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Welcome to Saturday’s edition of the RaceFans round-up.
Social media and links
Friday (Sauber)
Jonathan Wheatley: ‘An outstanding qualifying performance from Nico today. It’s remarkable; every time people start to question him, he finds a way to prove them wrong. He delivered a flawless run through SQ1, SQ2, and SQ3, securing our highest-ever grid position in a sprint and matching our best starting position in recent years.’
Challenging sprint qualifying in Austin (Mercedes)
Andrea Kimi Antonelli: ‘I had two big lock-ups on my final lap in SQ2 though and that ultimately cost me. We definitely had the pace to get into SQ3 and fight for the top five, so it is frustrating.’
A positive Friday in Texas (Williams)
Carlos Sainz Jnr: ‘It’s encouraging to be (seventh) in Sprint qualifying, especially with the little track action I’ve had today after missing most of FP1.’
Sprint qualifying recap (Haas)
Ayao Komatsu: ‘What happened in the second run in SQ1, with time running out, we didn’t make it around in time so in hindsight we should’ve taken more margin to make it through. That made it extremely hard for Ollie, who’s had changes to his car, and we should’ve had two laps but essentially, he’s only had one.’
Hitech announces new investment and ownership (Hitech GP)
‘Mr Liu’s main holdings are predominantly in the chemical industry. Mr Liu’s operations in China will be able to provide a focal point for supporting emerging Chinese talent and growing motorsport in the country, with plans for a future Hitech presence in the region in the coming years.’
Tim Mayer – FIA Forward Press Conference – Austin, TX 2025 (FIA Forward)
Niki Lauda’s cap hanging in the Mercedes garage at the Circuit of the Americas. He won the United States Grand Prix for the first time 50 years ago when it was held at Watkins Glen in New York State. #F1 #UnitedStatesGP #RaceFans
— RaceFans (@racefans.net) 2025-10-17T12:33:40.997Z
Mercedes announces a new deal to advertise Meta AI on Russell and Antonelli’s helmets.That would be the same AI that Meta trained to have creepy conversations with children.bsky.app/profile/keit…#F1 #UnitedStatesGP #RaceFans
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine.bsky.social) 2025-10-17T14:09:21.777Z
Kimi Antonelli has just revealed that he had a cooling vest issue earlier today, meaning he was being heated up more by it, instead of being cooled down! As a result, he was experiencing some physical discomfort… #F1 #USGP
— Thomas Maher (@thomasmaheronf1.bsky.social) 2025-10-17T22:41:51.815Z
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Happy birthday to JamieFranklinF1, Alex de Brito and Dan!
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