a lonely race to P6.

"We turn our attentions straight to Mexico now. It is a very different circuit to here in Austin and the altitude creates its own level of challenge. Hopefully we can have a better race there than we did today and fight back in the fight for second in the Constructors’ Championship."

Kimi Antonelli, 13th

"That was a frustrating race from our side. I felt good in the car early on, as I have done all weekend, and was looking forward to trying to gain some positions from P7. Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be. I tried to leave some space for Carlos (Sainz) at turn 15 as I saw him coming. I managed to do so but we still made contact and that put an end to any realistic chance of scoring good points today.

"It was a disappointing day, but we move forward. We head straight to Mexico now, and we have a chance to bounce back straight away. I’m hopeful we can do so as the Constructors’ Championship is close, and every point is going to matter."

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

"Not every race can be a classic and that was the case today. There were small pace differences between the top cars today and that, along with the challenge of managing surface tyre temperatures when following closely, made overtaking almost impossible. Unfortunately for us, George lost two positions at turn one and dropped to P6. Kimi was spun around early in the race meanwhile, so we were always playing catch up. I think we had the necessary pace in the car to finish on the podium but once you are behind, there was no chance to pass.

"We’ve got another race next week in Mexico and we will be looking to perform more like we did in Singapore than we have here in Austin. Both Ferrari and Red Bull have regained ground on us in the Constructors’ today, so it’s important we put in a stronger performance in Mexico City. It’s going to be a great battle all the way to the flag in Abu Dhabi."

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

"Our race was played out in the very early stages today. George was unfortunate to lose two positions when he got boxed in at turn one whilst Kimi was spun around at turn 15 a few laps later. Those setbacks cemented our finishing positions on a disappointing afternoon. That was due to the difficulty in following the car ahead whilst keeping tyre surface temperatures under control. That was an issue faced by the whole field, but it made regaining positions incredibly challenging.

"Fortunately, we have the opportunity to bounce back immediately. We will dust ourselves down and look to perform more strongly in Mexico City. The battle for second in the Constructors’ Championship has tightened up once again after today but we’re excited to try and build our advantage once again next week."

Kick Sauber

Many would argue Hulkenberg deserved points after his brilliant Sprint Qualifying performance, and he eventually got his hands on four of them in the Grand Prix. He managed to keep out of trouble at the start unlike yesterday, and was running ninth when he spied the chance to sneak past Bearman who was nursing some dusty tyres. The German took his opportunity, and came home eighth. Bortoleto was much further down the order after tangling with Albon on the opening lap and then two-stopping on his way to the flag.

Nico Hulkenberg, 8th

“I’m really happy to finish the race with points. We’ve shown great pace all weekend, right from FP1. With the incident in the sprint yesterday, we didn’t get the chance to show what we could do, so it felt great to have another shot today. The race was clean, well-executed on multiple fronts, and we were determined to make the most of it. The whole team deserves this result for the work they’ve put in. Now onto Mexico!”

Gabriel Bortoleto, 18th

"It's been a rather uneventful race for me. We possibly could have done something different under the Virtual Safety Car, but starting from the back always makes things tough, especially if you do not have a big advantage on those in fronts of you, which was the case today. Overall, it's been a challenging weekend. Still, I want to thank the team for the work done throughout the sessions, listening to my feedback and trying to get me in the best possible position to perform. We'll take the learnings from this weekend, understand what we could have done better, keep our head up and move onto the next one."

Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal

“An outstanding performance by Nico all weekend. It makes you wonder what the story might have been if turn one in the Sprint had gone smoothly too. He was a class act — composed, fast, and faultless in very tough conditions. On the other side of the garage, it was a frustrating afternoon for Gabi. We missed an opportunity under the Virtual Safety Car and with an equipment issue causing a slow first stop that set us back. We tried an aggressive strategy late on, but it didn’t quite pay off. Two very different stories this weekend: one to celebrate and one to learn from. But that’s racing, and we move forward to Mexico with plenty of encouragement for everyone involved.”

Haas

Bearman delivered points for Haas on what was a strong weekend for the youngster despite a few mistakes along the way. He was running solidly in the top 10 when he tried a move on Tsunoda, only to claim the Red Bull man moved under braking. That sent Bearman onto the dirt, where he lost control and spun. Instead of challenging for seventh, he finished ninth as a result of that moment but still grabbed his second points finish in a row after a P9 in Singapore. Ocon had a tougher day after being one of three drivers to start on the hard compound, which proved the least quick strategy call in the end.

Esteban Ocon, 15th

“It was a very tough afternoon, to say the least. I gained three or four positions in Turn 1, and then lost them all in the first couple of laps really because of sliding with no grip on the hard tyre. From there on, the pace was okay but we couldn’t recover what we lost in that first 25 or 30 laps. It’s quite clear to us why it was such a hard weekend, the high-speed section was incredibly hard so we had to drop a lot of aero balance which cost us in other places – we need to review. It’s good for the team that we got two points from the race today.”

