AUSTIN, Texas — Max Verstappen with Red Bull Racing (RBR) won the Formula 1 (F1) U.S. Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) track on Sunday.
What a weekend! On Oct. 23, the last day of the F1 racing weekend in the U.S., Verstappen won the U.S. Grand Prix.
This comes after a very eventful three days at the COTA track. During the Qualifying, "Quals," race alone, records for the COTA track were set by Carlos Sainz, Ferrari second position driver, who was the first Spanish driver to earn poll at COTA. Additionally, the fastest lap was set by Charles LeClerc, Ferrari first position driver, who finished Quals with a time of 1:34.624 and earned P2 for the race. Granted, LeClerc had to start the race at P12, due to a 10-position penalty from overusing engine parts.
This was the first time COTA has ever seen both Ferrari drivers make poll, with Sainz as P1 and LeClerc as P2, even though he was sent to P12 after his penalty was taken into consideration.
On the first lap at the race, George Russell, Mercedes, collided into Sainz, causing a punctured tire and other damage that has not been released. This collision led to a did not finish (DNF) by Sainz after barely turning around Turn 1.
Although this crash led to Sainz DNFing, a safety car was not released until later, when Valterri Bottas, Alfa Romeo, spun out and crashed. Bottas was also DNF, with a safety car being released. During this safety car, LeClerc, who was in P12 at the start and slowly progressing upwards, used this timetable to go to the pit lane and change his tire set without it damaging his lap time.
Following the end of the first safety car and the drivers returning to normal speeds, Fernando Alonso, Alpine, launched vertically in air with his back wheels maintaining ground after fully eclipsing the rear tire from Lance Stroll, Aston Martin. This wheel eclipse led to Stroll fully spinning out and colliding with the barrier, leading to a DNF and the safety car back on the track.
Surprisingly enough, Alonso's car maintained its integrity and stayed on the track to finish the rest of the 56-lap circuit. This did lead to parts of his car detaching throughout the rest of the race, though.
During this crash, multiple other drivers were slapped with shrapnel coming from the back of Stroll's car and from the underbelly of Alonso's. Included in this was Lando Norris, McLaren Mercedes, who managed to spend the whole race fighting to maintain a position in the top 10, which he was successful in doing by ending the race at P6.
After the two safety car incidents and only 17 drivers left on the track, the true battle between Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), LeClerc and Sergio Perez (RBR) began. LeClerc for a moment was stuck behind Perez because Red Bull Racing cars do best in the "DRS" zones, which are the long straightaways that allow drivers to go full throttle and potentially overtake another driver.
In this DRS zone on Lap 30, LeClerc was stuck in P4 and could not overtake Perez due to the superiority that RBR holds on the cars for fast speeds in the straightaways. Right as the DRS zone was ending, LeClerc managed to duck and weave in between Perez and overpassed him.
Following that move, the FIA released multiple penalties to drivers and would continue to do so for the rest of the race. The main problem was track limits, which are the two white lines on the edge of the track; if a driver leaves them and all four tires of the car are inside the white lines, they have left the track and will be served a penalty.
Pierre Gasly, AlphaTuri, and Mick Schumacher, Haas, were the two main contenders given 5-second penalties that were to be served the moment they entered the pit lane. Russell was also given a 5-second penalty after causing Sainz to DNF. Gasly was under investigation by the FIA for multiple counts of not serving his time penalty correctly. He left the pit lane early both times.
Once Verstappen went to the pit lane after Lap 30, his crew fumbled his tire change, due to the tires not coming off and the gun to re-attach not functioning, and caused him to stay in the pit lane for a long time period of 11 seconds. This led him to be stuck behind LeClerc upon exit. He would then battle to get to P1 for the rest of the roughly 20 laps left in the race.
During this time, Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin, overtook P1 and held it until he suffered from the same problem as Verstappen and could not retake the podium. His tires would not come off his car, leading him to make another pit during the race, which would cause him to be unable to make up the time he had lost. He ended the race at P8. On the track in the same moment, Kevin Magnussen, Haas, was under investigation by the FIA for ignoring the yellow flags during the safety car.
Back on the track, Verstappen and LeClerc began what can only be described as a nail-biting fight for P2. Verstappen was only able to overtake during the DRS zone, in which he was able to duck and weave and barely miss colliding with LeClerc's front left tire.
Nicholas Latifi, Williams, was also given a 5-second time penalty for pushing off a Haas driver and also leaving the track limits.
Once Verstappen overtook LeClerc for P2, the game was to close the gap between Hamilton, which was a large 3.2 seconds. Within a lap, Verstappen has closed it to 2.2 and 1.2 consecutively. The only way for Verstappen to pass was through the DRS zone, which Verstappen fought Hamilton for tooth-and-nail. After Verstappen successfully passed Hamilton, while also colliding with his tires on each turn around the chicane, Verstappen was given a black-and-white flag by the FIA. He had left the track limits three times, and if he was caught doing it again he would be given a 5-second penalty and effectively lose the race.
During this heart-stopping pass, something was wrong with the flap on Verstappen's car. Clarification for this will come later with further investigation.
Moments after the black-and-white flag was given to Verstappen, Hamilton earned the same warning from the FIA. Both drivers were given warnings in the last two laps.
As this is occurring, Russell goes back to the pit lane and is given soft tires to earn fastest lap. Although fastest lap doesn't earn a win on the podium, it gives the Mercedes team an additional point to add overall.
By the time the race ended, Verstappen led with 4.1 seconds ahead of Hamilton, garnering Verstappen a record of 13 wins in a season, which soon eclipses the records set in years past. Additionally, this win with Verstappen in P1 and Perez in P4 (which was a bitter fight between him and Russell to maintain P4 once the madness began with Verstappen, Hamilton and LeClerc), RBR earned the Constructor's Championship (CC).
The CC was last awarded to RBR in 2013, making this a tremendous win for the team especially after co-founder Dietrich Didi Mateschitz's death over the weekend.
This is how everything shook out with the top five scores at the U.S. Grand Prix:
Now, the racers travel to the Mexico Grand Prix on Oct. 28.
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