Indomitable Max Verstappen holds off British rivals to win US F1 GP

After pulling off a real shift to win the American Grand Prix, it was no little ironic that it was this race, in the midst of an all-conquering season, that Max Verstappen was greeted with cheers as he took the podium. A shame, because it was undeserved. He won for the 50th time under the kind of pressure he hasn’t experienced all year.

Verstappen has taken many of his fifteen victories this season, a dominance that undoubtedly reflected the reaction of the fans at the Circuit of the Americas who gave him a boost as he lifted the trophy, but of those fifteen he deserves this.

From sixth place, struggling with a braking problem from the first lap and facing a strong Mercedes in the hands of Lewis Hamilton and a resurgent McLaren with Lando Norris at the wheel, he was pushed to the flag.

Verstappen ultimately only had a two-second lead over Hamilton, while Norris finished third. With fresher rubber and flies, a few more laps and the seven-time champion could finally end his victory drought after almost two years.

Still, credit goes to Verstappen: the Red Bull had the speed he has had all season, but he had to deliver precision control throughout the 56 laps, while managing his braking problem and in a thrilling final third, with Hamilton following him pushed to the limit.

Verstappen admitted how tough it had been. “I had a lot of trouble with the brakes, which definitely made my race a lot harder,” he said. “You can see that it was very close at the end and now that the tires are already on it makes it all a little bit more difficult.”

Midway through the race, an irritated Verstappen went so far as to insult his car, a mighty feat of engineering that has only been defeated once this year, showing how much he struggled with the anchors.

Both Mercedes and McLaren had thrown everything at the Dutchman, not least by adopting alternative pit strategies for Red Bull, knowing that they were still unable to match Verstappen on pace alone.

Mercedes went for an offset, which kept Hamilton out longer at the first stops. It was a gamble and the team will now have to consider whether they waited just one or two laps too long, but it was certainly daring and produced an immense finish as Hamilton closed in on Verstappen but ran out of laps.

Mercedes had brought a major floor upgrade to Texas and Hamilton was extremely pleased with the performance, not least after crashing out on the final lap in Qatar.

“Because of my big mistake, I feel like I let the team down so much,” he said.

“So I had to go into a deep process to get myself back here and again it was one of those experiences of, it’s not how you fall, it’s how you get back up. I came in fighting, felt great and I am very happy with this result.”

Mercedes may have been stung, but will nevertheless take heart from a strong meeting in Austin, with the upgrades proving to be very positive. Hamilton has moved closer to second place to Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez, who moved into fifth from ninth on the grid. The Mexican led by 30 points going into the weekend, but the British driver is now just 19 points behind. If Hamilton can secure second place, it would be a remarkable achievement considering how far away the Mercedes are from Red Bull this year.

Norris, who took the lead from the start, drove another perfect race and he and McLaren engineered an extraordinary turnaround for the team. They had a difficult start to the season with Aston Martin delivering a very fast car with which Fernando Alonso scored a series of podium finishes.

However, two key upgrades have proven revolutionary. Before the first upgrade in Austria they were 137 points behind Aston, but since then they have been hugely impressive.

They went into this race just six points behind Aston and now have a seven-point lead. The team from Woking are on a roll and having secured fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship, they are in every position to maintain this in the remaining four meetings.

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc finished fourth and sixth for Ferrari; George Russell seventh for Mercedes, Pierre Gasly eighth for Alpine, Lance Stroll ninth for Aston Martin and Yuki Tsunoda eleventh for AlphaTauri.