Insatiably ambitious, Max Verstappen can never have enough. He won the three-time championship on Saturday in Qatar, 15 days ago, and has not left even a crumb to his rivals. He scored the victory in the Lusail long race, on Saturday he added the Austin Sprint and now the Sunday victory for the United States, his 50th victory in Formula 1, the 15th of the season. With it he equals his historical record of wins in a course. His effectiveness is insulting: 88% (15 of 18), the highest in history.
Although, on this occasion, at the Circuit of the Americas, despite his superb comeback, from 6th to 1st, he was very close to the shadow of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, second, just 2 seconds behind, after being crushed by the English in the last three laps. Two more laps and the three-time champion would have been sweating to hold off Lewis.
For the fifth time this season, a Red Bull did not start on pole and Verstappen did not start from the front row. That didn’t mean anything: three of the previous four times the Dutchman finished on the podium with dizzying comebacks. In Saudi Arabia, from 15th to 2nd; in Miami, from 9th to victory; and in Spa, from 6th to 1st. Only in Singapore was the three-time champion worldly, from 11th to 5th.
Although the protagonist of the start was a brave Lando Norris, who struck down poleman Leclerc at the start by conquering the first uphill corner. The McLaren beating the Ferrari was spectacular. Behind, Sainz also gained position over Hamilton by sneaking in on the inside to take third, and Verstappen, on the outside, climbed a box, from 6th to 5th by overtaking Russell, the worst starter, from 5th. to 8th.
The podium adventure was short-lived for Carlos Sainz. He had to give up on the fourth lap due to Hamilton’s drive and better pace, which easily relegated him to fourth place. One lap later, it was Verstappen who overtook the Spaniard and sent him to sixth position. The hunt for Dutch and English began.
Hamilton, the driver with the best race pace after Verstappen, also destroyed Leclerc to take second place on the sixth lap. He was 3 seconds behind Norris, the solid leader until that moment.
It took Verstappen a little longer to do the same, as he had a hard time reaching the wing of the Monegasque’s Ferrari. When he caught up to him, he left him dry on lap 11 on the outside. He was already third, but he then had Norris 7 seconds behind.
But the last two champions were panzers. Hamilton closed within 1.7 seconds of the McLaren on lap 15, and Verstappen was 4.5 seconds behind. The first victory of Norris, who has been denied glory in 100 grand prix, was in danger.
Red Bull was the first team to move the strategy tab. He made Verstappen stop before anyone else (v. 17) advancing his stop to attempt an undercut on Hamilton, who remained on the track trying to lengthen the laps (his team asked him for 5 laps, in lap 24, to attempt a single stop) .
The Englishman from Mercedes stopped on lap 21 – the tire change was very slow, 3.6s – and handed the spoon to Verstappen. He entered the track behind the Dutchman, who became provisional second, since Norris had maintained his leading position.
From the dance of stops it turned out that Norris retained the lead with a cushion of 2.4 seconds over Verstappen; The Dutchman gained the position over Hamilton, who was third, 7.3s behind Red Bull; and Sainz won the game against Leclerc by placing fourth. His Monegasque teammate fell to 6th place, behind Pérez.
There were still 30 laps to go until the finish line (v. 26/56) and Verstappen was beginning to take positions to attack Norris and take the lead. In just two laps he was within 1 second, with the possibility of opening the DRS and putting the tie on the McLaren. The Dutchman cut the asphalt with every stop, automaton and unstoppable like a bogeyman after his prey.
The three-time champion’s blow came on lap 28: he went all out, accelerated the braking and overtook Norris to take the lead and ride towards his 15th victory of the season. From 6th to 1st, as he had already done in Spa. Hannah Smith’s strategy from the Red Bull wall had worked once again.
In just five laps, Verstappen, without breaking a sweat, took off with a 2-second advantage over Norris, who stopped again (the first to make the second pit-stop) on lap 35 to put on hard shoes again.
Verstappen stopped one lap later to also hit hard and avoid Norris’ undercut. He started fourth on the track, behind Hamilton, Pérez and Leclerc, who would have to stop again.
The Dutchman regained the real lead on lap 39, passing Leclerc – with very worn tires – and Hamilton stopping at that moment.
Thus, with 16 laps remaining, Verstappen had a sufficient margin (1.6s) over Norris and Hamilton (7.4s). His 15th victory of the year, which equals his own record in 2022, was not in danger.
In the final stretch, Hamilton was the entertainer with his pursuit of Norris, who wiped out the 3.8-second deficit in the last 13 laps. The Mercedes driver, with softer medium tires, fought a tough battle with the McLaren, which he destroyed on lap 48 with a fabulous exterior.
He even encouraged himself in the final laps to chase down Verstappen, whom he had 5.2 seconds behind. He managed to cut 3 seconds off and put fear into her body. At least he took the Dutchman out of his comfort zone.
Carlos Sainz won the game over his teammate (he overtook him with 6 laps to go due to having younger tires) and achieved a creditable fourth position, behind Norris, with no chance of fighting for the podium.
Fernando Alonso, who started outside the top 10 on the grid for the first time (17th in the standings, penultimate, 19th, coming out of the pit-lane), ended up retiring with 6 laps to go due to a breakdown in the flat bottom of the Aston Martin. The Asturian had climbed to 9th position. His teammate Stroll went from 20th to 9th.
