Lewis Hamilton’s final races with Mercedes, Liam Lawson’s return and Max Verstappen’s swearing row with the FIA under the spotlight at the United States GP; watch the whole Austin weekend live on Sky Sports F1, with Saturday’s Sprint at 7pm and Sunday’s Grand Prix at 8pm
All eyes are understandably on the title battle between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris going into the final stages of the Formula 1 season, but there are several other key storylines also playing out.
Red Bull’s Verstappen leads McLaren’s Norris by 52 points with six rounds remaining, with the latter’s significant recent pace advantage raising hopes of a thrilling finale.
After an almost month-long break, the season is set to resume this weekend in frenetic fashion as the United States Grand Prix kicks off a triple header before races in Mexico and Brazil.
Another two-weekend pause follows before a further trio of back-to-back races to end the season in Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
You can watch every session – starting from Friday in Austin – live on Sky Sports F1, but what else is there to look out for beyond Norris’ quest to chase down Verstappen.
Can McLaren close out constructors’ title?
While it’s the drivers’ title that commands most attention from media and fans, McLaren have insisted throughout that their first goal is to win the Constructors’ Championship.
They are on course to do so having opened up a 41-point lead over Red Bull at the top of the standings, but that could theoretically be overturned in one weekend.
Such an outcome would appear to be highly unlikely given McLaren have clearly been the fastest car on the grid since the summer break, with Ferrari their nearest challenger.
Red Bull are expected to bring upgrades to Austin that they will hope will cure some of the RB20’s struggles, but the performance of their car isn’t the only issue.
Even in the event they were able to start challenging for wins again over the final weeks of the season, McLaren’s No 2 driver (in terms of the championship standings if not by official status) Oscar Piastri is performing in a different league to Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.
It’s therefore very difficult to envisage a situation in which McLaren fail to close out the championship, with the 75-point gap to Ferrari in third leaving the Italian team with a similarly challenging margin to overcome
While it may be expected at this point, the feat of coming from the back of the grid in the early stages of last season to constructors’ champions in 2024 will be one of the most remarkable turnarounds in the sport’s history.
Given just how much a first constructors’ crown since 1998 will mean to the Woking squad, it will be fascinating to see if any jitters creep in as they seek to finish the job.
Further down the standings, RB lead Haas by three points in the battle for sixth, while Williams are three points clear of Alpine in their scrap for eighth.
Hamilton nears Mercedes farewell
The final chapters of Lewis Hamilton’s historic partnership with Mercedes are set to be written.
With just six races to go until the seven-time world champion joins Ferrari for 2025, there are likely to be increasing levels of emotion in the Silver Arrows’ garage.
While there is no doubt that Hamilton will leave on good terms, there were some signs of strain on the relationship between driver and team before this break.
Having overcome his qualifying woes to claim third on the grid in Singapore, Hamilton’s hopes of converting that position to a podium were ruined by a decision to start him on soft tyres.
It was clear from his exchanges over team radio that Hamilton wasn’t best pleased, but he didn’t speak to the media after the race as Mercedes announced that both he and team-mate George Russell were suffering from overheating.
While the Singapore conditions are widely considered to be the most challenging on the calendar, it was quite surprising that Hamilton, who prides himself on his conditioning, wasn’t fit enough to fulfil his media responsibilities.
A week on from the race he took to social media to insist “things were cool” between him and the team but that it was “natural to be frustrated” after the Singapore strategy error.
With plenty of time having passed it would be highly surprising for anything but a united front to be presented on Thursday’s media day in Austin, a circuit Hamilton loves driving at.
Even if just for what are sure to be some sad but celebratory goodbyes, watching the end of the Hamilton-Mercedes era over the coming weeks is bound to be entertaining.
Can Lawson make statement on return?
There will be an (old) new face on the grid in Austin.
After his cameo last season when Daniel Ricciardo broke his hand, Liam Lawson has got the Australian’s RB seat on a more permanent basis this time around.
The Red Bull hierarchy, who have the final say on who drives for their junior squad, ran out of patience with Riccia
