Yeehaw! Verstappen wins in Austin, Texas
Max Verstappen takes victory at COTA with Hamilton unable to overtake in a last-lap showdown.
With only six races left to go, things were looking tense going into the US Grand Prix weekend. Having taking a 10-place grid penalty in Turkey, Hamilton went into the weekend trailing 6 points behind Red Bull’s Verstappen with a DNF being catastrophic for either driver.
Throughout the weekend, the bumpy characteristics of the circuit were a key talking point. Max had a rear wing replaced due to cracking and both the Red Bull car’s rear wings were reinforced with glue before qualifying. Mercedes however, seemed plagued with reliability issues with Bottas taking a third engine-related penalty in just four races. Alongside this, two other Mercedes-powered cars, Vettel (Aston Martin) and Russell (Williams) were starting at the back due to engine penalties.
Unsurprisingly, qualifying saw scorching temperatures in Texas with teams seeing high tyre degradation. During Q2, tyre choices became crucial as many teams tried to set their fastest time on the medium compound, as it had proven a better race tyre than the softs in practice. Russell, Alonso, Giovanazzi, Vettel and Ocon were eliminated as attention turned to Q3.
Red Bull had looked strong throughout the weekend with Perez being 0.001 seconds behind his teammate at one stage. However, Mercedes remained a dominant force with Hamilton eager to take pole. Perez initially seemed set for pole until teammate Verstappen set an impressive 1.32.910 with Hamilton 0.029s behind in P2. While Perez looked promising in his second attempt, a surprise rain shower in the final corners meant he had to settle for a still promising P3.
With Verstappen and Hamilton in the front row, all eyes were on turn 1, Hamilton managed to overtake Verstappen with Perez maintaining P3. Everyone in the top 10 apart from Sainz and Tsudona started on the mediums, with many opting for a two-stop strategy. The undercut is powerful at COTA so Red Bull decided to pit Max on lap 10 with Hamilton pitting three laps later and coming out in P2. Under pressure from a chasing Hamilton, Verstappen pit again on lap 29 for the hard tyre with m any speculating it was a few laps early. Lewis then pit on lap 37 with Mercedes predicting he would catch Max in the last few laps.
Closing the gap to Max, Hamilton continued his charge. On the last lap Hamilton looked set to overtake but a back marker, Schumacher, provided Verstappen with DRS giving him an extra 14kph to take the checkered flag in P1. Hamilton finished P2, with Perez taking the final step on the podium.
12 points now separate the two championship rivals with only five races remaining. Though with Mexico next, could Red Bull’s Perez be set to take his first pole at his home Grand Prix?
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