F1 United States Grand Prix 2016 Qualifying Report

The United States edition of the Formula One championship for 2016 will be held from 22-24 October. And just a few minutes back the qualifying session got completed. For the not so race addicts, qualifying sessions are done for deciding the grid slots from where each car starts on the first lap of the race. I have watched a lot of races before but I wanted to write about this race as this could be a real turning point in the lead for the championship.

Not like other races where the Mercedes AMG are in a league of their own, the Redbull cars have caught up to the speed of the Mercedes particularly on this track which makes me think that they could be Mercedes' real competitors. As in the past few races, the performance of the Ferrari cars have been way disappointing. I am a big Ferrari fan and it really pains me to see the car fighting for the third row places! I just want to go back to the Schumacher era! 

For the race tomorrow, the Mercedes cars of Hamilton and Rosberg have the upper hand as they have the first two grid positions and have better tyres with low degradation and won't have to stop early. The same is the case with one of the Redbull cars of Verstappen, while that of Ricciardo's car will have to stop early like 10-15 laps after the start. This is because the Redbulls have split the strategies between their cars which I think was the best decision. The Ferrari meanwhile have been stagnant and have not been proactive in their decision making for the past few races. They do not have the fastest of the cars when compared to Mercedes or Redbull and they are also going to start with a faster tyre which could help them for a few laps but it degrades after 10 - 15 laps. So they too like Ricciardo have to have a early pitstop.

So tomorrow night is going to be fascinating to see how the race is going to unfold. I really think it all depends on the start. If Hamilton gets away well, then its going to be a good race for him as we all know how good he is in controlling the race from the front. But if all the cars get their starts well or if the Redbulls get their starts better than the Mercedes' cars then we really have a fascinating race on our hands! As for the Ferraris I have no hope :(. Finally, happy that Hulkenberg is moving to Renault. He deserves the place and would be happy to see him progress. Hoping for a good race tomorrow. Fingers crossed. :) Rooting for Hamilton tomorrow!