COATES
Will Lewis or Max have the final word?
This year’s Formula 1 title fight is arguably the best since 2012. The 2018 contest was good, but Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton seem more evenly matched than Sebastian Vettel and peak Hamilton were. Both teams and drivers have made mistakes and pulled off some brilliant performances. Things have not been predictable.
Since the pace of the Red Bull RB16B became obvious early in the year, many have had their money on Verstappen ending Hamilton’s run of titles. But, as Alex Kalinauckas shows on page 16, there are many factors that could swing the battle one way or another – and some of them are outside the drivers’ control.
One critical element will be optimising the car at each circuit. That sounds obvious, but it is not the same as having the fastest machine. Last time out in Turkey the two big teams should have been closer, but Red Bull never got in the right set-up window while Mercedes found the ‘goldilocks’ zone. Who will get it right at Austin this weekend?
One driver who does look on his way to securing another crown is Ash Sutton. He has a 32-point lead heading into Sunday’s Brands Hatch British Touring Car finale. Marcus Simmons catches up with him and finds out how he has bounced back from early career setbacks and personal challenges to become a tin-top great on p26. We also take a look back at the life of the hard-charging Jo Siffert (p32), 50 years after his death, and report from Rally Spain, where Elfyn Evans did enough to take his title challenge down to the wire (p36).
Kevin Turner Chief Editor kevin.turner@autosport.com
NEXT WEEK 28 OCTOBER US GP and BTCC finale As the F1 title fight hots up at Austin, the BTCC
gets decided
COVER IMAGES Red Bull, Etherington/ Motorsport Images
PIT & PADDOCK 4 F1 crams 23 races into eight months 6 Lamborghini closes on LMDh assault 9 Harvey buoyant on RLLR Indy switch 11 United States Grand Prix preview 13 Opinion: Alex Kalinauckas 14 Opinion: Marcus Simmons 15 Feedback: your letters
INSIGHT 16 F1 2021: Verstappen vs Hamilton 26 How Sutton became a BTCC great 32 Remembering Jo Siffert
RACE CENTRE 36 WRC: Neuville and Evans star in Spain 42 Hill on top in Goodwood tin-top fest 48 World of Sport: WTCR; Pure ETCR; NASCAR Cup; Intercontinental GT Challenge; World Rallycross; Super Formula
CLUB AUTOSPORT 61 Moreno, Hughes and Burt to FFord! 62 Top British GT drivers plan returns 64 Rare Chevrons back on track 67 Opinion: Stephen Lickorish 68 National reports: Donington Park; Silverstone; Snetterton; Mallory Park; Oulton Park
FINISHING STRAIGHT 78 What’s on this week 80 From the archive: 1982 Le Mans 82 Have-a-go hero: Nathan Freke
SUBSCRIPTION OFFER 66 Special deals on Autosport
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21 OCTOBER 2021 AUTOSPORT.COM 3
