The Formula 1 constructors’ championship battle always plays second fiddle to the fight for the drivers’ crown. Not helping the end-of-2022 show, Red Bull was all but certain to land its first teams’ trophy since 2013 heading into the United States Grand Prix in Austin last weekend.
Nevertheless, during an event where the death of Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz was announced, few can deny the added emotion that Max Verstappen’s brilliant fightback to take victory and seal the deal for his team didn’t make for a fitting tribute – even if the cloud of allegedly breaking the 2021 cost cap lingers over the recent success.
Meanwhile, any sniff of a Mercedes comeback will now surely roll over into 2023 given that Lewis Hamilton was unable to keep Verstappen at bay, despite his rival suffering a botched pitstop on a day when both Ferraris and the Red Bull of Sergio Perez had setbacks of their own.
With the FIA also taking some heat for its handling of the spectacular but thankfully anti-climatic clash between Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, there was no shortage of thrills and drama at the Circuit of The Americas. It surely had all the makings of a decent movie script…
As such, from the 56 laps that unfolded in front of Hollywood’s elite, here are 10 things we learned from the 2022 United States Grand Prix.
Verstappen has three races left to break the most wins in an F1 season record
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
1. Winning the title hasn’t dampened Verstappen’s drive one bit
Max Verstappen is now tied for the record. With 13 wins this term, he is in the company of Michael Schumacher (2004) and Sebastian Vettel (2013) for having the most prosperous season in F1 history. And with three rounds still to play, he could climb his tally even further to make the record indisputably his.
His latest triumph was hard-fought. Verstappen had to overcome a failed front-left wheel gun that created a painful 11s stop before passing Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton as the GP reached its climax. He did so by maintaining the fastest average speed of any one plus those deft manoeuvres on the Ferrari and Mercedes.
Verstappen has maintained that he only ever dreamed of one world championship. Everything else comes as a bonus. But despite wrapping up the 2022 crown in Japan and the Dutch ace conceding he can celebrate with the pressure off for the remaining rounds, his Sunday showing was still top drawer. His desire and composure in…
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