Oliver Bearman, 9th

“Heading into this weekend, if you’d told me I’d cross the line P8 in the Sprint, and finish P9 today – I would’ve been very happy. On the face of it, it was a good weekend and we got some good points for the team, but it was clear there was more out there. Regarding the incident with Yuki (Tsunoda), I felt it was very dangerous and against the spirit of the regulations. Although I avoided a crash, I lost two positions so it’s a shame, and it's disappointing as it’s clear I had more pace today.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal

“Firstly, I want to congratulate everyone’s hard work for bringing this update to the track, because we needed it and it worked. The way we raced this weekend, is thanks to that. We all feel slightly disappointed finishing P9, which is the amazing thing because the best result we could’ve had today was P7. We look ahead now to the next race, we need to bring Esteban up – he’s struggling a little bit with a certain feeling in the car, but you can see the potential is there. I don’t see any reason, if we address that, why we can’t get both cars into the points. It’s a good thing we can look at doing that straightaway again next weekend in Mexico.”

Aston Martin

Alonso lost out at the start and dropped out of the top 10. But he found himself back in the points after Sainz and Antonelli collided, and from there looked assured of scoring as he kept himself out of trouble. Stroll had a more eventful race as he rose up the order from a lowly grid slot. A skirmish with Bortolato and Albon at the start could have cost him, but instead he went on to pull off some great overtakes but fell just short of picking off Lawson.

Fernando Alonso, 10th

"We started tenth and finished there, so we come away with one point in the end. We didn't really have the pace to fight for anything more than P10 and it seems we had a bit more performance in Qualifying than in the race. It wasn’t the most exciting day for me, and we were open to various strategies, but it was a standard one-stop race. We’ll go again in Mexico and see if we can fight for points there."

Lance Stroll, 12th

"Today was a fun race – we made our way through the race attacking with some good overtakes and picked up a couple of positions. We were close to getting to the points, but it was always going to be tricky from where we were starting – we did the best we could. The car was feeling good today and became a bit more alive with the change of wind direction. So a positive Sunday considering yesterday and now looking ahead to Mexico next week."

Andy Cowell, Team Principal

"We had similar pace to the cars around us in a very tight midfield. Lance raced well from P19 and delivered some great overtakes to finish P12. Another strong opening stint on the Softs [28 laps] brought him up the order as he chased down Liam [Lawson]. It's hard to race here in these hot conditions so it was good to see Fernando score a hard-fought point. Saturday was very challenging so a huge thanks to the garage and the factory for their efforts to get the car race ready. There is still plenty to fight for in the final five races starting in Mexico next week."

Racing Bulls

Hadjar started from the back of the pack following his Qualifying crash yesterday. As such he opted for the hard tyre, but this soon proved to be the wrong strategy and cost him plenty of time in what was a difficult race. As for Lawson, he fought hard to get into the points but ultimately fell just short of challenging Alonso for P10 despite running in the Spaniard’s DRS. He did manage to hold Stroll at bay though, in a good defensive effort.

Isack Hadjar, 16th

“That was the race I expected today, starting from the back. I haven’t shown real pace so far this weekend, and our strategy was to go for a long first stint and hope for a safety car. There are a few things we need to understand with the car, we’ve been strong most weekends this year, but we had a ride issue that we need to figure out and make sure it doesn’t happen again. I still had some good battles on track and learned a lot, so there’s plenty of momentum to carry into Mexico.”

Liam Lawson, 11th

"I gave the race everything I could but didn’t have the strongest start as I was boxed at Turn 1. That place probably cost us a point, however overall the pace wasn't strong enough today. It's very hard to overtake here and Aston had control of us throughout the race by being both in front and behind. It's frustrating as there have been points available throughout the weekend which we missed out on, but we'll take our learnings into Mexico next weekend."

Alan Permane, Team Principal

“A tough afternoon to finish off what has been a difficult weekend for us all round; we simply didn’t have the pace we’ve had in recent weeks and the pace we expected to have. We will of course spend time analysing where we could have done better and where we went wrong.

The beauty of F1 is that we’ll be back on track again in 5 days’ time, so we get a chance to put things right quickly. Mexico is a standard weekend format at a track both drivers know well, and we see some of the highest top speeds of the season. It presents a unique challenge where we run the biggest front and rear wings of the season, but due to the high altitude we generate the least downforce of the season. We will work hard on preparation this week and I’m very sure we will get ourselves back into Q3 and back into the points!”

Williams

Sainz could not repeat his Sprint heroics at COTA, failing to make it double points in Austin. He had a good start and was fighting with Bearman early on but, after making his way past the Haas, he tried a move on Antonelli into Turn 1. The Spaniard looked to try and pull out of it but instead locked up and hit the Mercedes. The contact was enough to force Sainz to park up and retire, while he was also handed a five-place grid penalty for the next race in Mexico City. That left Albon to fly the flag for the team, but his first lap included a spin after he was tagged by Bortoleto. By the time he caught up to the pack, he knew he was in for a long afternoon.

