美国大奖赛竞争开放 法拉利红牛梅赛德斯各有强弱
根据奥斯汀开局表现，F1美国大奖赛可能演变为多支车队争胜，法拉利、红牛和梅赛德斯单圈差距不到0.2秒，但各自在不同路段有强有弱。
根据各顶尖车队在奥斯汀的开局表现，F1美国大奖赛看起来将是一场多支车队争夺胜利的较量。
以下是关于竞争格局的早期线索，单圈速度与长距离速度的趋势呈现出非常不同的画面。
领先赛车各有不同强项，加上奥斯汀赛道弯道速度范围很广、考验赛车各个方面，这意味着在单圈速度上相差不到0.2秒的法拉利、红牛和梅赛德斯，都在赛道的不同路段各有出色和挣扎之处。
领跑者夏尔·勒克莱尔在慢弯最强。他在1号弯保持了最高的最低速度，在12号弯追平了基米·安东内利的最佳值，并在11号发夹弯晚刹车且没有影响出弯。他往往是最早重新踩下油门的车手。
在高速路段，勒克莱尔在6-7号弯最快，在马克斯·维斯塔潘收油的地方保持了部分油门——不过，快速弯中的情况有时会因能量部署的差异而变得模糊。和往常一样，法拉利在直道上损失了显著的时间——相对于维斯塔潘刚刚超过0.6秒。
维斯塔潘的红牛在直道上非常强大，一旦速度稳定下来，比勒克莱尔快了约0.6秒，相比梅赛德斯也快了略多于0.1秒。这一特性也让他在起跑/终点直道上的单圈开局很强。他在刹车方面全力投入，制动力很强，但在慢弯出弯时往往更晚给油，这种做法在20号弯得到了回报，他在那里出弯很强。
对维斯塔潘来说，红牛最欠缺的地方在相当不错的一天之后变得很明显，这让这位四届F1世界冠军寻求更精细的平衡，而非任何 drastic 的改动。
当被 The Race 问及是否有突出的领域需要在一夜之间改进时，红牛技术总监皮埃尔·瓦什的判断是：“目前我们显然专注于低速性能。”
“低速对我们来说是关键。”
前面提到的维斯塔潘偏好稍早但更重地刹车，以优先保证良好出弯，这一点在整圈中都很明显，但除了20号弯之外，由于红牛赛车似乎缺乏旋转，这并没有真正体现在圈速上。
维斯塔潘的1号弯是前三名中最差的。尽管他刹车最早，但回到全油门却最慢——因为他需要处理一些车轮打滑——并且从比勒克莱尔快略超过0.1秒变成了落后0.25秒。
12号弯是他的另一个大损失，又大约0.2秒。尽管再次刹车更早，维斯塔潘在最初开始打方向入弯时没有得到他需要的响应，跑得稍微偏深，使他的最低速度比勒克莱尔和安东内利低了10公里/小时。
红牛赛车在这里的刹车区遇到颠簸时可能不够服帖，这导致维斯塔潘刹车稍早，入弯时不够凌厉或自信，出弯也不够稳定。
“找到正确的平衡比预期更困难，”瓦赫承认。
安东内利的梅赛德斯赛车表现更为均衡：直道上比法拉利快，但未达到红牛水平，不过在接近发夹弯时展现出良好速度。这可能反映了部署策略上的差异。
他在8-9号弯、15号弯和12号弯表现强劲，但在几个弯角的出弯处有所损失。
迈凯伦的单圈速度在成绩表上也毫无亮点，兰多·诺里斯是其二练中较快的车手，但落后榜首1.082秒。不过，这个圈速是用硬胎做出的，因为他不得不中止了两次排位模拟圈。
第一次是因为在9号弯弯心出现打滑，可能是受到前方乔治·拉塞尔的梅赛德斯赛车造成的乱流影响。他的第二圈使用软胎倍耐力，此时已过最佳状态，在15号弯锁死后被放弃。
迈凯伦首席技术官罗布·马歇尔表示：“我们在二练中也做出了紫色（最快赛段成绩），只是没能完成那一圈。在犯错之前，那一圈是有竞争力的。”
“从这里往前看，我们真的必须相当乐观。”
他做出这个第一赛段时间时，这是当时最快的第一赛段时间，尽管后来被维斯塔潘超越，但只差了0.015秒——而且这比法拉利或梅赛德斯取得的任何成绩都要快。
从原始数据来看，诺里斯的迈凯伦在第二次练习赛的长距离平均圈速上最快，但由于多种原因，情况令人困惑。
交通状况影响了几位车手的长距离测试，而且三种轮胎配方都被使用过，因此很难将诺里斯用耐用硬胎跑出的九圈与维斯塔潘用软胎跑出的十一圈进行对比。
但诺里斯强劲的长距离表现印证了迈凯伦比第二次练习赛成绩所显示的更强大。
倍耐力预计硬胎“在决定比赛策略方面只会发挥有限的作用”，最有可能采用软胎和中性胎的一停策略。
维斯塔潘的软胎表现令人印象深刻地出色，圈速稳定，相比勒克莱尔的轮胎衰减更小。
队友伊萨克·哈贾尔显然没有那么适应。他全天都在与过热的前胎作斗争；谈到自己的软胎圈时，他说“简直就是一场灾难”。
“车根本没法开，前部严重失去抓地力。我们需要查一查，因为这不正常，为什么一圈之内就有这么大的衰减。”
哈贾尔表示，他的轮胎在高速弯里“完全废了”。红牛的瓦赫说，这是造成差异的关键，他表示哈贾尔和维斯塔潘在调校上差距不大。
刘易斯·汉密尔顿、乔治·拉塞尔、奥斯卡·皮亚斯特里和哈贾尔似乎都在周末开始时比各自队友慢了一步。
汉密尔顿表示，他“在调校上尝试了不同方向，但我在车里不舒服，尤其是在颠簸路段”，而皮亚斯特里用软胎的长距离节奏似乎急剧下滑。
随着各车队在一夜之间吸取经验并调整调校和能量部署模式，这一局面可能会改变，但目前四支车队看起来都在奥斯汀的争夺行列中。
英文原文
Formula 1's United States Grand Prix looks poised to be a multi-team fight for victory based on how the top four teams have started at Austin.
