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Max Verstappen had his mirrors full of Lewis Hamilton in the dying embers but the Dutchman secured his first-ever win in the USA to keep ahold of his championship lead.
After a poor getaway, the Red Bull crew implemented an aggressive strategy that saw Verstappen claim the win. Hamilton came across the line second with Sergio Perez finishing in a fantastic third place.
Starting Grid
After a fantastic lap at the end of Q3, Max Verstappen lined up on pole position and he was joined on the front row of the grid by his championship rival, Lewis Hamilton.
Sergio Perez started from third ahead of Charles Leclerc in fourth, Carlos Sainz in fifth, Daniel Ricciardo in sixth, Lando Norris in seventh, Pierre Gasly in eighth, Valtteri Bottas after his grid-penalty in ninth and Yuki Tsunoda in 10th.
Esteban Ocon narrowly missed out on the top 10 as he was 11th, Antonio Giovinazzi in 12th, Lance Stroll in 13th, Nicholas Latifi in 14th, Kimi Raikkonen in 15th, Mick Schumacher in 16th and Nikita Mazepin in 17th. The trio of Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and George Russell started from 18th, 19th and 20th after they received grid penalties due to part changes.
As It Happened
Hamilton got the better launch off the line as Verstappen cut across him down into turn one. However, the Mercedes driver was able to get through and claimed the race lead.
Through the turn 15/16/17 complex, Ricciardo moved up to fifth ahead of the Ferrari of Sainz. At the end of the first lap, Hamilton held the lead with Verstappen in second and Perez in third. Leclerc followed in fourth ahead of Ricciardo in fifth, Sainz in sixth, Norris in seventh, Tsunoda in eighth, Bottas in ninth and Gasly in 10th
On lap four, Ocon was the first driver to get rid of his medium tyres as he fitted a brand new set of hard tyres alongside a front wing change after he made contact with an Alfa Romeo car.
After five laps of racing, the top 10 only saw one change as Gasly moved into ninth place ahead of Bottas. Latifi, after his contact with Stroll on the opening lap, came in for a tyre and front wing change which saw him reappear back onto the track narrowly ahead of Ocon in last place.
With most of the drivers making their first pit stops, in came Verstappen as he looked to trigger the undercut on Hamilton. The Dutchman subsequently dropped down to fifth behind his teammate Perez, Leclerc and Ricciardo.
However, it didn’t take too long for the championship leader to move up into fourth as he cleared Ricciardo with ease down the back straight.
After his stop, Norris made the move down the inside of Stroll into turn one as the Brit got himself into the points.
Perez and Leclerc both pitted for a new set of tyres with the Mexican opting for the medium and the Monegasque for the hard. Race leader Hamilton then made his stop and with it released Verstappen into the lead of the race.
The first retiree from the race was Gasly as he encountered what seemed to be rear suspension damage to his AlphaTauri car.
Bottas, after starting the race from ninth place, wasn’t really making much progress but was able to move up to eighth after overtaking Stroll and Tsunoda.
In the battle for 11th, Alonso went deep into turn 12 as he looked to make the move on Giovinazzi. After coming back onto the track, the Spaniard made the move stick into turn 13 but had to give the position back due to an illegal overtake.
Round two of the Alonso v Giovinazzi battle happened only a handful of laps later as the Alpine man took 11th place away from the Alfa Romeo driver after he illegally held onto the position. Vettel made the move for 13th as he got past Russell with relative ease.
At the halfway point of the race, Verstappen led the way with Hamilton and Perez in second and third. Leclerc was fourth ahead of Ricciardo in fifth, Sainz in sixth, Norris in seventh, Bottas in eighth, Tsunoda in ninth and Raikkonen in 10th.
The Virtual Safety Car was temporarily deployed as a brave marshal retrieved a piece of debris from the track with the green flag waved again seconds later.
On lap 30, Verstappen made his second pit stop as Hamilton regained the lead once more. The Dutchman came back onto the track behind his Red Bull teammate Perez but the Mexican didn’t put up much of a fight into turn 12 as the charge was on for Verstappen.
Stroll quickly conceded two places as Tsunoda and Raikkonen dispatched the Canadian which saw the former move into the points.
Eight laps after Verstappen’s stop, Hamilton peeled into the pits for his second and final stop. The Brit came out nine seconds behind his championship rival who took the lead of the race.
Backmarkers hindered the Red Bull man’s progress as Hamilton started to close in with the gap falling to six seconds. Ocon became the second retiree of the race due to a mechanical problem on lap 42.
The battle for fifth continued as Ricciardo and Sainz came together. The Ferrari sustained some damage to his front wing but was able to carry on with his race.
Similarly to his Alpine teammate, Alonso also had to retire from the race due to a rear wing problem and became the third retiree from the race.
In the dying embers of the race, Bottas claimed sixth place as he overtook Sainz who slightly fell off the pace after his collision with Ricciardo.
Verstappen was able to hold off Hamilton and crossed the line a second ahead of his championship rival in second. Perez rounded out the podium as he scored his second consecutive rostrum finish.
Rounding out the top 10 were Leclerc, Ricciardo, Bottas, Sainz, Norris, Tsunoda and Vettel.
What’s Next?
F1 takes a week break before heading off to Mexico for the Mexican Grand Prix. Max Verstappen holds a 12-point lead over Lewis Hamilton as the championship battle continues. The next race will also be very important for Sergio Perez as he aims to put on a show for his home crowd.
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