@Max33Verstappen clinches #USGP victory as @RedBullRacing seal Constructors title. #F1

Verstappen US GP Victory – Newly-crowned two-time World Champion Max Verstappen recovered from a pit-stop error to snatch victory from Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton late on in an epic US GP as Red Bull scored their first Constructors Championship since 2013, and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completed the top three.

 

 

The win put Verstappen tied with Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel on Formula One’s single season record, with 13 victories apiece in one campaign for the multiple world champions.

 

Leclerc recovered from his power-unit component change grid drop to take third place for the Scuderia, salvaging a podium for the Maranello-marque after pole-sitter Carlos Sainz was eliminated in an opening corner collision with Mercedes’ George Russell, which left Verstappen as a leader for majority of proceedings even through safety car deployments before the complexion changed late-on.

 

When the 56-lap US GP began, Verstappen got a great launch off the line alongside pole-sitter Sainz and took the lead into turn one, behind them the two Mercedes of Hamilton and Russell were battling for third.

 

 

Russell locked up as he steamed into the turn one apex alongside team-mate Hamilton, went a bit wide and speared into the side of Sainz’s F1-75 racer, sending the Ferrari into a spin and to the back of the field.

 

Sainz was forced to retire at the end of the opening lap due to a damage in the radiator causing a water leak issue as Russell was given a five-second time penalty due to the collision with the Spaniard.

 

By lap three Verstappen already pulled out a two second lead over Hamilton with Stroll a further 2.6 seconds back in third as Russell drew closer to the Aston Martin.

 

On lap five, race-leader Verstappen increased his lead to 2.3 seconds over Hamilton as Russell breezed past Stroll with DRS assistance to take third.

 

Further back, Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi was sent into a spin caused by a gust of wind.

 

On lap nine, Verstappen crossed the line, taking another four tenths out of Hamilton on that previous lap out front. Those two had some breathing space, with Russell in third both carrying damage and on the defensive with Perez rapidly charging in on the Mercedes. Perez’s own damage to his RB18 racer did not seem to be slowing the Mexican on his chase.

 

A lap later, the pit-stop window opened as Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo all came to push for the undercut on the cars they were battling on track.

 

On the eleventh tour, Verstappen reported “I was struggling with the wind” as the blustery conditions continued in Texas, but the Dutchman held a comfortable 3.6 second lead over second Hamilton.

 

On lap 12, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who started back in twelfth due to his ten-grid-placed penalty for a new Internal Combustion Engine and Turbocharger moved ahead of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel diving up the inside of the braking zone at the end of the back straight to take sixth.

 

Verstappen was told by his team “Mind that single bump on the run down to Turn 12.” Meanwhile, Hamilton got the “hammer time” message and stopped for a new set of hard tyres having lost further time to the Red Bull driver, as Russell moved up to second.

 

Verstappen was given the “Free to push,” command by his team, as Red Bull reacted to Hamilton and brought in the race leader with Russell also pitting from second, and to serve his five-second time penalty.

 

Perez was leading the race by six seconds over his Red Bull team-mate, with Stroll remaining in third and Leclerc all over the rear of the Aston Martin’s gearbox in fourth. Vettel was yet to stop in fifth, and Hamilton is sixth.

 

On lap 15, Perez pitted next time around and took a solid 2.1 second stop as the Mexican overcut Russell thanks to the Briton’s penalty that he served, and he emerged just behind Hamilton which was a de-facto third place on track.

 

Leclerc overtook Stroll for second place, but the Monegasque driver was yet to pit as Hamilton ran all over the rear of both Aston Martin AMR22 entries with Verstappen having a 6.3 second lead.

 

Just as Red Bull and Mercedes were asking their drivers for feedback on the harder compounds, the safety car changed the race’s complexion after Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas lost the rear of his C42 racer going through the penultimate corner on Verstappen’s 18^th tour as the Finn ended up in the gravel trap.

 

This meant Leclerc and Aston Martin’s Vettel could take cheap pit-stops – Stroll having pitted just before Bottas’s off – and then they followed Hamilton and Perez in the train behind Verstappen.

 

The Dutchman, his previous gap vanished, lead the restart on the 22^nd tour – easily moving clear of Hamilton again – but the green flag did not last long as on the same lap with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and Stroll suffering a shocking crash running down the Circuit of the America’s back straight.

 

With Stroll behind team-mate Vettel and Mercedes’ Russell after his initial pre-safety car stop having run as high as third in the early proceedings in the aftermath of the opening corner tangle, Alonso got a solid run on his soon-to-be Aston Martin team-mate heading down the back straight.

 

Alonso reel in Stroll and moved to the left of the Canadian as they approached top speed, but the latter nudged a split-second later and the A522 was launched skywards over the AMR22’s left rear.

 

Stroll was sent spinning and forced to retire, but Alonso – without his front wing – was able to recover to the pits after bouncing down hard, but only slightly touching the wall on the inside of the circuit.

 

Although the incident, which is being investigated after the race, sent a clutter of debris into the pack behind and across the track, it took only three laps behind the safety car for everything to be cleared.

 

On the 26^th tour, Verstappen got another brilliant getaway after the restart and pulled over a second ahead, as the attention drew to Leclerc’s attempts to get onto the podium as he followed Perez closely in-front as DRS was enabled again for the 28^th lap.

