Max Verstappen Joins Another Select Club With F1 United States Grand Prix Win

This year’s F1 United States Grand Prix proved to be an intriguing strategic battle as Max Verstappen ultimately claimed win No. 15 of the 2023 season and the 50th of his Formula 1 career.

With the win, Verstappen joins Lewis Hamilton (103 wins), Michael Schumacher (91), SebastianVettel (53) and Alain Prost (51) in the 50-Win Club.

Verstappen Makes It 15 in ’23

For 2023 read 2021 and 2022. World Champion Verstappen prevailed over Lewis Hamilton at the U.S. Grand Prix after a tight and strategic encounter.

This time McLaren driver Lando Norris was also thrown into the equation. The leading trio all ran two-stop strategies but in divergent fashion when it came to tire choice and stop lap.

Norris, who led early on, went medium-hard-hard, race winner Verstappen medium-medium-hard, while Hamilton adopted an overcut medium-hard-medium at a circuit where he thrives. Verstappen, who started from sixth and wrestled with a race-long brake problem, took the lead from Norris mid-distance and resisted a charging Hamilton during the closing stages. The eventual winning margin was a slender 2.2 seconds after 56 laps of green-flag racing.

“I made a good start and in the first stint I tried to be patient but at the same time following for so long did hurt my tires a little bit,” said Verstappen. “But at the same time I was struggling a lot with the brakes compared to yesterday, so I couldn’t really be that nice to the tires under braking, just being very inconsistent. That basically carried on for the rest of the race, which compared to yesterday that was quite a big factor because I never really had a lot of confidence to be consistent under braking.

“But nevertheless I think as a team we did the right strategy, we pitted at the right time, and basically because of that I could work my way forward. I think we did everything correct today but I was hoping for a little bit more pace because I think yesterday we were a lot more competitive.”

Hamilton, who worked his way past Norris in the final stint, suggested that Mercedes could have battled with Verstappen had he not extended his first two stints.

“I do think we would have been in a fighting position to fight with Max,” Hamilton said. “I think we made our life a lot harder today than it probably needed to be. I think it would have been very hard anyway, because these two (Verstappen and Norris) were very quick. I think overall, our starts this weekend, normally we have really great starts but we struggled with our starts this weekend, so we lost ground more often than not.

“I think in one of the pit stops, I might have been a bit long, which then made it harder for the guys, and then the stop wasn’t that great overall. There’s lots of areas that we could have been better. But the positives are that we at points we were matching them for pace, and to be only two seconds back afterwards at the end of the race is a good sign.”

As Hamilton referenced, Mercedes also needs to improve the consistency and speed of its pit stops, with Hamilton spending two seconds longer in the pit lane than Norris across his two stops. Red Bull has been best in the pit lane, with McLaren third-fastest but rapid of late, while Mercedes is only seventh-best of the 10 teams. It is an area that requires work.

Lance Stroll snapped a five-race scoreless string with a ninth-place finish at COTA.

Stroll Bounces Back

There was a moment before Sunday’s race when you might have wondered whether Lance Stroll’s COTA weekend could get any worse.

Stroll had failed to score a point since the summer break, had barely any running in practice due to a brake issue, and was due to start from the pit lane after Aston Martin undertook prerace set-up changes not allowed under parc ferme regulations. Only Stroll’s AMR23 appeared at the back of the dummy grid as the Canadian forgot to drive back into the pit lane after his reconnaissance lap.

Cue Aston Martin mechanics having to bolt halfway down the pit lane to roll the AMR23 back to the garage…

Yet in the race Stroll made steady progress from effectively last up to ninth spot and finished just seven-tenths shy of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

“Finishing ninth after starting from last in the pitlane is a positive result after a tough couple of days here at COTA,” he said. “It’s good to be back in the points after some difficult races. The set-up changes we made to optimize the performance have definitely put us in the right direction; we were much more competitive today. I had good grip in the corners, especially once we fitted the Medium compound, and I was able to make a few good overtakes going into Turn 12.”

Team-mate Fernando Alonso was also running inside the top 10 but had to retire after picking up floor damage late in the race.

Piastri’s Strong Run Ends With Clash

Oscar Piastri had been a star of recent races, following up third in Japan with a Sprint Race win and second in the main race in Qatar. But he had a struggle in the Sprint Race in Austin, falling away from points contention, and an initially promising getaway in the main race soon unraveled. Piastri made gains off the line but through Turn 2 clashed with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon while they battled for sixth place. The impact was sizeable and while both drivers continued they were swiftly forced into retirement, wrecking the chances of a potentially strong haul of points for the duo.

“We had a good start and made up a few places but had a water leak that unfortunately ended our race,” said Piastri. “It’s not been the easiest weekend, but there’s been a lot of learnings. We took a step forward from yesterday and did improve but not to the level I want to be at. These are character building weekends that are very important in my first season.”

Said Ocon: “It’s a pity as we had a good starting position for today’s race and once again made up a few places with a strong launch and good opening corner. Unfortunately, there was then contact with Oscar and the damage to our floor was too severe to continue.”

F1 United States Grand Prix

at Austin, Texas

Results

1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 56 laps
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, +2.225 seconds
3. Lando Norris, McLaren, +10.730
4. Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari, +15.134
5. Sergio Perez, Red Bull, +18.460
6. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, +24.662
7. George Russell, Mercedes, +24.999
8. Pierre Gasly, Alpine, +47.996
9. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, +48.696
10. Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri, +1:14.385
11. Alexander Albon, Williams, +1:26.714
12. Logan Sargeant, Williams, +1:27.998
13. Nico Hulkenberg, Haas, +1:29.904
14. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo, +1:38.601
15. Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo, +1 lap
16. Kevin Magnussen, Haas, +1 lap
17. Daniel Ricciardo, AlphaTauri, +1 lap
18. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, +7 laps
19. Oscar Piastri, McLaren, +46 laps
20. Esteban Ocon, Alpine, +50 laps

F1 Constructors’ Championship

1. Red Bull 704
2. Mercedes 358
3. Ferrari 327
4. McLaren 239
5. Aston Martin 232
6. Alpine 96
7. Williams 23
8. Alfa Romeo 16
9. Haas 12
10. AlphaTauri 7

F1 Drivers’ Standings

1. Max Verstappen 466
2. Sergio Perez 238
3. Lewis Hamilton 219
4. Fernando Alondo 183
5. Carlos Sainz 168
6. Charles Leclerc 159
7. Lando Norris 156
8. George Russell 139
9. Oscar Piastri 83
10. Pierre Gasly 52
11. Lance Stroll 49
12. Esteban Ocon 44
13. Alexander Albon 23
14. Valtteri Bottas 10
15. Nico Hulkenberg 9
16. Zhou Guanyu 6
17. Yuki Tsunoda 5
18. Kevin Magnussen 3
19. Liam Lawson 2
20. Logan Sargeant 0
21. Nyck de Vries 0
22. Daniel Ricciardo 0