UNITED STATES: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen won a record-equalling 13th victory of the season and the Red Bull team, mourning the loss of its co-founder and owner Dietrich Mateschitz’s demise, claimed a milestone fifth Formula 1 constructors’ title in the American GP.
Starting from P2, Max Verstappen took the lead at the start and avoided an incident behind as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Mercedes’ George Russell clashed at the Turn 1 hairpin.
In his Red Bull RB18, Verstappen looked set for another dominating victory at the American GP, handling multiple safety car restarts and managing his pace and tyres skilfully.
A slow second pitstop saw the Dutchman fall behind the recovering Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, whose hunt for the elusive victory in the wretched 2022 season continued as Verstappen overtook him with just six laps remaining to the chequered flag.
Lewis Hamilton produced a scintillating effort behind the wheel of his W13 but had to settle for second place. Leclerc drove brilliantly from P12 to take the final podium place.
The Ferrari driver benefitted from a cheap pitstop behind the safety car thanks to Valtteri Bottas’s spin into the gravel traps. He started twelfth, owing to the grid penalty after his power unit changes. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who started 9th after his engine penalty, finished fourth.
Russell served a five-second time penalty following his lap 1 incident and fought back to clinch fifth place and the fastest lap after pitting late for a new set of tyres.
McLaren’s Lando Norris finished sixth, after being thirteenth at one stage. Fernando Alonso, who suffered a dramatic collision with Lance Stroll mid-race, bounced back to claim seventh. He was followed by the Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel in eighth and Haas’s Kevin Magnussen in ninth.
Alpha Tauri driver Yuki Tsunoda took 10th place after starting from the back of the grid due to an engine penalty.
Magnussen, who was on a one-stop race, and Vettel put up a brilliant fight in the last lap of the race to settle their final finishing positions.
Vettel could have finished higher, but a slow pitstop after the front jack failed meant that he had to fight his way back to the points, which also earned him the “Driver of the Day” award.
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon finished eleventh, ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon in twelfth and Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu in thirteenth.
Pierre Gasly finished fourteenth, culminating a day to forget during the American GP after picking up a time penalty behind the safety car, which was not served properly in the pits, resulting in another time penalty that was to be added after the race.
Mick Schumacher didn’t have the pace that his teammate Magnussen had and finished fifteenth.
Daniel Ricciardo had a bad day at his favourite American GP weekend as he finished sixteenth, one place ahead of Williams’ Nicholas Latifi, who was the last of the drivers who finished the race.
After the race, Haas protested the Alpina of Fernando Alonso for driving a dangerous car, which was upheld by the race stewards, who slapped Alonso with a 30-second post-race time penalty, which saw him fall out of the points and into P15.
The drivers from Sebastian Vettel to Pierre Gasly were promoted a place each in the final finishing order after the penalty was applied.
Fernando Alonso’s Alpine had lost one of its mirrors following the damage from his earlier collision with the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll.
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