Red Bull Racing become Constructors Champions in Austin
Max Verstappen wins in the Circuit of the Americas. The Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton finished second, and Charles Leclerc came third.
Max Verstappen achieved the 33rd victory of his career, and his 13th of the season. With his win in the United States Grand Prix, alongside the performance of his teammate Checo Pérez (P4), Red Bull Racing won the battle for the constructors championship.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who started the race at pole position, was forced to retire after a collision with George Russell in the first corner of the first lap. His teammate Leclerc was able to finish on the podium, taking advantage of a pit stop during a safety car disposal. The Monegasque racer was able to score some points for Ferrari, but not enough to prevent Red Bull achieving the championship.
Lewis Hamilton, came back into the game in the Americas. Mercedes took a risky strategy by changing the brakes just before the race. The British driver made an early stop to change to hard tyres. In a second pit stop, the strategy of repeating hard compose didn’t help. The tyres didn’t react as expected. However, Lewis was able to be a contender for the victory.
Red Bull lost time with an eleven seconds stop for Verstappen, due to a failure with the tyre gun. Contrary to Hamilton, in the second stop, Verstappen decided to put medium tyres. As result of a fight between both drivers, which came to an end in the lap fifty, Max was able to pass Lewis, taking the lead until the end of the race.
The incident between the 2023 Aston Martin teammates, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, was one of the highlights of the race. In the back straight, Alonso made a late move to try and pass Stroll, but the Spaniard hit the back of the Aston Martin. Stroll crashed out of the race, whilst Alonso, after going through the pit lane, came back onto the track and finished seventh. A post-race five seconds penalty, due to a lost of one of the mirrors, made the Alpine driver drop fifteenth.
Two of the veterans of the roaster, Magnussen and Vettel, fought until the last lap bringing the spectacle into the race. Vettel passed the Haas driver in the last sector. Both of them scored points, Sebastian Vettel finished P8, and Kevin Magnussen P9.
The Mercedes driver George Russell finished fifth, with a strategy to change to soft tyres to get the fastest lap, to steal a point from Verstappen. Lando Norris finished sixth, getting some points for the constructors battle between McLaren and Alpine. Closing the points gap was the Alpha Tauri of Yuki Tsunoda.
Next week, F1 is back with the Mexican Grand Prix. A battle, between Leclerc and Pérez, for second and third position in the drivers championship is still going on. As well as the constructors fourth position between Alpine and McLaren.
