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Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B
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Analysis

How Mercedes went from Austin practice domination to "very tight at the front" with Red Bull

Mercedes has been on a roll of late in the ultra-tight fight to win the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It started off well in practice at Austin for this weekend’s US Grand Prix, but Red Bull got closer as Friday unfolded and even seemed to find an edge in one critical area of what seems set to be another close contest

Ever since Max Verstappen’s dominant victory on home soil at Zandvoort, it has been Mercedes comfortably leading the way on the opening days of track action at the following three Formula 1 events.

And when FP1 at this weekend’s US Grand Prix ended at Austin, it looked as if the Black Arrows squad was going to saunter to another comfortable practice position. In that session, Valtteri Bottas led the way on a 1m34.874s, with Lewis Hamilton second and Verstappen a massive 0.887s adrift of his 2021 title rival and 0.932s slower than Bottas in third.

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