Max Verstappen, a fortnight after clinching his second straight world driver’s championship in F1, was able to overcome a costly mistake on his final pit stop and catch Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps to win his 13th Grand Prix of the year and tie the record for most wins in a season.
Verstappen spent the balance of the race in the lead before going in for his final pit stop, where a faulty pit gun caused an 11-second delay in getting the Red Bull driver out and allowing Charles Leclerc and Hamilton to pass him. Verstappen, on medium tires, was able to pass Leclerc and make a fantastic drive in the closing laps to get by Hamilton on hard tires, 15 laps into the run of the mediums.
Both drivers were warned for exceeding track limits in the final five laps, and Hamilton was able to hang with Verstappen for a few laps, but Verstappen drove away while Hamilton faded away in second.
It was an emotional weekend for Verstappen and the entire Red Bull and AlphaTauri teams, as Detrich Mateschitz, the cofounder of Red Bull energy and owner of both F1 teams, passed away the day prior to the race.
“Of course, it was a very difficult weekend for us,” Verstappen said in the post race F1 Media podium interview. “Today was dedicated to Detrich himself. What [Mateschitz] has done for everyone, the only thing we could do today was win and even though after the pit stop it wasn’t looking great, I gave everything out there and pushed to the limit to come back.
Leclerc was able to come back from his grid penalty for changing engine parts to finish third on podium after starting 12th. Sergio Perez finished fourth in spite of a front wing issue that he fought throughout the race. George Russell finished fifth and walked away with the fastest lap after pitting for softs to go for it in the closing laps. Lando Norris ended up sixth.
On lap 23, a very violent wreck occurred in which Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll made high speed contact down the long backstretch. Alonso went airborne but landed on his four tires with no rotations or flips before hitting the Armco barrier with his left side. Despite the contact, Alonso was able to eventually finish the race in seventh after replacing his front wing. Stroll, who ran as high as third in the opening laps, was not able to continue after spinning out.
Sebastian Vettel had a strong day, threatening to contend for a top five finish before an awful final pit stop denied the German that in his final United States…
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