Verstappen Wins Emotional US GP Against Hamilton Seeing 2021 Rivals Locking Horns Again
In a phenomenal US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, Verstappen took his 13th win this season, dedicated to Red Bull’s co-founder, after an 11 second pitstop and an epic 2021-esque duel against Hamilton in the final laps of the race.
In what looked to be a dull race in the first half, the US GP saw an action packed, nail biter finish, seeing Verstappen win the race and Red Bull confirm themselves as the winners of the constructor title after another disappointing race for Ferrari.
However, it wasn’t a win without sadness for the team after the sudden news yesterday before qualifying that Red Bull’s co-founder, Dietrich Mateschitz, 78, had passed away after fighting a long-term illness.
Verstappen, interviewed post-race said: “We gave it everything out there today of course and it was a very difficult weekend for us so this one is definitely dedicated to Dietrich himself. [For] what he has done for everyone, the only thing we could do is win and even though after the pitstop it was not looking great, I gave it everything out there and I pushed to the limit to come back.
Max Verstappen and Helmut Marko on the podium celebrating another win and the constructor’s championship.
With Charles Leclerc taking an engine penalty and starting 12th after qualifying second, all hopes for Ferrari relied on their pole man, Carlos Sainz, who off the line saw his lead taken by Verstappen, unable to defend him coming up the inside.
However, that was the least of worries, as in a move to do a switchback, Sainz went into the path of George Russell’s Mercedes, who took too much speed into the first corner and ultimately collided with Sainz, spinning him and leading to his retirement after a water leak.
Commenting on the incident in the press pen, Sainz said: ‘driver mistakes are driver mistakes and the problem is the I pay the price again and it follows a bit of a trend of the whole year with our lap one that doesn’t allow me to do the race or fight for the win or doesn’t allow me to keep learning from the car which is extremely frustrating and disapointing’. The incident saw Sainz’ fourth retirement on lap one this season and comes especially sore after Japan, seeing him spin the car into the wall on the first lap in the race’s extremely tricky weather conditions.
Moment of impact: Russell going into the side of Sainz, spinning him and leading to his retirement.
With Russell given a five second penalty for the incident, the race momentarily calmed down before lap 18, when Valterri Bottas spun into the gravel, releasing the safety car, boosting Leclerc up several positions, having not pitted when the other cars did, putting him in for a chance to win.
The green flag was waved again on lap 22, bringing Hamilton back into the race after Verstappen was able to slip his grasp but, half a lap later, a giant incident occurred after a late defence from Lance Stroll on the back straight sent Fernando Alonso into his rear left tyre, lifting his car into the air and tapping the wall, narrowly avoiding a race ending collision.
With debris all over the track and several cars taking avoiding action to not hit the flying pieces and Stroll’s Aston Martin in the middle of the track, the race saw itself back behind the safety car until lap 26. Many were quick to criticise Stroll, including F1 reporter Will Buxton, leaving a scathing review of Stroll’s defence in a tweet he later deleted, which said: "Idiotic from Stroll. Utterly stupid,”.
In the press pen, Stroll defended himself, saying: “it’s a shame, we were having a good race, I left him plenty of room on the left, it was a big difference in speed, I was kind of judging where he was behind me and I moved based on where I thought he was behind me but, yeah, he got really close to me and, yeah, we just made contact, so, frustrating”
From lap 26, all attention was turned to the front of the grid as Hamilton and Verstappen escaped the pack while Perez and Leclerc duelled for third, seeing on lap 30 a extremely late move by the Monegasque, squeezing through on the corner at the end of the back straight.
Maintaining a gap around 2 seconds to Verstappen ahead, Hamilton was the first to pull the trigger pitting lap 34, trying to undercut the Red bull. In doing so, both Verstappen and Leclerc went to cover off the Mercedes driver the following lap, seeing Verstappen have an 11-second pitstop, losing position to not not only Hamilton but also Leclerc, meaning, to win this race, he would have to do two more overtakes than he would have wished for.
Coming out of the pitstop, Verstappen was heard on the team radio saying: “beautiful, f*****g beautiful.” It didn't stop him though.
In a stunning drive, Verstappen pushed Leclerc, taking him on lap 39 before going to deep into the first corner, allowing Leclerc to do the move Sainz originally tried on the first lap, pulling off a switchback and retaking the position. In the end though, Leclerc had to give up the position later on that lap as Verstappen took him where Leclerc had earlier taken his teammate.
Verstappen after taking the lead, holding to the race finish, denying Hamilton his first win this season.
Once Leclerc was out the picture, it became a two horse race, with Verstappen slowly, but surely, reeling Hamilton in until lap 50 where the slower Mercedes could do nothing but let Max through, eventually seeing him fade into the distance, taking another rememberable win for Red Bull.
Putting him level with the most wins in a season and with 3 races left, it almost seems inevitable Verstappen is going to break another record. Securing both the driver’s constructor’s titles for the first time since 2013, Red Bull’s dominance continues and in a fitting way to the same weekend their founder passed, the US GP almost seemed to be an allegory of Red Bull’s story, seeing them having to fight their way to the top, getting there no matter the challenges thrown at them.
R.I.P Dietrich Mateshitz. A true legend of the sport
