by Linus O'Howell
Max Verstappen was able to hold off Lewis Hamilton despite brake issues to take his 50th victory in Formula 1. Despite Hamilton originally finishing second, he was disqualified after the race for a technical infringement which saw Lando Norris get promoted up to P2 whilst Carlos Sainz ended up recieving the final trophy of the weekend.
The Most Notable Moments
Lando Norris got a really good start to take the lead into Turn 1 whilst Esteban Ocon and Oscar Piastri came together a couple of corners later, which ultimately resulted in both drivers having to retire.
📸 Piastri was forced to retire after contact with Esteban Ocon.
Lewis Hamilton also cleared Charles Leclerc to take P2 whilst Max Verstappen was just easing himself into the race and making moves when possible.
Verstappen then surprised everyone by pitting first and this forced Norris to cover Verstappen, but Hamilton didn’t follow suit. This cost the seven-time world champion a potential win(at the time) but in the end as we saw Verstappen overtake Norris with a lovely move into Turn 12.
📸 Verstappen passed Norris for the lead.
Elsewhere in the field, Leclerc’s attempt at a one stop didn’t work at all as he was passed by both his teammate Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez whilst Fernando Alonso, who was having a great recovery from starting in the pitlane, was forced to retire with suspension damage.
📸 Alonso also retired from the race.
Near the end of the race, it became clear that Verstappen was struggling massively with brake issues and after Hamilton cleared the McLaren of Norris, he hunted the now three time World Champion down, but he wasn’t quite able to get within the crucial one second mark.
Pierre Gasly also held off Lance Stroll for what was P8 after Stroll had a really good recovery through the field after he also started in the pitlane whilst Yuki Tsunoda doubled his points tally on the final lap of the race by setting the fastest lap.
📸 Tsunoda took an important extra point with the fastest lap.
However, all of this changed a bit after the race after both Hamilton and Leclerc were disqualified for a technical infringement. The infringement was actually because their skid blocks on the underfloor weren’t in compliance with the technical regulations. I’d be intrigued to know how much performance Hamilton and Leclerc gained from this and surely, this was a result of the bumpy track surface at COTA.
📸 Hamilton and Leclerc were both disqualified post race.
Anyway, this all means that Sainz was promoted to P3, Gasly and Stroll scored good points respectively, Tsunoda scored a massive 5 points for Alpha Tauri which has put them right on Haas’ heels for 9th in the Constructors’ Championship whilst Williams scored double points, and I have to say, I’m very happy for Logan Sargeant who drove perhaps his best race in F1 so far.
Drivers who impressed
The driver that impressed me the most in United States Grand Prix was Max Verstappen. Max was challenged a lot more than I expected in this race, but he held his nerve and did an exceptional job to not make a mistake given he was clearly struggling with his brakes a lot.
I also believe that Lewis Hamilton does deserve plenty of praise because he had a terrific race (even with the penalty) whilst Lando Norris can be delighted with another podium.
📸 Despite his post race disqualification, Hamilton had an excellent showing at COTA.
I was also impressed with Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly, and Yuki Tsunoda who all had really good races while Lance Stroll and Logan Sargeant both deserve a small shoutout.
📸 The first American to score a point in F1 since 1993.
Drivers who struggled
Whilst there wasn’t anyone that I thought drove a terrible race, which is rare for me, there were still some drivers who struggled.
Kevin Magnussen was slow, Daniel Ricciardo finishing last on the road isn’t a good look (even if his strategy killed him) and Zhou Guanyu had a disappointing day as did Alfa Romeo in general).
Overall Race Results
1) Max Verstappen: Winner 2) Lando Norris: +10.730 3) Carlos Sainz: +15.134 4) Sergio Perez: +18.460 5) George Russell: +24.999 6) Pierre Gasly: +47.996 7) Lance Stroll: +48.696 8) Yuki Tsunoda: +74.385(FL), 9) Alex Albon: +86.714 (5 second penalty) 10)Logan Sargeant: +87.998 11) Nico Hulkenberg: +89.904 12) Valtteri Bottas: +98.601 13) Zhou Guanyu: +1 Lap 14) Kevin Magnussen: +1 Lap 15) Daniel Ricciardo: +1 Lap.
DNF: Fernando Alonso (suspension damage), Oscar Piastri (damage), Esteban Ocon (damage).
DSQ: Lewis Hamilton (technical infringement), Charles Leclerc (technical infringement).
📸 Image credits: Formula Motorsport Limited, Red Bull Content Pool, Mercedes AMG F1 Team, Scuderia Alpha Tauri, McLaren Racing, Williams Racing, Aston Martin Congnizant Aramco F1 Team.
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