Verstappen Holds Off Late Hamilton Charge To Take USA Win
Calum Gill 22:28 24/10/2021
Red Bull's Max Verstappen fended off a late challenge from title rival Lewis Hamilton to take his eighth win of 2021 at the United States Grand Prix.
Verstappen's victory, taken in impressively mature and controlled style in a tense strategic fight, extended his championship lead to 12 points with five races to go. Hamilton took the lead at the start, lost it when Verstappen made an early first pit stop and tried an off-set strategy aimed at fighting for the win in the final laps. The Mercedes was on Verstappen's tail with two laps to go but it was not enough. It was a gripping battle held in front of 140,000 at a packed Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, at the end of a weekend on which Formula 1 felt like its popularity in the US had reached new levels.
Hamilton crossed the line just 1.3 seconds behind after one of the most hard-fought races of a classic grand prix season. "That was sheer class, Max," Red Bull team principal said over the radio on the slowing down lap. "What a drive." And it was indeed one of Verstappen's greatest victories, under the most intense pressure from Hamilton and Mercedes. Sergio Perez made it an Red Bull 1-3, although the Mexican was over 42 seconds back from his teammate. Charles Leclerc put in another solid performance to claim fourth in his Ferrari, ahead of McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo, and Valtteri Bottas in the other Mercedes.
Carlos Sainz Jr secured a good seventh place for Ferrari in the battle between themselves and McLaren for third in the standings, beating out Lando Norris, who came eighth. Yuki Tsunoda collected two points for AlphaTauri, with Sebastian Vettel claiming the final points-paying position in the Aston Martin.
Verstappen holds on for stateside victory
Verstappen started from pole position, but he lost the lead at the first corner when Hamilton made a better getaway and passed his rival on the inside. Trailing Hamilton closely through the opening laps, Verstappen appeared to have a pace advantage and Red Bull decided that they needed to try to get the lead on track and defend it from there. They brought Verstappen in for an early first pit stop on lap 10, leaving Hamilton and Mercedes with no choice but to try to go long and come back at Verstappen later in the race.
They could not delay their first stop as long as they wanted, because Verstappen's team-mate Sergio Perez was within range and red Bull brought him in only two laps after the Dutchman to force Hamilton to pit. But in the second stint the race very quickly devolved into a straight fight between Verstappen and Hamilton, as Perez rapidly fell away and had to spend the rest of the race keeping an eye on Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, driving an outstanding race behind the big three. Verstappen pitted again on lap 29, with 27 laps still to go, and Hamilton stayed out for a further eight laps, Mercedes trying to give him as big a tyre advantage as possible in the final part of the race.
When he resumed after his stop on lap 37, Hamilton was just under nine seconds behind. He measured his pace in the early laps of the final stint, protecting his tyres, and then unleashed some pace, closing from 8.4 seconds back to 3.9 in just five laps. With six laps to go, Hamilton was just 1.5secs off the lead, but on the following lap for the first time in the final stint, Verstappen edged away by 0.2 seconds and victory began to look like a step too far for Hamilton. Only with two laps to go did Hamilton get the margin under a second, but it was too late and he held on for a superb win.
The rest of the field
Kimi Raikkonen was on course for the final point before spinning his Alfa-Romeo at the first corner with four laps left and falling to 13th.That meant Vettel was able to come through from 18th on the grid to 10th, as well as teammate Antonio Giovinazzi, and Lance Stroll in the other Aston Martin. George Russell claimed 14th for Williams, ahead of his teammate Nicholas Latifi, and the two Haas cars of Mick Schumacher & Nikita Mazepin.
AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly retired early with a rear suspension problem and both Alpines dropped out too - Esteban Ocon having had a tail-end race after first-lap front wing damage and Fernando Alonso, having had a slightly comical series of battles with Alfa-Romeos and associated radio rants about off-track passes.
