All you need to know about United States GP 2022

With the season coming to an end there's still a lot left according to the constructors' point of view.

With the driver's championship already wrapped, there is still some left in the Formula 1 at the United States GP. Despite the cost cap saga going around, Red Bull is looking to complete their fifth championship in history after nine years. Drivers like Daniel Ricciardo and Mick Schumacher could give their final audition for a seat next year, while Charles Leclerc will look to maintain his dignity by trying not to finish behind Sergio Perez in the driver's standings.

Driver's Standings

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Max Verstappen has an unbeatable lead but there is still something for the grab for a few further down. Sergio Perez would focus on rounding off the constructors for Red Bull by securing second place. This could be Red Bull's first-ever 1-2 finish in their history. The other Ferrari driver, Carlos Sainz, is fighting George Russell for P4. The Mercedes driver is five points ahead of the Spaniard.

Leclerc to take a grid penalty

While Leclerc is looking for a second-place championship finish, Ferrari has decided to test a new engine for the remaining four races of the season. Leclerc is already on his fifth Internal Combustion Engine (ICE). This will be his sixth. However, the mileage of the current ICE is not in doubt. This could probably be a step towards next season. As per the Italian Media which put this out, this is already regarded as a test for 2023. If the tests get successful, they will be installed in the next year's machinery.

This installation penalty is only for Leclerc. It is said that Carlos Sainz won't be getting upgrades before next year.

Mercedes bring upgrades

There are going to be upgrades in a few of the cars. Mercedes will bring another batch of upgrades to the United States Grand Prix – they're last in terms of aerodynamic changes this season, the team’s Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin has revealed.

“It’s our final step of aero development and that will hopefully give us a bit more performance, but importantly, with every step, we are learning more and more, and that learning we can carry into next year – so that’s part of it,” he said. Driver George Russell said last month that the Circuit of Americas will give Mercedes their best chance to finally claim a victory in 2022.

Alpine vs McLaren

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Alpine and McLaren are just 13 points apart from each other in the constructor's table. Alpine has a tremendous car compared to McLaren but their reliability has easily let them at least a hundred points down, something their veteran Fernando Alonso acknowledges with great despair.

Daniel Ricciardo hasn't been in the greatest of shapes behind the wheel in 2022. This could be his audition for a seat next year but he has rather accepted that he won't be in the grid before 2024. His teammate Lando Norris has turned out to be one of the two most consistent drivers in the grid outside the top three teams.

An American to take the wheel

Logan Sargeant, who is currently third in the Formula 2 championship at the United States GP – will make his FP1 debut for Williams as he completes one of the teams’ mandatory rookie outings in Austin. Sargeant has been extremely impressive during his rookie campaign in F2 so far, winning two feature races for Carlin and putting himself in a prime position to secure the required Super Licence points that would make him a candidate for an F1 seat in future. With De Vries, Sargeant is a firm favourite to get the next year's Williams seat. His FP1 appearance will be his first major audition in the 2022 machinery.

IndyCar racer Alex Palou will also be in action in front of a familiar crowd as he fulfils FP1 duties for McLaren at COTA.

Timings

The feature race will start at 12:30 AM on Sunday night. The qualifying sessions will start at 3:30 AM. The last round of qualifying will start at 4:10 AM. All this will happen in the early Sunday morning. As for the practice sessions, FP1 will start at 12:30 AM on the 22nd of October. FP2 will start at 3:30 in the early morning. The final practice session will start three hours prior to Q1.