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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – The fiery rivalry between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton returned to the circuit with a flick of a finger and an insult.
It was only training, but the exchange between the Formula 1 title contenders on Friday made for a spirited opening day of the US Grand Prix and showed that this championship duel between the Red Bull and Mercedes drivers is reaching its climax before it does goes into the last six races of the season.
Welcome back to Texas everyone.
It was just a few minutes after Friday’s second practice session when Verstappen and Hamilton entered the long straight side by side on the grid.
Verstappen said he was there first, but Hamilton sprinted with him to the end and took the inside line into the corner. It was the kind of risky wheel-to-wheel move that riders rarely make in practice, especially these two given their collision history this season.
Verstappen withdrew, but turned Hamilton with his right middle finger and called Hamilton a “stupid idiot” in a radio message to the Red Bull garage.
“Ignore it,” was the reply from Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.
It is impossible to ignore what will come between these two in the race on Sunday and beyond. Verstappen is clinging to a tiny six-point lead over Hamilton in the season championship while the 24-year-old Dutchman is chasing his first championship.
Hamilton, 36, has won seven championships and an eighth would break his association with Michael Schumacher for most in F1 history.
The Texas race is the first of a two-piece swing in North America as the series runs alongside Mexico City. Both races were canceled last season amid the pandemic.
Mercedes dominates the Austin circuit and has won five times since it opened in 2012. Hamilton has won four of these races and team-mate Valtteri Bottas won in 2019. Bottas and Hamilton went 1: 2 in the first practice session on Friday morning.
Verstappen was third behind the Mercedes drivers in the first session, and the incident with Hamilton in the second session was another frustration for the Dutchman. Verstappen was way behind the top pace in the afternoon, while Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez was the fastest.
But things didn’t go smoothly in the Mercedes garage. Bottas’ car needed a change of the internal combustion engine and he will get a field penalty on Sunday. Hamilton had the same problem two weeks ago and another engine problem at this stage of the season could have a big impact on the championship.
“I think you can see that we are suffering from reliability this year,” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. “We’re trying to really get the problems under control. Loss of points can be decisive. “
Since Hamilton lost to his teammate Nico Rosberg in 2016, there has not been such a close battle for the championship in Formula 1. Since 2012, when Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel was too late to beat, there have been no two teams in the series that have faced Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso so late in the season.
The race weekend is expected to draw large crowds, with the race expected to have a capacity of 140,000 on Sunday. Although the entire series is gaining increasing attention and energy in the US, at COTA Perez is the star of the show.
The native of Guadalajara, Mexico, caused great cheers when his car was the first on the track in the morning and again when he did the second practice session. He drew at least 10,000 spectators to a demonstration in downtown Dallas this past weekend, and it’s all just a preview of what to expect next week in Mexico City, where he will be worshiped.
“I don’t feel that far from my people and the support I get in the US is incredible,” said Perez. “Without a doubt I will be the driver with the most support on Sunday.”
On Friday, the riders were able to take a look at the bumps in the track surface that MotoGP riders complained about three weeks ago during their races here. The slow-motion playback and the view from the driver’s helmet cameras showed how much bounce the cars will withstand on the race weekend.
COTA is a Haas F1 home race, the only American-led team in the series, but the worst on the grid. Haas started another round of combat as both cars were the slowest in both sessions.
Haas has been battling for points as a midfield team in Austin for the past few years, but performance has plummeted with two rookie drivers and an outdated car.
“I think we knew that this year would always be tough,” said Haas rookie driver Mick Schumacher. “We started the season knowing that there would be no improvements to the car. What we have is what we have. “
Off the track, reports continued to circulate about Michael Andretti’s offer to take over Alfa Romeo. The American owner of Andretti Autosport and son of former F1 champion Mario Andretti has loudly spoken out in favor of expanding his range in F1.
Zak Brown, the American boss at McLaren and a friend and business partner of Andretti, did not want to reveal how close Andretti could be to a deal.
“What I can say is that he takes Formula 1 very seriously. He loves Formula One, ”said Brown. “Of course he has a lot of history, including his father as a world champion. I think it would be great if Michael and the name Andretti were involved in Formula 1. Lets see what happens.”
There has been widespread speculation that Andretti will attempt to get 21-year-old American IndyCar driver Colton Herta into F1 if he can get Herta the license required to compete. But even without Herta, an American driver could still be on the road.
Williams announced on Friday that 20-year-old Logan Sargeant was accepted into his driver development academy after three seasons in Formula 3. F1 has not had an American driver since Alexander Rossi’s brief stay with Sauber at the end of 2015.
“We expect him to move up quickly,” said Jost Capito, chief executive of Williams. “We’ll have a good program for him.”
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