Stroll finishes P15, Alonso P16 at United States GP
Circuit Of The AmericasThe United States Grand Prix, Round 18 of the Formula 1 season, took place at Circuit Of The Americas, where Honda completed its 500th Formula 1 race
The race was held over 56 laps in dry conditions. Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team™ started from 12th, while Lance Stroll started from the pit lane following changes made to his car under parc fermé conditions.
Starting on soft tyres, Alonso made contact with Alexander Albon (Williams) at Turn 11 on the opening lap. The contact damaged the left side of his car and he lost several positions, dropping to 17th.
He recovered to 16th by overtaking Carlos Sainz (Williams) at Turn 1 on Lap 5. Alonso then battled closely with Albon for several laps before completing the pass at Turn 15 on Lap 11 to move up to 15th.
As pit stops began from Lap 13, Alonso moved up the order and reached tenth by Lap 26. He made his first pit stop at the end of Lap 28, switching from soft to medium tyres. By this point, he had fallen a lap behind and rejoined in 14th.
In his second stint, Alonso briefly moved up to 13th, but lost pace through the Esses on Lap 42 and dropped back to 14th. Damage sustained in the opening-lap contact meant he was unable to continue with the planned one-stop strategy, and he pitted again at the end of Lap 42. The front wing was replaced and he switched to soft tyres, rejoining in 17th.
Alonso overtook Albon on Lap 47, but had to give the position back on the following lap after exceeding track limits. He passed Albon again at Turn 1 on Lap 49 to move up to 16th.
A Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was deployed on Lap 51. After racing resumed, Alonso set his personal best lap of 1m39.841s on Lap 53 and finished 16th, one lap behind the leader.
Meanwhile, Stroll, who had started from the pit lane, had moved up to 20th by the end of Lap 7.
He switched from medium to soft tyres at the end of Lap 15 and fitted another set of softs at his second pit stop at the end of Lap 41. Stroll set his personal best lap of 1m40.189s on Lap 43 before overtaking Albon at Turn 12 on Lap 46. He took the chequered flag in 15th.
We had to make some changes to the car after Qualifying because of damage, so we started from the pit lane. Our pace was a bit more competitive today and I was racing [Alex] Albon for a lot of the race. There was a bit of overtaking too which was nice. We saw a big loss of load in the final laps though, so we need to go away and understand that.
We had to make some changes to the car after Qualifying because of damage, so we started from the pit lane. Our pace was a bit more competitive today and I was racing [Alex] Albon for a lot of the race. There was a bit of overtaking too which was nice. We saw a big loss of load in the final laps though, so we need to go away and understand that.
We were quite competitive today and were having a strong race, but the damage to our car compromised everything for us. It felt like we were chasing down a potential points-scoring position as we were running in P12 with a damaged car. The damage was sustained from contact on lap one when Alex [Albon] hit us going into Turn 11. We carried on, but eventually had to pit for a new front wing and that dropped us down the order. We have some positives to take from this weekend despite the result today.
We were quite competitive today and were having a strong race, but the damage to our car compromised everything for us. It felt like we were chasing down a potential points-scoring position as we were running in P12 with a damaged car. The damage was sustained from contact on lap one when Alex [Albon] hit us going into Turn 11. We carried on, but eventually had to pit for a new front wing and that dropped us down the order. We have some positives to take from this weekend despite the result today.
Not the easiest race in Austin with both cars picking up issues and limiting performance. In Fernando’s case a front wing change was needed on lap 42, which stopped our efforts to deliver a one-stop strategy and dropped him out of contention. It seems the damage was a legacy of the contact with the Williams of [Alex] Albon on lap one. Before the pit stop, Fernando's pace was on a par with the cars ahead of him but we couldn't match their straight line speed which meant there was no option to overtake.
Lance – having started from the pit lane – progressed up to P15 at the flag despite losing downforce at the rear of the car after his second pit stop. We need to look at the data to understand exactly what happened.
Despite these issues, we will focus on the positives - both drivers were in the fight with decent race pace and extracted the most they could from the car today.
Not the easiest race in Austin with both cars picking up issues and limiting performance. In Fernando’s case a front wing change was needed on lap 42, which stopped our efforts to deliver a one-stop strategy and dropped him out of contention. It seems the damage was a legacy of the contact with the Williams of [Alex] Albon on lap one. Before the pit stop, Fernando's pace was on a par with the cars ahead of him but we couldn't match their straight line speed which meant there was no option to overtake.
Lance – having started from the pit lane – progressed up to P15 at the flag despite losing downforce at the rear of the car after his second pit stop. We need to look at the data to understand exactly what happened.
Despite these issues, we will focus on the positives - both drivers were in the fight with decent race pace and extracted the most they could from the car today.
Overall in Austin, it was a smooth weekend from a power unit perspective.
After the last event in Singapore we modified some data to improve our turbo lag control and driveability. Throughout the free practice sessions here at COTA we had trouble-free runs, gathering a lot of important information to show that our updated approaches were working well. Qualifying yesterday was also a straightforward session which allowed us to plan for the grand prix itself.
During the race we confirmed that our engine was working consistently and we can take all of these learnings into 2027 when we return to this track.
Overall in Austin, it was a smooth weekend from a power unit perspective.
After the last event in Singapore we modified some data to improve our turbo lag control and driveability. Throughout the free practice sessions here at COTA we had trouble-free runs, gathering a lot of important information to show that our updated approaches were working well. Qualifying yesterday was also a straightforward session which allowed us to plan for the grand prix itself.
During the race we confirmed that our engine was working consistently and we can take all of these learnings into 2027 when we return to this track.
-medium.jpg)
-medium.jpg)
-medium.jpg)
-medium.jpg)
-medium.jpg)
-medium.jpg)
-medium.jpg)
-medium.jpg)
© Getty Images / LAT Images