The battle for second

With Verstappen wrapping up the title in Qatar, attention turns to the fight between Perez and Hamilton for second in the drivers’ championshipꦗ✤.

J🐬ust 30 points separate the aforementioned duo with five rounds to g👍o (including two sprint races).

Qatar was a big missed opportunity for Hamilton to cut that gap in half after crashing out on the opening lap following contact with Mercedes teammate 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:George Russell.

Perez endured another shocke🔯r as he picked up three time penalties for track limits, leaving him 10th in the final classification behind the two Alfa Romeos.

The Mexican still has a strong grip on P2 behind Verstappen, main🧔ly due to the fact that Mercedes, Ferrari, Aston Martin and McLaren have traded positions as the second-fastest team throughout the season.

The four teams take poin꧙ts off each other - one weekend McLaren are Red Bull’s nearest challenger, another it’s Ferrari - meaning no driver can consistently score big points and thus overtake Perez.

Perez’s a🧸bysmal form should give Hamilton confidence that finishing runner-up is a realistic possibili♛ty.

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Fernando Alonso is still in contention - he’s 11 points behind his former McLaren teammate - but given Aston Martin’s lack of 🌟overall performance since the middle part of the year, it’s unlikely he will be a factor come Abu Dhabi.

Another layer to this is the fact Red Bull has never seen their drivers finish 1-2 🧸in the championship.

If Perez isn’t able to secure it, the pressure on his futu💞re with the team would surel🉐y only ramp up further.

Ricciardo’s return

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Daniel Ricciardo will maꦯke his long-awaited return from injury at this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.

Ricciardo has been forced to miss the last five races after suffering a broken metacarpal 🍨during a practice crash at Zandvoort in August.

The Australian broke his wrisꦚt and underwent surgery in Barcelona sဣhortly after that.

Since then, Ricciardo has been in rehab, recovering, while stand-in 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Liam Lawson has starred.

Despite his absence, Ricciardo’s F1 future is secure after AlphaTauri announced he will remain with the team alongside 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Yuki Tsunoda for 2024.

Ricciardo will be keen to impress, particularly given Pere﷽z’s poor form.

If he has a great end of the year, and Perez continues toꦗ struggle, could he return to Red Bull sooner than expected?

Haas’ major upgrade 

Haas will introduce a substantial upgrade for their ♚home event at the Circuit of the Americas.

Their up𝄹date is akin to McLaren and Aston Martin’s in terms of completely altering their car concept, aligning it wit🐠h traits of the dominant RB19 from this year.

While Haas don’t expect a McLaren-style leap from it, it should give them encouragement going into next year ꧅provided it works.

Haas have slipped back to ninth in the constructors’ championship following Alfa’s dou🧸ble-score in Qatar - so t🥃he timing of the upgrade could be a welcome boost.

More misery for Stroll?

After some pushing and shoving in the garage at Losail, 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lance Stroll will be hoping T❀exas brings a drama-free weekend.

Like his former Racing Point teammate Perez, Stroll’s has struggled in recent rounds, failing to score points 🍨since the summer break - Alonso has scored 34 in the same period.

The Canadian has been knocked out in Q1 at the last four consecutive races highlighting how turgid it has been for him🦋.