Five Formula 1 Winners & Losers: United States Grand Prix

Photo from AFP

It’s always so jarring to have a Grand Prix on during NFL football, but hey.

It’s a thing! Thank heavens for multiple screens.

Here are the winners and losers from the US Grand Prix.

Losers

5. Fernando Alonso

Alonso did such an incredible job this race.

He started from the pit lane, and worked his way into easily getting points.

And then, as the race went on, he had to retire the car due to a failure.

Just a big bummer after a race that good.

4. Esteban Ocon

Early race damage (a gigantic hole in his sidepod) ruined the Frenchman’s race early.

Not a whole lot he can do, unfortunately.

3. Oscar Piastri

Another unbelievably good weekend for the rookie, but unfortunately, much like Alonso, he had to retire the car due to internal failures.

Still, there’s a lot to feel good for from this weekend.

2. Kevin Magnussen

It just isn’t really working for K Mag this year, which is a big bummer, because I like his talent.

But Nico Hulkenberg has been consistently better all year long.

He’s going to need to take a step forward.

1. Lewis Hamilton & Charles Leclerc

It’s bad luck. It’s not the drivers fault that the floor was too high.

But, the floor was too high. And that’s an automatic disqualification that takes away a podium for Hamilton and a 6th place finish for Leclerc.

C’est la vie…

Winners

5. Max Verstappen

Oh, Max won again, by the way.

4. Carlos Sainz

Yet another podium that is given to him after the race for Carlos Sainz.

But hey, a podium is a podium!

3. Yuki Tsunoda

Yuki has shown over and over again that he can outperform his car, which is exactly what you want in an F1 driver.

He’s not perfect, but he’s going to be around for a while.

The question is, will he be with Red Bull or with Aston Martin now that Honda is reentering F1 in a few years?

2. Lando Norris

Lando fought valiantly for the win once again, but had to settle for 2nd.

His time is coming, though.

The guy is a star.

1. Logan Sargeant

Let’s just get the obvious bit out of the way first.

LOGAN SARGEANT POINTS AT THE US GRAND PRIX EAGLE SCREECH

Ok. Now that that’s taken care of.

The important thing was, even before the disqualifications that led to him getting points, he finished 12th and hung with his teammate Alex Albon.

Considering the faith Williams and team principal James Vowles put in him, he needed to repay that with some solid races.

So far, he’s off to a good start.