The Championship battle WON'T be the most important at the US Grand Prix.

The US Grand Prix is coming up this weekend and the most important battle won't be for the lead. It is almost certain that Lewis Hamilton will win the championship either this round or the next. If he outscores Nico Rosberg by two points, the German won't be a mathematical chance, and if he outscores Sebastian Vettel by 11 points he too will be out of mathematical contention. This means fights between Force India, Lotus, Toro Rosso and Sauber become the most important as finishing higher in the championship pays out more money to said team.

Current World Championship leader, Lewis Hamilton.

The battles taking place range from Force India in 5th down to McLaren in 9th. The biggest gap between two teams between 5th and 9th is 26 points and the lowest being just 9. The maximum points a team can score in 1 weekend is 42. However the battles this year will be easier to defend with the removal of double points for the last race. I think this is a good thing as it could have seen a team lose it all in the last race after being strong and consistent throughout. Retirements due to car problems had a bigger impact and it just didn't really work for Formula 1.

Here are battles playing out in Austin:

Force India v Lotus 

Force India and Lotus are 5th and 6th respectively in the Constructors Championship and separated by only 26 points. At this stage of the season a strong result for each team could see Lotus really in reach, or Force India far out in front.

The track realistically suits the Force India car much better as Lotus appear to not quite have the same aerodynamic efficiently. On straightaways both teams should find themselves relatively equal as they both run the same Mercedes power unit. But as mentioned earlier the Force India will be much stronger through high speed corners such as the Esses through sector 1 and the Multi Apex corners of Turn 17 and 18. Force India also have the advantage of general reliability as Lotus have struggled this season with Maldonado recording 8 retirements in 15 races. Force India also dominate Lotus in terms of confidence after Force India recorded only there 3rd podium in the teams 8 year history, meaning they'll be very bright and chirpy coming to Austin.

If Lotus can shrink the gap to Force India ahead, I'd be very surprised. All of us know the talent that Romain Grosjean has and all it takes is another first lap incident from Hulkenberg to see Lotus ahead. This will be a battle to watch.

Sergio Perez will be feeling confident after a strong 3rd in Russia.

Toro Rosso v Sauber v McLaren

Toro Rosso currently find themselves in 7th place in the Constructors Championship after they have struggled for reliability all season. 11 points behind them is Swiss outfit Sauber, and they look hungry for the positions to change.

Sauber could really do something this weekend as the power demanding circuit will strain the Renault engine in the back of the Toro Rosso. Sauber have a Ferrari engine in the back of there car and have proved they can have the pace. They'll take confidence into this weekend after Felipe Nasr scored himself a well driven 6th place finish last time out in Russia (which you can read more about here). Sauber have been quiet assassins this year by taking strong results when nobody expected (Australia, 5th and 3 consecutive points finishes from Marcus Ericsson). However there is no denying the aerodynamic efficiency of the Toro Rosso as it has proved all season that it is a strong chassis with results such as 4th in Hungary. Toro Rosso will be at there strongest through the Esses in sector 1 and the Multi Apex corner of Turns 17 and 18. This could see a strong qualifying for the team, but weak race performance as other teams (for instance Sauber) dwill take advantage on the straights.

Toro Rosso v Sauber will most likely be the best battle in Austin and its almost too close to call. Sauber have always got points when least expected and this weekend is no different. The real question is: Will Toro Rosso's straight line speed deficit be overcome by there strength through the corners?

But wait, where do McLaren drop into all this? They are 9th in the Constructors Championship and 15 points behind Sauber. As mentioned above, you cannot always rely on Sauber to fire, and if they don't in Austin, a surprise shock result that McLaren keep producing could see them jump in front. If McLaren's claim of having one of the strongest chassis on the grid is true, then this is a track to show it at.

McLaren pit stop for Fernando Alonso.

Overall it's shaping up to be a good weekend. Personally I would love to see a retirement to Hamilton, to just throw a curve ball into the championship fight. Sadly I think even a retirement won't push Lewis Hamilton away from crown.

Force India will fight Lotus, Sauber will take it Toro Rosso. Which one though will be the more interesting? Its up to you. Ask yourself, who's side are you on?

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Japanese Grand Prix 2015 - Practice 1 Analysis: Wet conditions interrupt running in Suzuka.

The very wet Friday Practice 1 session has finished and to be 100% honest you can't gain anything from the very little running. Only 12 times were set as 8 cars choose not to run in the conditions.

Fans at Suzuka.

The session was mainly run in the full wet tires and we had to wait 55 minutes before we saw the first timed laps from Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz in the Toro Rosso's. These times were set with full wet conditions and were round the 1:51s. The first person to run the inters was Valtteri Bottas, but it proved to early as he had a big moment on the exit of Turn 2 and found himself 5 seconds off Verstappen's pace.

As more times were set towards the end of the session, more drivers began to struggle in the conditions that were balanced between full wets and inters. Most notably Felipe Massa who was complaining of understeer as he struggled to get his Williams through the first sector. Felipe Nasr also had a moment at Spoon curve as he went wide and nearly found himself in the gravel. Kimi Raikkonen also had a moment right as the chequered flag fell when he went wide at Turn 1.

Sebastian Vettel

There hasn't been anything to learn in this session in terms of Mercedes and Ferrari as wet conditions can't show us true pace. Ferrari appear confident, whilst Mercedes seems very worried as they believe that Ferrari now have a power unit on par with the Mercedes. The rain is set to continue through Friday Practice 2 and we will likely see a very rushed and very interesting Saturday Practice 3.
There wasn't much on track action in this session but there was plenty to talk about off the track. Lotus continue with financial troubles, there freight for this weekend arrived late and they didn't do any running in Practice 1 supposedly because they can't afford a crash. Red Bull are also still having problems for there 2016 campaign. The team is likely to be Ferrari powered but many reports are coming out saying the team won't be Red Bull sponsored next year. Another bit of news from the paddock is the announcement that on Tuesday Haas F1 will announce there 2015 race drivers. Many drivers are still in the running for the two seats from Esteban Gutierrez, Jean-Eric Vergne and even the possibility of Romain Grosjean.

Marcus Ericsson.

Overall the strongest looking car from this practice session was definitely the Toro Rosso as Carlos Sainz topped the session with Max Verstappen in 6th, Obviously these times are highly irrelevant but a definite pattern throughout the season is that the Toro Rosso is a very strong car in wet conditions.

Overall the session finished like this:

1) Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso-Renault
2) Daniil Kvyat - Red Bull Racing-Renault
3) Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
4) Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
5) Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
6) Max Verstappen - Toro Rosso-Renault
7) Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
8) Felipe Massa - Williams-Mercedes
9) Marcus Ericsson - Sauber-Ferrari
10) Valtteri Bottas - Williams-Mercedes
11) Felipe Nasr - Sauber-Ferrari
12) Jenson Button - McLaren-Honda

Drivers who didn't set times:

Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull Racing-Renault
Nico Hulkenberg - Force India-Mercedes
Sergio Perez - Force India-Mercedes
Pastor Maldonado - Lotus-Mercedes
Jolyon Palmer - Lotus-Mercedes
Will Stevens - Manor-Ferrari
Alexander Rossi - Manor-Ferrari
Fernando Alonso - McLaren-Honda

The second Friday Practice session is set to get underway in just under 2 hours. Heavy rain continues to pelt the Suzuka circuit and it looks as though it will be a very similar session to this one. Saturday Practice will be the most crucial session this weekend if the teams can't have normal running on the Friday.

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