Here are the early clues about the pecking order, with single-lap and long-run pace trends painting very different pictures.
The combination of the varying strengths of the leading cars and the wide range of corner speeds of the Austin circuit that tests every facet of a car means that Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes, which were separated by less than two tenths on single-lap pace, all excelled and struggled at different parts of the track.
Pacesetter Charles Leclerc was strongest in the slow corners. He carried the highest minimum speed at Turn 1, matched Kimi Antonelli's best at Turn 12, and braked late for the Turn 11 hairpin without compromising his exit. He was often first back on the throttle.
In the high-speed sections, Leclerc was quickest through Turns 6-7, keeping part-throttle where Max Verstappen lifted - however, at times the picture in the fast corners was muddied by deployment variations. As always, the Ferrari lost significant time on the straights - just over six tenths relative to Verstappen.
Verstappen's Red Bull was mighty on the straights, gaining around six tenths on Leclerc once the speeds had settled, and a little over a tenth compared to the Mercedes. That characteristic also gave him a strong start to the lap down the start/finish straight. He was committed on the brakes in terms of stopping power, but was often later on the throttle at slow-corner exits, with that approach paying off at Turn 20, where he had a strong exit.
Where Red Bull is lacking most for Verstappen was obvious after a pretty good day left the four-time F1 world champion seeking a finer balance rather than anything drastic.
"It's clearly the low-speed performance that we are focused on at the moment," was Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache's verdict when asked by The Race if there was a standout area to improve overnight.
"Low speed is the key for us."
That aforementioned Verstappen preference for braking slightly earlier, but harder, to prioritise a good exit was clear throughout the lap but, other than at Turn 20, it did not really manifest in laptime due to the Red Bull seemingly lacking rotation.
Verstappen's Turn 1 was the worst of the top three. Despite braking earliest he was slowest back to full throttle - due to some wheelspin he had to manage - and swung from just over a tenth up on Leclerc to 0.25s behind.
Turn 12 was his other big loss, around 0.2s again. Despite again braking earlier, Verstappen did not have the response he needed when he initially started applying steering lock into the corner and ran a little deep, dropping his minimum speed 10km/h below Leclerc's and Antonelli's.
It's possible the Red Bull is not quite as compliant on the bumps in the braking zones here, which is contributing to Verstappen braking slightly earlier and not being as attacking or as confident on entry, or as steady on exit.
"Finding the right balance was more difficult than expected," Wache admitted.
Antonelli's Mercedes had a more balanced performance profile: quicker on the straights than the Ferrari but not at Red Bull level, but showing good speed on the approach to the hairpin. Potentially, that reflected differences in deployment.
He was strong in Turns 8-9, Turn 15 and Turn 12, but did lose out in several corners on the exits.
McLaren's single-lap pace also looked nowhere on the timesheets, with Lando Norris the faster of its drivers in FP2 but 1.082s off the pace. However, this time was set on hards as he had to abort both of his qualifying simulation laps.
The first was because of a snap mid-corner at Turn 9, possibly the result of running in turbulent air caused by George Russell's Mercedes ahead. His second lap, on soft Pirellis now past their best, was abandoned after a lockup at Turn 15.
"We set a purple [fastest sector time] in FP2 as well, we just didn't finish the lap," said McLaren chief technical officer Rob Marshall. "It was a competitive lap up until the point where we made a mistake.
"Going forward from here we've got to be quite optimistic really."
That first sector time was the fastest at the time he set it, and although it was eclipsed by Verstappen that was only by 0.015s - and it was faster than anything achieved by Ferrari or Mercedes.
On the raw numbers, Norris's McLaren was fastest on the long-run averages in FP2, but it's a confusing picture for a number of reasons.
Traffic affected a number of drivers' long runs and all three tyre compounds were used, so it's tricky to compare a nine-lap Norris run on durable hards to Verstappen's 11-lap soft-tyre run, for example.
But Norris's strong long run backs up McLaren looking stronger than the FP2 result suggested.
Pirelli expects the hard tyre to "play only a limited role in defining race strategies", with a one-stop using the softs and mediums most likely.
Verstappen's soft tyres held up impressively well with consistent laptimes and less of a drop-off compared to Leclerc's.
Team-mate Isack Hadjar was clearly not as comfortable. He struggled with overheating front tyres all day; "it's just a disaster" he said of his soft tyre lap.
"It was just undriveable, and I was losing the front end massively. We need to have a look because that's not normal, why there is so much deg on one lap."
Hadjar said his tyres were "completely killed" in the high-speed corners. Red Bull's Wache said this was key to the difference as he said Hadjar and Verstappen weren't far apart on set-up.
Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Oscar Piastri and Hadjar all appear to have started the weekend a step behind their respective team-mates.
Hamilton said he "tried a different direction with the set-up, but I wasn't comfortable in the car, especially over the bumps", while Piastri's long run pace on the softs appeared to sharply tail off.
That picture may alter as teams learn overnight lessons and change set-up and deployment patterns, but right now all four teams look like they are in the hunt at Austin.
The Race ·
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