American Grand Prix 2025: pre-qualifying/sprint

Ah, sprints. The pre-digested food of a Formula 1 weekend. Not a fan of late start times either, but at least we’re at the best of the (ridiculous) three circuits in the USA.

In first and only practice Norris was fastest, a quarter of a second of… Hulkenberg. Hmm. Piastri was two-hundredths behind the Sauber. Alonso was next, and only then came Verstappen, with Albon, Russell, Hamilton, Hadjar, and Bearman completing the top 10.

In pretend qualifying for the pretend race Verstappen decided it would be better to go faster and thus got pole. Norris was a tenth off, one place and three-tenths quicker than Piastri. Hulkenberg starts 4th, and was just one-tenth behind the Aussie. Russell and Alonso start on row three, then we have Sainz ahead of Hamilton (ironically), and Albon ahead of Leclerc.

NB several drivers failed to put in a final time, which meant Bortoleto had none on the board and was last. Would’ve been interesting to see where he would’ve come, given he was 12th and almost a second off Hulkenberg in the solitary practice session.

I was pretty tempted to back Hulkenberg for a pretend podium but his odds are just 3.5 and him getting that probably requires reliability failure or a collision among those ahead of him. If you have a free bet then that or 67 each way on him ‘winning’ actual qualifying may be worth a look.

But no bet from me for the sprint or qualifying.

 

Morris Dancer

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