It’s appropriate that the talented troupe of cheerleaders who routinely perform on the grid at Circuit of the Americas before every United States Grand Prix belong to the Dallas Cowboys.
The richest, most easily recognised and popular franchise in the National Football League, the Cowboys also have of the more tortured fanbases in the league, suffering a title spanning a full generation.
That legacy of failure and underachievement is another aspect the Cowboys share with Ferrari – very much the Dallas of the Formula 1 world. Despite the resources, finances, drivers and political clout of the Prancing Horse, Ferrari has only a single championship season to show for itself since Lewis Hamilton has been on the grid. Perhaps why the Scuderia has courted the seven-times world champion to Maranello for 2025.
But under the stewardship of Frederic Vasseur, a team principal with vast experience of achieving a lot with little, there are signs that Ferrari is back on the path to title success. Three victories in 18 rounds may not sound remarkable by Ferrari’s high standards, but in the most competitive season for many years, Ferrari have more than held their own against Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes.
Ferrari turned up to Texas without any upgrades and without reason to consider themselves as hot favourites for Sunday’s Grand Prix. However, after their solid showing on sprint Saturday, even championship leaders Max Verstappen and Lando Norris were wary that Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jnr could gate-crash their expected duel for the win from the second row.
Just as in Saturday’s sprint race, the bulk of the field lined up on the grid on Sunday with medium compound tyres, meaning no one would hold an advantage over the others on the run up the hill to turn one. With Norris on pole and Verstappen alongside on the front row, the Ferrari pair knew that their best opportunity would be to play it smart into the first corner and try to pick up the pieces when the two championship leaders inevitably clashed at turn one.
Unlike so many times when Norris has started from pole position, the McLaren driver managed to get a decent launch when the lights went out. But Verstappen’s Red Bull filled his left hand wing mirror all the way up the hill.
As the track widened to the inside with the pit exit blending into the race track, Norris left more than enough room for a Red Bull. Verstappen promptly filled the gap,…
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