Austin, 16 November

Looking at Scuderia Ferrari’s race prospects for tomorrow, it would take a brave person to predict that Fernando Alonso could end the United States Grand Prix on the podium, but in terms of its battle to regain second place in the Constructors’ championship, the situation looks a little brighter, when looking at how Mercedes and Lotus fared today. The Spaniard is in sixth place on the grid, starting alongside the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. Whether Felipe Massa can also bring home some valuable points will depend on how the race pans out and if he can stage one of his well known climbs up the order. Today, he struggled in qualifying and was left stranded in Q2 with the fifteenth fastest time, although a penalty for Jenson Button, after the Englishman overtook under red flags on Friday, means the Brazilian actually starts from fourteenth. In fact, being on the dirty side of the track now might be more of a hindrance than a help. Felipe was mystified as to why he has been struggling so much here, but is still hopeful that he can have a good race.

For both Ferrari men, the key moments will be the split second when the red lights go out for the start: lightning reflexes and a well set-up clutch to launch the F138s off the line have often proved a valuable combination, setting up both men for a better afternoon than their grid positions might have led one to believe. After that, it will be a case of chasing every glimmer of a gap in the hectic opening lap: that is always a gamble, but at this point of the season there is little to gain by being cautious.


Of course, the Red Bulls have locked out the front row again and also again, it’s Sebastian Vettel on pole ahead of Mark Webber. These two were in a class of their own, beating third placed Romain Grosjean by three quarters of a second. These three were so confident of their pace, they did not even use the softer compound Pirelli to get through the first part of this lunchtime’s qualifying. Sharing the second row with the Lotus driver is Nico Hulkenberg for Sauber. The other drivers that the Scuderia will be watching closely in terms of its championship hopes are Heikki Kovalainen, eighth in the other Lotus and Nico Rosberg, who had a bad day in the second Mercedes and will start from thirteenth on the grid.

Tyres have again been a major topic this weekend, with suggestions that Pirelli’s decision to bring the Hard and Medium compounds, in other words, its hardest two compounds, is a very conservative choice, but that doesn’t mean we are in for a dull race tomorrow. In a situation where a one stop race looks like the most obvious strategy, one could expect the Lotus to challenge the Red Bulls, as the former are usually kinder on tyres if not as quick as the latter. However, the Red Bulls seemed to be able to make the Mediums last quite well on Friday, which could see its two drivers take off and leave the rest behind. But if higher temperatures expected tomorrow influence tyre degradation, which so far has been minimal, it might spice things up a bit. The weather which has gone from icy mornings to hot and muggy afternoons, could again play a part tomorrow, along with the usual requirement for a well executed race strategy.