DUNBAR
F1 2021 delivers again
at Austin – and you
have your say
It’s no longer a surprise when the 2021 Formula 1 season doesn’t play out to the form book. Mercedes hadn’t been beaten to pole at Austin since 2013 before last weekend, and Lewis Hamilton has five victories at the Circuit of The Americas. But Red Bull won the 2021 United States Grand Prix with Max Verstappen.
The Red Bull RB16B and Mercedes W12 are close enough that small details can make the difference on any given weekend. The RB16B generally seems marginally the faster, but is clearly not an easy machine to get into the optimal set-up window, and Red Bull had to overturn a deficit to Mercedes in practice to take pole and victory.
Alex Kalinauckas explains how the team did it in our report on page 16, which also indicates the championship battle is still a tough one to call with five races still to go.
It’s been a fine F1 season and the recent fan survey conducted by F1 and Motorsport Network indicates it’s in pretty decent health ahead of the major rules overhaul next year. The survey provided some interesting results (p10) and Motorsport Network President James Allen talks about the project in one of our columns (p14).
Two titles that were decided last weekend were in British Touring Cars (p32) and W Series (p42). Congratulations to Ash Sutton and Jamie Chadwick respectively for defending their crowns.
Kevin Turner Chief Editor kevin.turner@autosport.com
NEXT WEEK 4 NOVEMBER Behind the scenes at Merc Inside ‘mission control’ of
modern Formula 1’s
greatest team
COVER IMAGES Jared Tilton/Red Bull
PIT & PADDOCK 4 Hulkenberg in frame for Indy switch 6 Toyota explains its Le Mans drama 8 Loeb tests Ford amid WRC return talk 10 What we learned from F1 fan survey 13 Opinion: Alex Kalinauckas 14 Opinion: James Allen 15 Feedback: your letters
RACE CENTRE 16 United States GP report and analysis 32 Sutton takes third BTCC title at Brands 38 Rosberg’s Extreme E duo wins again 42 World of Sport: W Series; ELMS; Euroformula Open; Super GT; NASCAR Cup; MotoGP
CLUB AUTOSPORT 55 Memories of Formula Ford Festival greats 62 MotorsportDays LIVE preview 64 Magnussen and Lind return to Festival 66 GB4 gets green light for 15-year-olds 68 Luhr hopes for team to enter British GT 69 Opinion: Stefan Mackley 70 National reports: Brands Hatch, Silverstone; Donington Park; Oulton Park; Cadwell Park; Kirkistown
FINISHING STRAIGHT 80 What’s on this week 82 What could have been: Sutton vs Norris
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28 OCTOBER 2021 AUTOSPORT.COM 3
