2021 United States Grand Prix, Friday - Steve Etherington
Valtteri Bottas (P6, 8 pts): 7/10
Not a vintage race for Valtteri Bottas, who has been having a somewhat up and down season. Two races ago he looked to have all but given up in Sochi despite it being one of his favourite venues; then last time out he produced a dazzling drive to secure a flawless victory in Turkey. Unfortunately this week was back on the down curve and it was a somewhat anonymous performance from the Finn, perhaps knocked off his stride by the news that there would be yet another engine change and grid penalty to overcome. Although he was fastest in first practice, he slowly sank back and was only fourth quickest in qualifying which translated to ninth on the grid after his penalty was applied. He tried and failed to make an early pass on the two AlphaTauris and falling foul of the stewards micro-managing affairs from race control in the process, and as a result he didn't finally clear Yuki Tsunoda until lap 19 after which he promptly found himself stuck behind Lando Norris instead. The second round of pit stops helped break the impasse after which Bottas lay siege to Carlos Sainz, until he was able to dispatch the Ferrari with two laps remaining. "It was a pretty uneventful race for me, we tried the best we could but it wasn't easy to fight through the field," he admitted. "Not the strongest weekend for us, but in free air the car felt good and there are plenty of learnings we can take forward."
Daniel Ricciardo (P5, 10 pts): 9/10
If the life and the soul of the party was to be found anywhere in Austin this weekend, then it was surely in Daniel Ricciardo's trailer. The Australian was very much an honorary Texan for the occasion and he was revelling in every minute, especially with his dream outing behind the wheel of Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s classic NASCAR as a reward for his Monza win from newly-branded McLaren CEO Zak Brown. Somewhere in the middle of this he even managed to put in some time behind the wheel of his own MCL35M, and far from being distracted by everything that was going on around him it all seemed to energise him to new heights, with by far his best performance of the year since Italy. He was fifth fastest in the timesheets at the end of Friday, and beat his team mate Lando Norris in the final round of qualifying on Saturday. Starting the race from sixth place he was surprised to be handed a spot by his predecessor at McLaren, Carlos Sainz, but cheerfully accepted the gift and went on to run in fifth place for all but eight of the ensuing 56 laps. "I'm really happy. Really happy," he said, looking it has to be said even happier than normal if that's even possible for the high-beam grinning Aussie. "The fans were awesome, the crowd was sick, hopefully they enjoyed it."
