Formula 1 begins a five-week, four-race tour of North and South America this weekend with the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.
The constructors’ and drivers’ world championships have already been awarded as Red Bull and Max Verstappen, respectively, have clinched, but there are plenty of other compelling battles down the order. Resurgent McLaren have had back-to-back double-podium finishes and Oscar Piastri won the Qatar Grand Prix Sprint, rocketing the Woking team up the constructors’ standings.
Closing the 79-point gap to Ferrari for third in the constructors’ standings with five race weekends to go might be too much of an ask, but Aston Martin is within striking distance with just 11-point edge over McLaren.
Here’s what to know ahead of the 2023 United States Grand Prix:
United States Grand Prix TV/streaming schedule
All times Eastern
Friday
1:30 – 2:30 p.m.: Free practice (ESPN2, ESPN+, F1 TV Pro)
4:55 – 6 p.m.: Qualifying (ESPN2, ESPN+, F1 TV Pro)
Saturday
1:30 – 2:30 p.m.: Sprint Shootout (ESPNNews, ESPN+, F1 TV Pro)
6 – 7 p.m.: Sprint (ESPNNews, ESPN+, F1 TV Pro)
Sunday
1:30 p.m. – 2:55 p.m.: Pre-race show (ABC, ESPN+, F1 TV Pro)
2:55 – 5 p.m.: United States Grand Prix (ABC, ESPN+, F1 TV Pro)
United States Grand Prix details
Track: Circuit of the Americas, 3.542-mile, 20-turn permanent racing facility in Austin, Texas
Race length: 56 laps for 191 miles
Lap record: Charles Leclerc, 1:36.369 (2019, Ferrari)
Tire compounds: C2 (Hard), C3 (Medium), C4 (Soft)
2022 winner: Max Verstappen, Red Bull-RBPT
Daniel Ricciardo returns for United States Grand Prix
AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo will return this weekend after missing the last five races with, which will be a welcome sight for many fans as the Australian driver is incredibly popular in the U.S.
Ricciardo broke several bones in his left hand in a crash during practice ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix on Aug. 25. New Zealander Liam Lawson impressed driving in Riccardo’s place, particularly during the Singapore Grand Prix weekend knocking Max Verstappen out of qualifying in the second session and going on to finish ninth to notch two world championship points.
Sprint weekend format returns
In 2021, F1 introduced the Sprint weekend format, which moved traditional qualifying to Friday and put in its place a shortened race that would award minimal points and set the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix. A few nominal tweaks later, we have our current format for the 2023 season, which effectively makes Saturday more like an exhibition. This weekend marks the fifth of six sprint format weekends in 2023 with the final one coming next month in Brazil.
Sprint Shootout is here! 🍿
Imagine qualifying, but even quicker. Every lap counts as Saturday’s Sprint Shootout sets the grid for the #F1Sprint
Leaving Sunday’s Grand Prix unaffected 🔒 pic.twitter.com/oTVrJIuLvl
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 25, 2023
The 2023 format ditches the lame-duck Saturday morning practice session in favor of a quicker version of the traditional three-stage knockout qualifying format to set the grid for the sprint race later in the day. The top eight finishers of the sprint will be awarded points in descending order (eight for P1, seven for P2, six for P3, etc.).
Top drivers and best bets for the United States Grand Prix
Oddsmakers sure don’t anticipate Max Verstappen taking his foot off the gas after clinching his third straight world championship as he enters the weekend with a -400 moneyline according to BetMGM. No other driver sports odds of better than 10-to-1.
Best odds to win
• Max Verstappen -400
• Lando Norris +1000
• Oscar Piastri +1200
• Sergio Perez +1800
Yahoo Sports’ Nick Bromberg wrote earlier in the week on the betting outlook and in addition to backing Verstappen’s massive race-win odds, likes him to post the fastest practice time (-175) and qualify on pole (-250). Bromberg also recommends betting Lewis Hamilton to finish ahead of Charles Leclerc (-155) and the Mercedes stable overall to finish ahead of Ferrari (-140).
F1 world drivers’ championship standings
1. Max Verstappen (1), Red Bull-Honda RBPT – 433*
2. Sergio Perez (11), Red Bull-Honda RBPT – 224
3. Lewis Hamilton (44), Mercedes – 194
4. Fernando Alonso (14), Aston Martin-Mercedes – 183
5. Carlos Sainz (55), Ferrari – 153
6. Charles Leclerc (16), Ferrari – 145
7. Lando Norris (4), McLaren-Mercedes – 136
8. George Russell (63), Mercedes – 132
9. Oscar Piastri (81), McLaren-Mercedes – 83
10. Lance Stroll (18), Aston Martin-Mercedes – 47
11. Pierre Gasly (10), Alpine-Renault – 46
12. Esteban Ocon (31), Alpine-Renault – 44
13. Alexander Albon (23), Williams-Mercedes – 23
14. Valtteri Bottas (77), Alfa Romeo-Ferrari – 10
15. Nico Hülkenberg, (27), Haas-Ferrari – 6
16. Zhou Guanyu (24), Alfa Romeo-Ferrari – 6
17. Yuki Tsunoda (22), AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT – 3
18. Kevin Magnussen (20), Haas-Ferrari – 3
19. Liam Lawson (40), AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT – 2
20. Logan Sargeant (2), Williams-Mercedes – 0
21. Nyck De Vries (21), AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT – 0
22. Daniel Ricciardo (3), AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT – 0
* — Clinched world championship
United States Grand Prix weather
The forecasted daytime high temperature for all three days of on-track running is 88 degrees for all three days, but cloud cover is expected to be different each day. That shouldn’t necessarily mean identical results in all sessions, though, given those differences in cloud cover (which impacts track temperature) and the fact that qualifying, the Sprint and Grand Prix all go off at different times of the day.
Daniel Miller is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. His coverage spans from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis for sports enthusiasts.
