Max Verstapen triumphed in the US Grand Prix, defending the championship for Luis Hamilton. Serhio Peress won third place, giving his team the second race in a row in which both units finished on the podium.
Louis Hamilton, who was already next to Max Verstapen’s formula before the first bend, got a great start to the race, as well as took the lead a few seconds later. The two leaders of the championship were followed by Serhio Peress in the second ‘Red Bull’, who in turn is mentioned by Charles Clecker with “Ferrari”.
Max Verstapen did not give up after losing the first turn and continued to follow Hamilton, less than a second apart. The Dutchman was convinced that he could drive faster than Hamilton, but he did not miss him, which, only a lap later, was confirmed to his team by Hamilton himself. ‘RedBull’ chose to use undercut strategy and already in the tenth lap called Verstapen in the pits, replacing the medium-sized tires with hard ones. Mercedes did not respond to what RedBull had hoped, and at Verstapen’s initiative undercut maneuver with a formula led by Serhio Peresa. Hamilton was forced to answer this, and was more than six seconds behind Verstapen after his boxing visit. Although Hamilton was able to approach Verstapen after the second tire change, it did not regain control.
– LAP 53/56
Verstappen pulls away, but Hamilton bites back ????
It’s all down to these last three laps! #USGP ???????? # F1 pic.twitter.com/uDl3DM8fCX
– Formula 1 (@ F1) October 24, 2021
There was no shortage of incident and drama on the American track. Nicholas Latifi and Lans Strols were involved in the clash, while Carlos Sains got into a great fight with both McLaren. The Spanish pilot made great maneuvers to overtake Lando Norris in the midfield, but the ‘McLaren’ pilots regained the loss straight between corners 11 and 12. Saints was unable to brake in time and drove outside the 12th bend. Returning to the track, the Spaniard was ahead of Rikiardo, gaining an unfair advantage, for which he was forced to return the position. Unfair acquisition of the track position when leaving the track was a topical issue in the US Grand Prix – Alonso also entered a similar scenario with both ‘Alfa Romeo’ pilots. The ‘Alpine’ driver lost after a fight with Kimi Raikonen in the 1st corner of the track. It seemed to the Spaniard that Raikonen had won the position unscrupulously, because the Finn had left the track limit, but the judges did not consider it that way. Only a few laps later, Alonso himself, trying to overtake Antonio Giovanni, overestimated the braking power of his formula, drove out of the 12th bend and returned to the track with Giovanni behind. The ‘Alpine’ team tried to prove that the rules were on their side, but in this case too the referees did not agree and Alonso was forced to make concessions.
Charles Lecler did a great job finishing in fourth place, scoring important points for the team’s fight against the ‘McLaren’ constructor in the overall cup. Behind him, in fifth place, was Daniel Rikiardo. After the last lap fight with Carlos Sains, Walter Botass took the sixth position, Sains settled for the seventh place. It should be mentioned that the Botass race started from the ninth position after the regular starting penalty spot. Juki Cunoda finished the race in ninth, and Sebastian Vettel finished in the top ten after a fight with Giovanni. The race was not finished by both ‘Alpine’ units and Pierre Gazli with ‘AlphaTauri’.
Related
–
