2021 United States Grand Prix

. The race returned after being cancelled in due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From this race onward, any practice times set during waved yellow flags would be deleted. The final two rounds of the 2021 W Series were held as support races for the Grand Prix. This was the ninth time that Austin has hosted a Formula One Grand Prix. Some restrictions on paddock access related to the COVID-19 pandemic were lowered starting from this event. In the constructors' championship, Mercedes led Red Bull Racing by 36 points. Behind them, third-placed McLaren led fourth-placed Ferrari by 7.5 points with 240 points, with Alpine a distant fifth with 104 points. The title sponsor of Ferrari, Mission Winnow, returned for this race. The name and sponsor logos were used by Ferrari at the Bahrain, Emilia Romagna, Portuguese, Spanish, Monaco, Azerbaijan, and Russian Grands Prix, but were not used in any races from the to the Italian Grand Prix, and the Turkish Grand Prix, for legal reasons. Tyre choices Sole tyre supplier Pirelli allocated the C2, C3, and C4 compounds of tyre to be used in the race. ==Practice==

The first practice session started at 11:30 local time (UTC−05:00) on Friday, October 22. Valtteri Bottas was the fastest in the session, with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen behind. The second session started at 15:00 local time, also on Friday, and ended with Sergio Pérez fastest ahead of Lando Norris and Hamilton. The third practice session started at 13:00 local time on Saturday, October 23. There were very stiff winds and high temperatures catching the drivers out throughout the session and Verstappen and Hamilton both had quicker lap times deleted for exceeding track limits on Turns 19 and 9, respectively, Pérez was once again the fastest driver, ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr. for Ferrari and Verstappen. == Qualifying ==

Qualifying started at 16:00 local time (UTC−05:00) on Saturday, October 23. Verstappen qualified on pole. Hamilton qualified second, a fifth of a second slower than Verstappen. Pérez qualified third, while Bottas qualified fourth, although the latter had a five-place grid penalty and was relegated to ninth on the starting grid. • – Sebastian Vettel was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements. • – George Russell was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements. == Race ==

The race started at 14:00 local time (UTC−05:00) on Sunday, October 24. There were 140,000 spectators in attendance that day. Hamilton overtook Verstappen at the first corner, with Pérez attempting to pass Hamilton but backing out to avoid risking a collision with his teammate Verstappen. Stroll and Latifi clashed at the first corner, leaving the pair at the back of the field. Ricciardo moved into fifth-place when he overtook Sainz at the sixteenth corner on the first lap. Russell started last, but was in fourteenth place by the end of the first lap. Tsunoda had passed Bottas and Gasly on the first lap, with Gasly then overtaking Bottas on the third lap. Ocon made a pit stop to repair damage at the end of the third lap, dropping him to last place. At the end of the tenth lap Verstappen made a pit stop to change from old medium-compound tyres to new hard-compound tyres. Pérez made a pit stop at the end of the twelfth lap and changed onto another pair of used medium tyres. Red Bull successfully undercut Mercedes when Hamilton stopped from the lead at the end of the thirteenth lap and emerged on the fourteenth lap five-and-a-half seconds behind Verstappen. On the fourteenth lap Gasly retired due to a suspension failure. Verstappen won the race by a margin of one-and-a-third seconds from Hamilton, with third-placed Pérez over forty seconds behind and fourth-placed Leclerc the only other driver within a minute of the two leaders at the end. Race classification Notes • – Includes one point for fastest lap. ==Championship standings after the race==

'''Drivers' Championship standings''' '''Constructors' Championship standings''' • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. • Bold text and an asterisk indicates competitors who still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion. ==See also==