As the U.S. GP is round the corner, many things are still under the covers, so, this all you need know before heading into the race week.
1] The Silver Step
As of last race, It is obvious that Max is this year’s Champion, yet again, but that doesn’t mean that the season is over, at least, not totally. The second place is still up for grabs with Checo in P2 with 253 points, a owing to the two wins and 9 podiums across the Silly Season and Leclerc in P3, with 252 points, thanks to 3 wins and 9 podiums. 4 races to go, and the season still hints spice, although not the likes of Last year, still plenty, given this season’s wiggly run.
Last race has bumped up the pursuit for P2 in the driver standings, with Checo trading places with Leclerc after Charles’ 5 sec penalty for cutting the last corner. The gap is now ever so narrow, with only four rounds for the season. It will be interesting to see how Ferrari counter the Red Bull’s Defence minister, and not mess up like how they have been doing for almost 3/4th of the season now.
2] New sponsor for Haas
Haas has a pretty consistent history for getting shady or totally unknown sponsors, RICH ENERGY being the most popular example to date in memory. From an unknown drinks company whose existence was never known before its name making to the Haas livery, to their russian ex-driver linked company Uralkali, with whom they severed the contract due to a feared incoming backlash because of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Kevin Magnussen has since replaced Nikita Mazepin, and upped Haas’ reputation along with Mick Schumacher.
The efforts are coming to fruition as a new sponsorship deal is being speculated for Haas at COTA. This will give advantage in the further development for next year’s car.
3] The Race offtrack
While Red Bull has reportedly stopped the RB18’s development, Others are still struggling with the build of their package. Mercedes is one such team this year. They have made blunders regarding porpoising and straight line speed at the season start. Attempts to extract the car’s full potential have been made, some tinkering with the downforce, but other than minor and somewhat random gains, Merc don’t see any significant changes. They have shifted their focus to 2023. Lewis is really optimistic with next year’s car development recently, although Toto has kept his expectations tamed for next year. According to him, the simulation and irl condition differences greatly affect the car handling and aero. Redbull having this nailed are still likely next year favourites. But being a touch hopefull does not hurt as he expects to catch up quickly. Shovlin weighed in on the ‘final step’ of the season at COTA which will also ensure their performance prediction for 2023 as well.
Aston Martin is another team who are lagging, massively at that. They had started the AMR22’s development, way before others. Despite that, it is worrying how they have failed the 4 time world champ’s expectations. Their upgrades haven’t made much of a difference too, including Revamping the whole car design. Things have turned for Aston in the last few races though, as a promising show by Seb in Japan and other such events back their optimism for Austin.
