How Leclerc won another 'Austria situation' with Ferrari's Austin triumph over Red Bull

Just past the halfway stage of Formula 1’s 2024 United States Grand Prix, Will Joseph told his McLaren charge Lando Norris that they were facing a “Germany Situation”. But, given how he went on to win last Sunday for Ferrari, the Austin story was in fact about how Charles Leclerc pulled off another successful ‘Austria Situation’ for the Scuderia.

For Austin 2024, read Austria 2022. Both included sprint events, where Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the shorter contest and Leclerc triumphed in the pukka GP race.

At the Red Bull Ring two years ago, Leclerc and his team-mate Carlos Sainz diced hard early on in the sprint, which allowed Verstappen precious time to escape and win. In the Austin sprint edition, they engaged in an even more brutal battle.

Quizzed after his team’s eventual GP 1-2 – something Ferrari would have taken at Austria 2022 too but for Sainz’s late engine failure – team boss Fred Vasseur insisted “they did a good job”. Hardly convincing, with McLaren team principal Andrea Stella claiming “if they hadn't fought with each other, they would have been able to win” the sprint Verstappen ultimately edged.

On average stint pace in the sprint – once the two SF-24s had stopped being thrown at each other – Red Bull had just a 0.009-second average lap time advantage. Essentially nothing, even with Verstappen having had the benefit of driving in free air to help with Austin’s classic rear-tyre thermal degradation quest and the two Ferrari drivers were treating their mediums anything but gently in the critical early-stint phase.

Anyway, Leclerc had come into the main Texas contest acknowledging he’d “been struggling a little bit with the feeling with the car”. Sainz was only just the second Ferrari in sprint qualifying and from there scrapped savagely to be the one that chased down and beat Norris in the sprint, then shone brighter in GP qualifying.

But, just as with Austria 2022, where he “worked quite a lot on my driving” – specifically there on how to better treat medium Pirellis over a race stint – Leclerc kept at it.

Ferrari's pair duelled hard during the sprint, in which Leclerc could only finish fourth

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

At the end of the 19-lap Austin sprint contest, where all the drivers ran the mediums that had been predicted to be key to the race result after all but Sauber had burned one of only two hard compound sets per car in Friday practice, Pirelli engineers clocked tyres close to 100% wear across the grid. This gave vital information on exactly how long the mediums would last, albeit with the variable that around 60kg of GP fuel weight was missing from the first race.

In 2024, of course, teams can alter car set-ups post-sprint – ahead of GP qualifying. Leclerc feared “that the others would improve a lot more” with such changes. In reality, for what turned out to be his main rival for much of the race – Verstappen – the opposite occurred.

After the sprint, the Dutchman had a bigger rear-wing arrangement fitted “for race set-up” – per Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko. But, as this combined with the other set-up settings that ultimately determine a car’s aerodynamic balance, it “seemed to engineer into the car a bit more understeer”, revealed team boss Christian Horner. “That then sort of killed the front tyres – compared to [the sprint], where we didn't have any understeer and the car was very quick,” he added.

There was still room enough to petulantly chuck a cap through what little space there was left. And Verstappen didn’t hesitate

But, before that mattered, there was the small issue of how neither Leclerc nor Verstappen was starting the GP contest on pole. That was Norris’s position – cemented when George Russell crashed his Mercedes at the penultimate corner in GP qualifying.

Fortune might have aided McLaren on a track Stella expected his squad to “struggle most” of the final six. But as Vasseur sagely noted, overtaking is “not a drama in Austin” – starting with its famed, sharply uphill, Turn 1 hairpin. The one where the 2015 world title fight between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg got a little too close for comfort.

When the lights went out for the 56-lap main event this time, Norris reacted well and quickly moved over to cover Verstappen. But, although he’d come far on the inside line, there was still room enough to petulantly chuck a cap through what little space there was left. And Verstappen didn’t hesitate.

He squeezed his RB20 into the gap Norris had left “driving like a muppet”, per the Briton, and ran his title rival brutally wide on exit. Both cars were forced off track and Norris was left to reflect how “I can't just dive up the inside of someone, run off and then keep the position in normal running, but for some reason, it's completely OK in lap 1 and Turn 1”. For his part, Verstappen said “there was a gap on the inside, so I went for it”.

Verstappen was uncompromising against Norris at the start, pushing the poleman back to fourth as Leclerc gratefully accepted the lead

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

As they squabbled, on the inside Leclerc was gleefully steaming through to lead on the plunging run down to the Esses sequence – having been on third-starting Sainz’s inside when the Spaniard “got the worst of it” and had to check up behind the brief leaders.

Over the race’s laps 7-24 phase, where Leclerc was Monza metronomic in the 1m39s which Verstappen couldn’t regularly replicate, the Monegasque’s average pace was 1m39.528s as he leapt clear. Verstappen was shipping 0.524s a lap at his 1m40.052s average.

