Zak Brown more wary of Mercedes than Verstappen in United States

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19:54, 19 Oct 2024

Tim Kraaij is Editor-in-Chief of GPblog.com and a Formula 1 analyst. With permanent FIA accreditation and direct access to the paddock, he delivers in-depth, data-driven analysis and insight into key developments within the sport.

Zak Brown sees Mercedes as the big favourite to win the sprint race. However, the McLaren CEO does not want to call it a dominant car, as anyone can win according to the American.

"It's been a bit of a challenging Friday for us," Zak Brown told Sky Sports ahead of the sprint race in Austin. "Oscar [Piastri] lost his time. Lando [Norris], I didn't think, optimised his lap. I think Mercedes are the fastest actually."

McLaren not using updates

Zak Brown saw 'his' drivers get no further than P4 and P16. Oscar Piastri already dropped out in SQ1. Norris wasn't able to challenge Verstappen's best time.

"We only had the one hour and then obviously the qualifying. The upgrades now, we're in the increments, the milliseconds, not even the tenths, so the data's been good, but we weren't expecting some giant leap forward," Brown concluded.

Pos.	Driver	Team	Points
1	Kimi Antonelli Kimi Antonelli	MercedesMER	156
2	Lewis Hamilton Lewis Hamilton	FerrariFER	115
3	George Russell George Russell	MercedesMER	106
4	Charles Leclerc Charles Leclerc	FerrariFER	75
5	Lando Norris Lando Norris	McLarenMCL	73
6	Oscar Piastri Oscar Piastri	McLarenMCL	70
7	Max Verstappen Max Verstappen	Red Bull RacingRBR	55
8	Isack Hadjar Isack Hadjar	Red Bull RacingRBR	37
9	Pierre Gasly Pierre Gasly	AlpineALP	32
10	Liam Lawson Liam Lawson	Racing BullsRCB	28
11	Franco Colapinto Franco Colapinto	AlpineALP	19
12	Oliver Bearman Oliver Bearman	HaasHAA	18
13	Arvid Lindblad Arvid Lindblad	Racing BullsRCB	14
14	Carlos Sainz Carlos Sainz	WilliamsWIL	6
15	Alexander Albon Alexander Albon	WilliamsWIL	5
16	Esteban Ocon Esteban Ocon	HaasHAA	3
17	Gabriel Bortoleto Gabriel Bortoleto	AudiAUD	2
18	Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso	Aston MartinAST	1
19	Nico Hulkenberg Nico Hulkenberg	AudiAUD	0
20	Valtteri Bottas Valtteri Bottas	CadillacCAD	0
21	Sergio Perez Sergio Perez	CadillacCAD	0
22	Lance Stroll Lance Stroll	Aston MartinAST	0

Zak Brown more wary of Mercedes than Verstappen in United States

McLaren not using updates

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