Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton yet again treated us to a racing spectacle, finishing just 1.3s apart from each other 56 laps around The Circuit of The Americas. The enthusiastic, mega American crowd let their voices be heard throughout the race as the drivers from the top to the back were able to battle – with the use of strategy.
The highly anticipated battle between championship antagonists – Verstappen and Hamilton – commenced almost instantly, as Hamilton got the better of his Red Bull rival into the opening corner of the race. Yet, he could not break away. Despite losing his lead and being forced wide, Verstappen was able to keep his Red Bull within touching distance of the Mercedes but remained unable to make a move, prompting an early pit stop by the team in an attempt to undercut their rival. Which, proved successful. Mercedes opted against responding instantly to Red Bull’s aggressive strategy, before pitting and trailing Verstappen by five seconds.
Sergio Perez trailed just behind throughout the first stint, but could not match the pace of the two in front and fell away from the battle, leaving it between the two title rivals. With Hamilton closing on Verstappen, the Dutchman surprised many by stopping earlier then expected for a second change of tyres, conceding track position. Once again, Hamilton continued before stopping for his second stop, and trailed the Red Bull by eight seconds with eight lap fresher tyres as just over 20 laps remained. Verstappen managed to produce a champions-like drive to keep the charging Hamilton 1.3s behind in the final few laps, as superb tyre preservation allowed Verstappen to be able to fight back and hold on to achieve his first Formula 1 victory on American soil – and extend his championship lead to 12 points.
Verstappen v Hamilton has rarely failed to disappoint in 2021, as the consistent and resilience of the two continue to amaze the ones watching. This time round, Verstappen was the master, and chief strategist.
Perez was able to bring his Red Bull machine home in a position in which his team needs him, being third. Being on the pace all weekend, Perez had the opportunity to fight his teammate on the opening lap, but backed out. When the pit stop sequences commenced, the Mexican endured a lonely race and ultimately trailed Verstappen by 42s as Red Bull closed the gap to Mercedes in the constructor championship by securing a 1-3 finish for the team. The only problem Perez experienced was completing the race without his drinks system available to him, making an already physically demanding race even worse.
Although Verstappen won the Driver of the Day, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc had to be a contender. On paper, Leclerc started fourth and finished fourth. But, it was a more then comfortable fourth, and he closed the gap to ten seconds to Perez in front as he continued the new found Ferrari form since their recent power unit upgrade.
Ferrari v McLaren are showing all the signs that it will go all the way to the final round, as the drivers found themselves duelling from lights out. Whilst Leclerc built a gap, Carlos Sainz had the pleasure of fighting Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris on the opening lap and beyond, with the gang going wheel to wheel multiple times. Sainz and Ricciardo met multiple times, but their fight was over as the two made contact on the exit of T13, leaving slight damage to the Ferrari’s front wing. This enabled Ricciardo to pull away to secure fifth. The Aussie seemed rather pleased with his impressive and aggressive move past Sainz on the opening lap at turn 17 and 18.
Sainz’ damage saw him drop back into the clutches of Valtteri Bottas, who was slowly making progress after starting ninth. The Mercedes man was able to pass Norris with a few laps remaining, before making his way past Sainz on the final lap to secure sixth, with Sainz behind.
Norris could not quite match the pace of his rivals consistently throughout the race, and trailed Sainz over the line by eight tenths. The Brit made the ballsy move of all ballsy moves on the opening lap, diving down the inside of Sainz and Ricciardo at turn 12, whilst managing to avoid Leclerc.
Pierre Gasly suffered an technical issue on the grid, which was resolved before the Frenchman was forced on the side-lines early on, leaving Yuki Tsunoda fending for AlphaTauri. The rookie showed signs that have not been seen since Bahrain as he made his way into ninth in what was one of the strongest drives of his season.
Securing the final points paying position was the Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel who quietly went about his business by going from 18th on the grid to tenth. His work was made easier after Kimi Raikkonen lost control of his Alfa Romeo whilst running in tenth with just a handful of laps remaining, throwing his strong drive into the bin and finishing in 13th. However, Raikkonen was involved in an entertaining battle between himself and Fernando Alonso through turn one as the two went wheel to wheel, and off the track.
Alpine’s day turned out to be awful as Alonso and Esteban Ocon would both fail to see the chequered flag.
In-between the two saw Antonio Giovinazzi and Lance Stroll in 11th and 12th, with the Canadian of Stroll having to recover after getting tagged and spun on the opening corner by fellow countryman, Nicholas Latifi.
Latifi’s day would not improve, as he had to change his front wing in the opening laps, and trailed his teammate – George Russell – at the end as both Williams drivers picked up a quiet 14th and 15th.
Finally, Haas fulfilled the final finishing positions with 16th and 17th with Mick Schumacher comfortably ahead of Nikita Mazepin. The Russian’s day could not have started any worse after being forced into a pit stop on the opening lap, whilst Schumacher picked up some air time for frustrating Verstappen whilst having blue flags in the dying laps.
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