But he was doing so in front of Sainz, not Norris, as the Ferrari had managed to nip ahead of his former McLaren team-mate and set off after Verstappen on the opening tour. He’d finished that with a gap of 0.6s to the Red Bull, which was already trailing Leclerc by 1.7s.

But the first lap hadn’t been without a bit more angst, as Sainz dived to Verstappen’s inside at Turn 12 at the end of Austin’s main straight – the scene of so much controversy still to come. Verstappen held on as both cars shot off into the run-off and the Red Bull stayed ahead.

An Autosport enquiry to the FIA revealed that this, along with his shove on Norris at Turn 1, was assessed by race control officials. But, in both cases, it was decided not to escalate them to the stewards for further appraisal. This is why no timing screen messages noting the incidents ever arrived.

Those initial early gaps weren’t to matter, as Hamilton’s awful Austin weekend ended when he lost the rear of his W15 at lap two’s conclusion at the exact same spot Russell had had his very similar incident in GP qualifying. This was just before Leclerc made a race GP error and locked up briefly at Turn 1.

The safety car was called to cover the Mercedes’ recovery, with the neutralisation lasting until the start of lap six. Restarting, Leclerc had hit the gas at Turn 19 on the tour before and, while Verstappen initially went with him, no Turn 1 lunge was forthcoming this time.

Instead, Leclerc shot back to be 1.3s ahead, with Sainz still 0.735s adrift of Verstappen. Sainz stayed in DRS range until lap eight, but here “for a lap I had some sort of issue that meant that I had very little power at the exit of the corners”. He complained over the radio that he could smell fuel – potentially a worrying leak.

The safety car's arrival to allow for the recovery of Hamilton's car helped the leaders in their bid to go for a one-stop race

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Ferrari “didn’t see something clear in the data” of what was occurring, per Vasseur. He added: “It came back to normal. It was strange but I don’t know yet [what caused the issue].”

The result was that at the start of lap nine, Verstappen was 1.55s clear and Sainz was “most importantly” out of DRS threat. “And then you are in that 1.5-3s gap that is the worst for tyres and car balance,” Sainz added. “Which meant I just had to settle until the pitstop windows.”

Behind, although it appeared he was being significantly dropped, Norris was doing likewise. “Lando, because of losing the time at the start,” said Stella of Norris’s consistent run in the low-1m40s post-restart, “needed to accept that he needed to control the pace in the first [real] part of the stint.”

Pirelli had insisted throughout the build-up that this would be a two-stop event. But the timing of the Hamilton safety car ended up being critical

Norris dropped to a maximum of 3.76s back from Sainz and was 3.5s adrift when Ferrari went aggressive and strategically attacked Verstappen with an undercut attempt. On lap 21, Sainz came in to switch to the hard tyres.

Verstappen was brought in to do the same four tours later and duly emerged 4.3s behind. Fears he’d need repairs for a “bit of an issue” Red Bull had spotted in its data that was highlighted by GianPiero Lambiase were unfounded as that “was relative to the understeer that he had in the car, so [the message] was really about how much front wing to put into the car for the hard tyre [at the service]”, per Horner.

Leclerc, with a 10.7s lead when Verstappen stopped, stayed out only one more tour to lap 26 – having urged his engineer, Bryan Bozzi, not to “leave me out too long” after Sainz had come in.

“For me, there wasn't a lot of reasons for me to go still longer,” Leclerc later said of this point, where how his big Baku stint one lead disappearing post-pitstop was rather relevant. “And when you have cold tyres, you don't want to have pressure from behind because you just want to bring the tyres nicely up to temperature. I did not want to find myself in that scenario and I made it clear.”

Sainz neatly undercut Verstappen and did not face a challenge thereafter, as Leclerc cruised to a victory

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Leclerc rejoined with a 6.4s net lead over Sainz, while ahead Norris and his trailing team-mate Oscar Piastri now ran at the head of the field.

Norris finally came in for hards on lap 31, Piastri was passed by Leclerc in an uncontested, DRS-assisted Turn 12 swoop on lap 31, plus with that major tyre life advantage of the Ferrari’s fresh mediums. The Australian, who eventually finished fifth, was pitted on lap 32.

But while they’d been pounding around on their ageing mediums, the McLaren duo had been doing something that ultimately ended this event as a strategy contest. This was consistently setting personal bests in the low 1m39s bracket Leclerc had owned earlier even with that old rubber.

“In the middle of our first stint, we were struggling a little bit with tyres,” Stella revealed. “But the tyres started to go better – I think when the graining cleaned. We could put together some green sectors and lap times. Then we decided it was not a two-stop, it should be a one-stop.”

Pirelli had insisted throughout the build-up that this would be a two-stop event. But the timing of the Hamilton safety car ended up being critical. Coming so early in the race, it meant “that those who had started on mediums could extend their stint, while it also meant the tyres were put under less stress during the crucial early stages, when the cars are running with a heavy fuel load,” per Pirelli motorsport boss Mario Isola.

