Lando Norris recovery, Ferrari joy and more US Grand Prix sprint race predictions

The F1 2024 season is back in action in Austin for the United States Grand Prix and the fourth of six sprint events.

After a sprint qualifying with some surprises and a brilliant pole position for Max Verstappen and Red Bull , the drivers will face the first race of the weekend in a shortened 19-lap version.

US GP Sprint Race: Top 10 Predictions

We have predicted the top 10 positions for the US GP sprint race, and encourage you, our readers, to make your own predictions for Sunday’s race as well. And don’t forget, it’s only the top eight drivers who score points in the Sprint race format…

10: Sergio Perez

Another poor qualifying performance from Perez is certainly not a great help for his hopes of staying on next year at Red Bull, but that’s for the future.

Regarding the present, his chances of scoring points in the sprint race are pretty slim.

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His best chance of reaching the top eight is to make a good start and be brave enough to overtake. Ahead of him are cars that tend to be fast on the straights, such as the Williams and both Haas.

Difficult mission, but not impossible driving a Red Bull which seems to have slightly improved.

9: Franco Colapinto

After a superb qualifying performance from the Argentine driver, he certainly has a great chance to provide Williams with points in their fight against Haas and VCARB.

It won’t be easy, but Colapinto has already shown in Singapore that he is not afraid to take risks and every race start and every battle is valuable knowing that, for the time being, he will not continue as an official F1 driver in 2025.

8: Kevin Magnussen

After surprising the field in SQ1 and SQ2 with incredible pace, Magnussen was surpassed by his team-mate Nico Hulkenberg in SQ3.

Despite this, Magnussen’s pace at Haas’s home race has been astonishing so far.

The Danish driver is a candidate for the points in this sprint race.

7: Nico Hulkenberg

The German driver worked his magic again in qualifying, as he has been doing lately.

Double points for Haas? That’s realistic.

The American team, which recently announced its alliance with Toyota, is back with renewed energy for the final rounds of this season.

6: Lewis Hamilton

After a disastrous lap in SQ3 due to his tyres overheating from pushing too hard in Sector 1, Hamilton may not have the best car setup ahead of this sprint race.

Still, he should be able to reach the top six by overtaking Hulkenberg and perhaps fight for P5.

5: Carlos Sainz

Sainz had a decent qualifying lap, just 30 thousandths of a second off his team-mate and just 30 thousandths of a second away from P3.

In the sprint race we think he will be conservative and his best chance is to take advantage of other drivers’ mistakes at the start or a good move on his part.

Ferrari has been strong on the first day of the weekend, but the differences in performance are so minimal that it will be the drivers who will make the difference in the tight pack of the Top 6 positions.

4: George Russell

Russell put in a sensational lap in SQ3, with Mercedes opting to get both cars out on track before their rivals.

Although he will be starting from P2 and will therefore have the advantage of having the inside at Turn 1 braking, we think Verstappen will be pushing him hard to avoid an overtake and this could hurt him against rivals starting a bit further back on the grid.

In addition, McLaren and Ferrari should apparently have slightly better race pace.

Although in a shortened race with few points at stake, this may be an element in Russell’s favour as he aims to fight for higher positions than a P4 finish in the Sprint Race.

3: Lando Norris

If Norris wants to fight for the World Championship, he knows that the sprint race should not be a damage-limitation session.

In fact, he has to be the riskiest driver on the grid because he is no longer depending on himself to be World Champion.

McLaren did not appear to be at the high level it was used to before this long break without racing.

Despite this, after a difficult qualifying, the MCL38 should make a small leap in quality in the race and the podium should be within reach.

2: Charles Leclerc

While it is true that the FP1 session was very experimental in terms of car set-up, Ferrari showed good pace in the long run.

Lap times were erratic, but the Italian team looked solid despite only four consistent laps after a strong push lap from both Sainz and Charles Leclerc.

Leclerc will also start P3, where on the straight before the steep braking into Turn 1 he may have some advantage on the outside racing line.

Expect a tight battle against McLaren and Mercedes as in qualifying.

1: Max Verstappen

The king of the sprint races will start from P1 in a Red Bull car that seems to have come back to life, at least on Verstappen’s side of the garage.

After a superb lap in SQ3, the Dutchman has once again made a statement by beating Russell by just 12 thousandths of a second and is the main favourite for victory in this sprint race.

The data speaks for itself with 10 sprint race wins out of 15 in F1 history and winning the last three sprint races in China, Miami and Austria this season, Verstappen is without doubt the man to beat.

Can someone beat him for the first time in 2024? Not on this occasion.

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