2021 United States Grand Prix

The race returned after being cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[5] There was a 20% risk of rain for qualifying and 40% for the race.^[6] From this race onward, any practice times set during waved yellow flags would be deleted.^[7] The final two rounds of the 2021 W Series were held as support races for the Grand Prix.^[8][9] This was the ninth time that Austin has hosted a Formula One Grand Prix.^[5] Some restrictions on paddock access related to the COVID-19 pandemic were lowered starting from this event.^[10] 400,000 spectators attended the event across the three days.^[11]

After finishing second in the preceding Turkish Grand Prix, Max Verstappen led the drivers' championship from Lewis Hamilton by six points, Verstappen with 262.5 and Hamilton with 256.5. Behind them, Valtteri Bottas was in third place with 177 points. Lando Norris trailed him by 32 points, and Sergio Pérez trailed Norris by 10 points.^[12] In the constructors' championship, Mercedes led Red Bull Racing by 36 points. Behind them, third-placed McLaren led fourth-placed Ferrari by 7.5 points with 240 points, with Alpine a distant fifth with 104 points.^[12]

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.^[13]

The title sponsor of Ferrari, Mission Winnow, returned for this race. The name and sponsor logos were used by Ferrari at the Bahrain, Emilia Romagna, Portuguese, Spanish, Monaco, Azerbaijan, and Russian Grands Prix, but were not used in any races from the French Grand Prix to the Italian Grand Prix, and the Turkish Grand Prix, for legal reasons.^[13] For this weekend exclusively, Honda-powered teams Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri raced with sponsorship by Honda's American brand Acura, replacing the engine manufacturer's logos in their cars' respective liveries.^[14]

Sole tyre supplier Pirelli allocated the C2, C3, and C4 compounds of tyre to be used in the race.^[15]

The first practice session started at 11:30 local time (UTC−05:00) on Friday, October 22.^[16] Valtteri Bottas was the fastest in the session, with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen behind.^[17] The second session started at 15:00 local time, also on Friday, and ended with Sergio Pérez fastest ahead of Lando Norris and Hamilton.^[18] The third practice session started at 13:00 local time on Saturday, October 23. There were very stiff winds and high temperatures catching the drivers out throughout the session and Verstappen and Hamilton both had quicker lap times deleted for exceeding track limits on Turns 19 and 9, respectively, Pérez was once again the fastest driver, ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr. for Ferrari and Verstappen.^[19]

Qualifying started at 16:00 local time (UTC−05:00) on Saturday, October 23.^[16] The surface temperature was around 37 °C (99 °F).^{[clarification needed][20]} Before qualifying, Red Bull made alterations to the rear wings of their cars after a crack was found on one of them.^[21] Verstappen qualified on pole.^[10] Hamilton qualified second, a fifth of a second slower than Verstappen.^[20] Pérez qualified third, while Bottas qualified fourth, although the latter had a five-place grid penalty and was relegated to ninth on the starting grid.^[21]

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	1:34.352	1:33.464	1:32.910	1
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:34.579	1:33.797	1:33.119	2
3	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda	1:34.369	1:34.178	1:33.134	3
4	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:34.590	1:33.959	1:33.475	9a
5	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:34.153	1:33.928	1:33.606	4
6	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	1:34.558	1:34.126	1:33.792	5
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	1:34.407	1:34.643	1:33.808	6
8	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1:34.551	1:33.880	1:33.887	7
9	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	1:34.567	1:34.583	1:34.118	8
10	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda	1:35.360	1:35.137	1:34.918	10
11	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1:35.747	1:35.377	N/A	11
12	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1:35.281	1:35.500	N/A	18b
13	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	1:35.920	1:35.794	N/A	12
14	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	1:35.756	1:44.549	N/A	19c
15	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	1:35.746	No time	N/A	20d
16	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1:35.983	N/A	N/A	13
17	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	1:35.995	N/A	N/A	14
18	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	1:36.311	N/A	N/A	15
19	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	1:36.499	N/A	N/A	16
20	9	Nikita Mazepin[a]	Haas-Ferrari	1:36.796	N/A	N/A	17
107% time: 1:40.743
Source:[23][24]

Notes

• ^a – Valtteri Bottas received a five-place grid penalty for a new internal combustion engine.^[25]
• ^b – Sebastian Vettel was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.^[25]
• ^c – Fernando Alonso was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.^[26]
• ^d – George Russell was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.^[25]

The race started at 14:00 local time (UTC−05:00) on Sunday, October 24.^[16][5] The race ran for 191.634 miles (308.405 km) over fifty-six laps of the 3.426-mile (5.514 km) circuit under clear skies with an ambient temperature between 81 and 86 °F (27 and 30 °C) and a surface temperature between 97 and 102 °F (36 and 39 °C).^[11] There were 140,000 spectators in attendance that day.^[11] Hamilton overtook Verstappen at the first corner, with Pérez attempting to pass Hamilton but backing out to avoid risking a collision with his teammate Verstappen.^[11] Stroll and Latifi clashed at the first corner, leaving the pair at the back of the field.^[11] Ricciardo moved into fifth-place when he overtook Sainz at the sixteenth corner on the first lap.^[11] Russell started last, but was in fourteenth place by the end of the first lap.^[11] Tsunoda had passed Bottas and Gasly on the first lap, with Gasly then overtaking Bottas on the third lap.^[11] Ocon made a pit stop to repair damage at the end of the third lap, dropping him to last place.^[11] At the end of the tenth lap Verstappen made a pit stop to change from old medium-compound tyres to new hard-compound tyres.^[11] Pérez made a pit stop at the end of the twelfth lap and changed onto another pair of used medium tyres.^[11] Red Bull successfully undercut Mercedes when Hamilton stopped from the lead at the end of the thirteenth lap and emerged on the fourteenth lap five-and-a-half seconds behind Verstappen.^[11] On the fourteenth lap Gasly retired due to a suspension failure.^[11] Verstappen won the race by a margin of one-and-a-third seconds from Hamilton, with third-placed Pérez over forty seconds behind and fourth-placed Leclerc the only other driver within a minute of the two leaders at the end.^[11]

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	56	1:34:36.552	1	25
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	56	+1.333	2	19a
3	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda	56	+42.223	3	15
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	56	+52.246	4	12
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	56	+1:16.854	6	10
6	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	56	+1:20.128	9	8
7	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	56	+1:23.545	5	6
8	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	56	+1:24.395	7	4
9	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda	55	+1 lap	10	2
10	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	55	+1 lap	18	1
11	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	55	+1 lap	12
12	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	55	+1 lap	13
13	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	55	+1 lap	15
14	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	55	+1 lap	20
15	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	55	+1 lap	14
16	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	54	+2 laps	16
17	9	Nikita Mazepin[a]	Haas-Ferrari	54	+2 laps	17
Ret	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	49	Rear wing	19
Ret	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	40	Mechanical	11
Ret	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	14	Suspension	8
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – 1:38.485 (lap 41)
Source:[24][27][28]

Notes

• ^a – Includes one point for fastest lap.^[27]

Drivers' Championship standings Pos. Driver Points 1 Max Verstappen* 287.5 2 Lewis Hamilton* 275.5 3 Valtteri Bottas* 185 1 4 Sergio Pérez 150 1 5 Lando Norris 149 Source:[29]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 Mercedes* 460.5 2 Red Bull Racing-Honda* 437.5 3 McLaren-Mercedes* 254 4 Ferrari* 250.5 5 Alpine-Renault 104 Source:[29]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
• Bold text and an asterisk indicates competitors who still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

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• 2021 W Series Austin round