Alex Albon, 14th

"A frustrating day. We started on the hard tyre, which is usually a good option when the track is this hot, but we had no grip and effectively did another stop early in the race. We actually had good pace, but it was a bit scrappy at times and we just weren’t clicking in the corners. This weekend I didn’t feel like I was in rhythm with the circuit, but at least we came out of the Sprint with a few points and some key learnings. Next time out in Mexico we just need to tidy a few things up and hopefully have a smooth weekend."

Carlos Sainz, DNF

"It’s a shame to end the race that way as the car had great pace today. I had done a similar move on Bearman some laps before, so I tried that inside line with Antonelli into turn 15. He opened the line and then closed the door more abruptly than what I was expecting, I tried to react by slamming on the brakes to avoid contact but it was too late and we touched. I was behind so I accept my part of fault and ultimately it’s a shame as it cost the race for both of us. We were quick, so it hurts not to convert it into more points today but we’ll bounce back for Mexico next week."

James Vowles, Team Principal

"Part of the reason why I'm in motorsport is you can have some fantastic days with the highest highs, and then just 24 hours later, you can walk away with nothing, as we are today. And that's the reflection of Austin. What’s positive to me is we have really strong car pace, and that's one item that we'll carry through for the remainder of the season. But it just highlights that we have to qualify both cars in position towards the point-scoring end of the grid, and we need to ensure we're fighting through the field without contact or incident. I'm sorry for both Carlos and Kimi, both had good race pace today and I'm confident would have scored points, but it is just a part of racing that, as you're trying to overtake through different sections, contact may happen. The stewards have decided to hand Carlos a 5 place grid penalty, there was a sensible conversation however the guidelines are fairly clear on fault allocation. We will come back fighting in Mexico."

Alpine

Alpine might have a headache on their hands in Austin, after their drivers got into an on-track squabble for the lowly positions. Gasly found himself only just ahead on track thanks to a slow pit stop, but on older soft tyres to his team mate. The team asked Colapinto to hold station, but instead he threw his car up the inside of Turn 1. It was a great overtaking move and the duo just about avoided contact, but it was not exactly what the team asked for. It remains to be seen what happens next at Alpine.

Pierre Gasly, 19th

“It's been a disappointing afternoon where we fundamentally lacked performance. Today, we were just too slow. The first stint felt good, I was on the back of Liam [Lawson] in a train of cars and it felt like everything was being managed quite well. Then we pitted onto Softs, had a slow pit-stop, and everything just fell apart from there to the end of the race where I was in a lot of traffic. We have many things to review as a team as it has been very difficult for us to be competitive on Sundays. We will work on it and we go again in Mexico City next weekend.”

Franco Colapinto, 17th

“A tough day and a tough weekend in general for us as a team. On my side, it's not been too smooth and I have generally struggled a lot with the car. We learned a lot session by session and the aim is to just try and be stronger each time we are on track and we will have another chance to do that in Mexico City next weekend. We will keep working hard as a team and just try to find those improvements. At the end, I had slightly fresher tyres than Pierre and saw Gabriel [Bortoleto] attacking. I wanted to keep him behind both of us, so it is something we will discuss as a team and learn from moving forwards.”

Steve Nielsen, Managing Director

“As a team we have a lot to review across the board from this weekend. While our level of competitiveness is still far from being able to score points, it was encouraging to make a small step forward relative to recent events looking at the weekend as a whole. Today, like a lot of teams, we had to adapt our strategy based on the conditions and what we saw on track with the Hard tyre not looking to be a favourable race tyre. On Pierre's side, we covered an undercut threat to box onto Softs, a little earlier than we wanted, and then had a slow pit-stop, which we will review and rectify. Franco was able to extend his Medium run to have a tyre delta towards the end of the race where he caught up to Pierre. We gave the instruction for the drivers to maintain position as we were managing fuel with both cars and the added variable of the number of laps remaining with the leaders in close proximity. As a team, any instruction made by the pit wall is final and today we are disappointed that this didn't happen so it's something we will review and deal with internally.”

Pirelli

Mario Isola, Motorsport Director

“Today the teams decided to keep their options open at the start, using mainly the medium tyre on the grid, which is the most flexible starting point for a number of different strategies. Leclerc stood out among the top 10, being the only driver to opt for the soft, which gave him an initial grip advantage that paid off.

The early VSC period allowed a few extra laps on both the soft and the medium, with the medium compound in particular showing consistency that was perhaps greater than anticipated. A positive influence on that was the asphalt temperature, which was lower than yesterday, and track evolution. These combined factors allowed the first stint to be stretched for as long as possible.

As a result, the medium-hard strategies that were initially envisaged inevitably turned into a theoretically more audacious strategy once the halfway point of the race had been reached. A succession of pit stops round about lap 30 saw the red tyre used for the final stint on nearly all the cars.

With the rear tyres not reaching maximum wear, the drivers were able to maintain a competitive pace without having to manage them, also thanks to the setups selected by the teams. Congratulations to Max Verstappen, who continues to fight for the title, and to Charles Leclerc for choosing a different strategy to get onto the podium."