Newly crowned champion, Max Verstappen, bounced back in emphatic style after a potentially race ruining pit stop to win the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americans (COTA) ahead of arch rival, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
On a weekend in which the Dutchman’s Red Bull team fared-well founder and team owner Dietrich Mateschitz, who died on Saturday at the age of 78 after a long battle with cancer, the 33rd win of his career, which also equals the race season tally of 13 held by Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher, also culminated in the Austrian squad taking the manufacturers title for the first time since 2013.
“We gave it everything out there today. The only thing we could do was win. The pit stop was a bit longer than what we wanted, but after that, we gave it everything, “Verstappen told former Red Bull driver and now Channel 4 commentator, David Coulthard after the race.
From pole to out
In a race fraught with two safety car periods at the Austin-based track, Verstappen got the jump on pole-sitter, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, to lead into the first corner as the Spaniard’s got rotated into a spin by Mercedes’s George Russell.
Although able to limp back to pits, a water leak, more than likely as a result of a damaged radiator, saw the Ferrari being pushed into garage after less than a lap.
There was drama from the word go in Austin ????#USGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/Re0mo0yb9n— Formula 1 (@F1) October 23, 2022
Despite television replays showing Sainz taking a wide-line entry into uphill first corner and cutting across Russell in order to be on the racing line for turn two, the Brit was judged to be at fault and received a subsequent five second penalty.
The early lap carnage didn’t stop there as Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Perez, lost his front wing endplate after contact with the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas.
Both remained mobile though as the race settled into a pattern with Verstappen, by lap five, leading Hamilton, a quick starting Lance Stroll, Russell, the Canadian’s Aston Martin teammate Vettel, Perez, McLaren’s Lando Norris, Leclerc, who started 12th after picking-up a penalty in qualifying for a powerunit change, and the Williams of Alex Albon.
By the first rounds of pit stops triggered on lap 10 by Bottas, both Verstappen and Hamilton pitted on the same lap as Perez assumed a brief lead before stopping soon after as Leclerc remained out.
Proceedings then turned upside for the first time following a spin for Bottas that saw the Alfa Romeo being fully beached in one COTA’s few gravel traps.
With the deployment of the Aston Martin Vantage safety car, Leclerc headed for the pits, coming out fourth after clearing Russell thanks to the Brit’s penalty that resulted in an almost ten second first stop.
Alonso and Stroll clash
Matters then took a dramatic and scary twist as minutes after the race restarted, the Alpine of Fernando Alonso rode over the right rear wheel of Stroll’s car in what was viewed as a late move to the left by Canadian as the field headed onto the back straight.
Alonso and Stroll come together ????????#USGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/H8Wbs0GaXL— Formula 1 (@F1) October 23, 2022
The contact saw the Alpine become airborne for a few moments, but incredibly able to continue after bouncing off of the wall. The race was over for Stroll though as the contact with his teammate for next year had wrecked his car and any hopes of finishing in the points.
A stint of five laps to remove debris behind the safety car ended on lap 26 with Verstappen getting the jump on Hamilton, Perez and Leclerc, but complaining a few laps later of driveability issues.
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Behind the top two, separated by just two seconds, his “free stop” during the initial safety car had ignited Leclerc as the Ferrari driver attempted a bold dive on Perez for third at the end of the backstraight.
It didn’t go to plan though as he managed to out brake himself and, for fear of copping a penalty for running wide and gaining an advantage, allowed the Red Bull back passed.
On the very next lap, the same move sticked with the help of DRS, which saw the Ferrari up to third and after Hamilton and Verstappen.
With some drivers by this stage complaining of a gusting wind blowing around the circuit, the second of stops commenced on lap 33, which proved to be the almost undoing of Red Bull and Verstappen.
Stopping on lap 36, a jamming left front wheel gun hesitantly required the need for a second that saw the stop dragging on for longer than normal, prompting a less than happy Verstappen to exclaim, “beautiful, ******* beautiful” over the team radio.
Down to fourth behind Leclerc, a now more forceful Verstappen set about hauling in the Monegasque, finally getting the better of him on lap 39 after a frenetic spell of passing and repassing.
With his teammate Perez having stopped from the lead for the final time, Verstappen then set about chasing new leader Hamilton.
Despite the seven-times champion having made continued reference throughout the race of his tyres being on their final rounds, he still managed to hold Verstappen at bay until 50 when the Dutchman, with the help of DRS, pulled the winning move after having been just shy of three seconds behind.
Behind the top three after the 56 laps had run its course was Perez in fourth, Russell in fifth, Norris in sixth and miraculously, Alonso in seventh.
A remarkable performance by Vettel came to nothing as a fumble at his second stop dropped the retiring four-times champion down to an eventual eighth.
It was, nonetheles, an incredible fightback from Vettel who, after dropping to as low as 12th, rounded-up Albon, the Alpine of Esteban Ocon and the AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda before pulling a last lap around the outside move on Magnussen to snatch eighth.
The Dane subsequently crossed the line ninth ahead of Tsunoda, Ocon, who started from the pits, Albon, Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu and the second AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly, whose race came undone by way of a penalty for being more than ten lengths behind the safety car at the second restart.
A high-speed spin on lap six followed by a five second penalty for forcing the Haas of Mick Schumacher off of the track saw the second Williams of Nicolas Latifi crossing the line 16th behind the German, with the final finisher after yet another lacklustre race being McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo in seventeenth.
Despite both of this year’s titles having gone to Red Bull, the championship remains open with three races remaining, the next being this coming weekend (30 October) in Mexico.
Results (Top 10)
- Sergio Perez – Max Verstappen
- Lewis Hamilton: +5.023 sec
- Charles Leclerc: +7.501 sec
- Lando Norris – McLaren: +26.133 sec
- Daniel Ricciardo – McLaren: +58.282 sec
- Lance Stroll – Aston Martin: +1 min 01.330 sec
- Max Verstappen – Red Bull: +1 min 03.825 sec
- Sebastian Vettel – Aston Martin: +1 min 05.032 sec
- Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes: +1 min 06.515 sec
- Pierre Gasly – AlphaTauri: +1 min 14.576 sec
Driver’s Championship
- Max Verstappen – 341 pts
- Charles Leclerc – 237 pts
- Sergio Perez – 235 pts
- George Russell – 203 pts
- Carlos Sainz – 202 pts
- Lewis Hamilton – 170 pts
- Lando Norris – 100 pts
- Esteban Ocon – 66 pts
- Fernando Alonso – 59 pts
- Valtteri Bottas – 46 pts
Constructors Championship
- Red Bull – 576 pts
- Ferrari – 439 pts
- Mercedes – 373 pts
- McLaren – 129 pts
- Alpine – 125 pts
- Alfa Romeo – 52 pts
- Aston Martin – 37 pts
- Haas – 34 pts
- AlphaTauri – 34 pts
- Williams – 6 pts
Details and image from formula1.com.