This combined with the major track evolution factor at this largely resurfaced circuit. Autosport understands the Circuit of The Americas will be asked to resurface the rest – mainly through the bumpy Esses – for 2025.

The final two-stop killer was the 2024 sprint rules and the permitted set-up changes, as the cars and drivers, with some notable exceptions, were just better at tyre management overall on Sunday.

When Norris pitted, Leclerc – who soon “adjusted” to his own one-stop along with all the other leaders – enjoyed a 7.4s lead over Sainz. They still had 24 laps left to run and these played out in different ways for the red cars.

Once on the hard tyre, Leclerc had the simple job of managing his pace

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Sainz knew he’d “boxed really early for that hard tyre”, but “from then on, I felt really comfortable, very confident, and we were very quick again”. This meant, after it had initially risen in the first eight laps after the eventual winner’s pitstop, he cut Leclerc’s lead down to 4.6s by lap 47. After this, they had to lap a gaggle of backmarkers and the lead stabilised.

It was even extended at the flag, ending at 8.6s, where Leclerc claimed stint two “was all about managing behind”. Stella, meanwhile, reckoned “the two Ferraris did not necessarily need to push 100%”. “We already knew before the race that Ferrari was very likely the best car,” he added.

As brilliant as both Ferrari drivers were last weekend - aided by what is understood to be front wing upgrade allowed to be undeclared in the official car presentation submissions because it remained the same aero shape, with the gain coming in another form - that isn’t what this event will ultimately be remembered for. Because it got ugly, yet again, between Verstappen and Norris.

For Norris, the ending, added to the two points he shipped finishing only third in the sprint, was a “momentum killer” for his title hopes

The McLaren had come out of the pits with a six-lap-life tyre advantage and a 6.6s gap to close to the Red Bull. At a rate of 0.516s each time, Norris got that down to DRS range in 12 tours.

A thrilling battle then played out, with a very bitter ending. After four laps with DRS but no attack, Norris first had a look at Turn 12 on lap 47 – Verstappen had just locked up at Turn 11 – then they fought through Turns 13-16. Next time by, Norris had another Turn 12 feint, then Turn 1 suddenly became another attacking spot.

Verstappen began defending the tight inside line here before both had moments of peril on lap 50, Norris with a Turn 9 rear snap and Verstappen and Turn 12 lock-up. On lap 51, Norris’s Turn 12 attack soon became a Turn 14 thrust that brought him oh-so-close with the Red Bull.

Then, on lap 52, it happened. Norris had finally been able to stay really tight to Verstappen through the Esses having again made the Red Bull close off Turn 1’s inside. Norris shot onto the main straight with just a 0.4s deficit and then with a 12mph top speed advantage via DRS, was finally able to truly pounce.

Verstappen had jinked a bit left the previous time here, but now he went way further towards the inside. Norris’s speed took his front wheels clearly ahead before he braked at roughly the same piece of asphalt he’d done so on lap 51. Verstappen didn’t.

Verstappen had Norris in his mirrors for several laps before the latter made his fateful move

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

GPS trace data reveals that Verstappen braked significantly later, which sent him shooting towards the apex. This is a critical element, as, per F1’s 2024 Driving Standards Guidelines, these state a driver attacking on the outside as Norris was, must “have the front axle at least alongside with the front axle of the other car” at the apex. Verstappen’s latest example of turning defence into attack made sure of this didn’t happen.

Inevitably, Verstappen slid long and both drivers were completely off the track in the run-off, from which Norris powered around the outside to finally, disputedly, get ahead. Just as with their lap-one clash, there was a radio exchange of views, plus a pretty dodgy subsequent late chop by Norris to defend a Verstappen attack at Turn 1 at lap 53’s commencement.

Soon a penalty was handed down for the Turn 12 run-off incident. To Norris.

When Autosport asked Stella why McLaren hadn’t ordered Norris to quickly cede the position back to Verstappen to avoid all threat of that 5s penalty, he replied: “Because on the pitwall and under my responsibility – but there was complete agreement by all the people involved in this interpretation – this situation did not need to be investigated. And if anything, we thought the investigation should be for Max pushing Lando off the track. For us, there was no need to give back the position.”

Norris afterwards said, “that is incorrect what Max did”. Verstappen and Horner, meanwhile, could only point to previous examples of drivers being penalised for overtaking off-track – as Verstappen was here in 2017 – as a deflection defence.

For Verstappen this was still “a great result” and a “race that we learned a lot”. For Norris, the ending, added to the two points he shipped finishing only third in the sprint, was a “momentum killer” for his title hopes.

Still, at least Leclerc was left feeling “we couldn't have dreamed for better” as the Texas sun beat down and the champagne rose.

A perfect day for Ferrari was ultimately overshadowed by the controversy engulfing the battle for third

Photo by: Ferrari