US GP: Verstappen clears Hamilton to win as Red Bull takes title
Max Verstappen passes Lewis Hamilton to win F1 US GP with Charles Leclerc P3, as Red Bull clinched the constructors’ title.
It was a clean start from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to lead F1 US GP at Circuit of the Americas after pole-sitter Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari was spun around at Turn 1 by Mercedes’ George Russell out-braking himself while turning left.
This allowed Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to be second with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll up in third from Russell and the other Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel in the Top 5. McLaren’s Lando Norris was sixth losing to the German due to the Turn 1 trouble.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was seventh but had a front wing endplate broken after a small barge-in against Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas in the left-hander which dropped the Finn outside the Top 10 three cars that started behind him.
AlphaTauri’s Pieere Gasly was eighth from Williams’ Alexander Albon and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, where the Thai racer was undone by a huge lock-up which cost him an off moment too. Sainz suffered a puncture and also a water leak to retire from the F1 US GP.
Russell was handed a 5s time penalty for causing a collision, as he passed Stroll for third. At the same time, Perez cleared both the Aston Martin cars to be fourth as Norris lost track position to Gasly. There was a spin for Williams’ Nicholas Latifi on his own.
With the medium tyres going off sooner, the pit stop saga started but Verstappen retained his F1 US GP lead from Leclerc who had to stop still. The Monegasque was eventually helped by a safety car period when Bottas spun and beached himself in the gravel.
He radioed about losing the rear end as Verstappen led F1 US GP behind the safety car from Hamilton, Perez, Leclerc, Russell, Vettel, Stroll, Gasly, Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and Norris in the Top 10 – where three drivers had some luck with cheap pit stop.
Apart from Leclerc, Vettel and Alonso also stopped under the safety car along with other drivers outside the Top 10. The re-start worked well for the drivers in the front as they stationed themselves but Norris lost 10th place to AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda.
The safety car was back out for a incident between Stroll and Alonso at the back straight. The Spaniard tried a move on the Canadian’s left but the Aston Martin’s slight movement caught him out as he went airbourne when his front wheel touched his rear.
Despite that moment, Alonso managed to continue and pit but Stroll’s day was done with the incident under investigation after the race. The re-start worked well again for Verstappen as he led F1 US GP from Hamilton, Perez, Leclerc and Russell.
Vettel was sixth from Gasly, Tusnoda, Norris and Haas’ Mick Schumacher in the Top 10 as the latter two gained places due to the earlier incident. While Verstappen led the way ahead of Hamilton, the fight was on for third between Perez and Leclerc.
The Monegasque hurried him and tried a move in the left-hander but went wide which allowed Perez to retain third. But Leclerc pressured him and eventually took the inside line to pass the Mexican for third with Russell not far behind in the fight for fourth.
The final stop saga started by Hamilton where Red Bull reacted. But it was a hugely slow stop for Verstappen due to problems with the front-left. The Dutchman dropped behind Leclerc as the two ensued in a fight for track position.
Verstappen passed him at Turn 1 but Leclerc switched over to keep the place. But the Dutchman kept the pressure on and eventually passed him at the back straight to slot into second as Hamilton passed Vettel for the lead where the German pitted.
It was not the pit stop he wanted as a gun didn’t work on the front-left which dropped to the back of the field. Leclerc was third then from Perez who battled against Russell after his pit stop. Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was sixth after he elected not to stop.
The Dane is under investigation for ignoring yellow flags, as Alonso recovered to seventh from Ocon, with Norris climbing up to ninth after passing Tsunoda, Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu and Albon back-to-back despite damage on his McLaren.
He even passed Ocon who eventually pitted as Albon and Guanyu rounded the Top 10. There was 5s time penalty for Gasly for keeping more than 10-car length behind the safety car. He was under investigation for not serving the penalty properly.
Williams’ Latifi was handed a 5s penalty too for forcing Haas’ Schumacher off the track. At the front, Verstappen started to close in on Hamilton in the fight for F1 US GP win. The Dutchman eventually made the move on the back straight to take the lead.
Hamilton did not give up easily but eventually had to bail out as both the drivers had warning for track limits. Leclerc was third from Perez with Russell in fifth. Alonso was sixth from Norris with Magnussen in eighth from Vettel and Tsunoda in the Top 10.
The German had a sound battle against Albon who eventually dropped to 13th after losing out to Tsunoda, Gasly and Ocon. At the front, Verstappen held on to win F1 US GP from Hamilton, as Red Bull finally beat Mercedes to win the constructors’ championship.
The Mercedes’ juggernaut ended in the V6 hybrid era to win their first F1 constructors’ title since the 2013 season. Leclerc was third from Perez with Russell in fifth taking the fastest lap point, while Norris passed Alonso for sixth in their constructors’ fight.
Vettel passed Magnussen on the final lap for eighth with the Dane in ninth and Tsunoda rounding the Top 10. Ocon was 11th from Albon, Guanyu, Gasly, Schumacher, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and Latifi.
DNF: Stroll, Bottas, Sainz
UPDATE: Post-race, the stewards cleared both Ocon and Magnussen for overtaking under the yellow flag where the Frenchman overtook Schumacher while the Dane cleared both his teammate and Frenchman at Turn 11-12 sequence.
There was no further action into the matter as both the drivers gave back the places immediately. Additionally, Albon was handed a 5s penalty after he was found to have left the track at Turn 12 and re-joined while retaining track position.
In another bigger penalty, Stroll was given a 3-place grid drop for Mexico along with two penalty points for causing a collision with Alonso. “It was clear to us that the driver of Car 18 made a late move in reacting to the overtaking attempt by the driver of Car 14 by moving to the left. The stewards determine that the driver of Car 18 was predominantly to blame,” said the stewards note.