 

After his initial attempt of overtaking the Red Bull into turn 12 at the end of the long back straight went wrong as Leclerc went deep and ran into the run-off area, also avoiding Perez suffering a lock-up and sliding on the inside, as he attacked at the same spot on the 30^th lap.

 

With a late lunge to the inside, Leclerc darted to the left hander’s apex and wrestled his way ahead, then crucially remained within the circuit’s track limits to remain in-front.

 

The Monegasque driver was then unable to catch Hamilton, who was at this point trying to threaten Verstappen’s lead for the initial time as the Red Bull driver struggled in the gusty conditions.

 

Just as Hamilton got near a second adrift of Verstappen again, Mercedes opted to bring the seven-time World Champion again for a set of harder tyres at the end of the 34^th tour, but it was Verstappen’s second pit-stop on the following tour that turned the Grand Prix on its head.

 

When the Red Bull driver went back onto the mediums, a delay on getting his front-left hard tyre off was compounded by the Milton Keynes based-outfit needing to use a second wheel-gun to tighten the nut back up on the replacement medium.

 

This left Verstappen stuck for 11 seconds, which not only meant Hamilton went into the lead on his out-lap, but Leclerc also jumped the long-time race leader.

 

Although Perez and Vettel ran long, the latter also suffering a long-delayed pit-stop, Hamilton suddenly had the net-lead of 5.6 seconds, as Verstappen set himself up to charge by Leclerc.

 

The Dutchman quickly followed his former 2022 championship rival and made his attempt at turn one on the 39^th lap and dived to the inside of Leclerc, but the Ferrari was able to switch-back and take the place back on the exit before Verstappen used DRS assistance to blast by down the back straight later on the same tour.

 

This left 4.5 seconds for Verstappen to chase down Hamilton, with a tyre compound difference the factor, and Leclerc initially hanging onto the rear of the Red Bull before eventually fading away.

 

Verstappen ate into Hamilton’s gap over the next few tours and entering the final ten laps, had cut that down to two seconds – reaching DRS range for the first time on the 49^th tour.

 

The following lap, Verstappen used the adjustable rear wing to close in on Hamilton’s F1 W13 racer running down the back straight and the Red Bull shot to the inside of turn 12, with the Briton nearly jinking left late on in defence before moving back right away from any possible tangle.

 

Hamilton planted the throttle and got his nose back in-front approaching the next corner, but with Verstappen holding the inside line, the Mercedes driver was unable to mount a full attack and was then impeded by Verstappen running slow on the apex of the double-apexed left-hand turn 15.

 

Verstappen pulled ahead, but Hamilton was able to stick close behind the RB18 – noting Verstappen had run off the circuit several times leading the Dutchman to be hit with a black-and-white flag about track limits violations from the stewards.

 

Hamilton kept suggesting that Verstappen was continuing to exceed track limits at several points, but as the Briton tried to hang on in-close behind, he himself was given a black-and-white flag for the same infringement.

 

After Hamilton lost DRS assistance at the end of the 53^rd lap, the Briton dropped back rapidly as Verstappen clinched the US GP victory by 5.023 seconds over the Mercedes, with Leclerc crossing the line third and Perez fourth – the top four were just covered by 8.2 seconds.

 

Mercedes pitted Russell late for a set of softer tyres to push for the fastest lap bonus point, which the Briton scored on the final tour as he rounded out the top five with McLaren’s Lando Norris in sixth.

 

After all he went through, Alonso brilliantly charged to a seventh-placed finish with a string of late overtakes, whilst Vettel’s race ended with a spectacular end as he fought with Haas F1 Team’s one-stopping Kevin Magnussen on the final lap.

 

Vettel recovered from his very own slow pit-stop trouble to reach Magnussen’s eighth place right at the end – snatching it with an amazing move into the penultimate corner having tried to brave it out around the outside through turns 16, 17 and 18 just before.

 

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Tsunoda rounded out the top ten with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon 11^th, Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon 12^th and Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu 13^th.

 

The other AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly had a race to forget down in 14^th and in-front of Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher who was 15^th, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo in 17^th as the aforementioned Latifi brought up the rear for Williams.

 

Stroll, Bottas and Sainz were the only retirees of the Grand Prix as a heap of drivers were hit with track limits violations and collision time penalties.

 

***See Below About Results Classification Change***

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2022 US GP – The Top Three

 

 

2022 US GP Winner – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing-RBPT, RB18:

“It was a tough one, it was all looking good, but I had to fight my way forward again. We gave it everything out there, it was a difficult weekend for us, this one was for Dietrich. The only thing we could do today was win.”

 

2^nd Place – Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, F1 W13 E Performance:

“Big shout out to my team, we came here with upgrades, we closed the gap a little bit. I did everything I could to stay ahead but they had too much. Congratulations to Red Bull. I’m shattered, the car was a handful today. It felt amazing to be in the lead, we’ll hold onto that and keep pushing. It will come to us at some stage.”

 

3^rd Place – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, F1-75:

“Satisfied in a way because starting P12, a podium is a good achievement. But we had too much deg at the end of the race. We’ll keep working. It was a nice battle with Checo, but we need to keep working in order to challenge them a bit more.”

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Formula 1 Aramco United States Grand Prix 2022 Race Results Classification (56 Laps)

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	TIME/RETIRED	PTS
1	1	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING RBPT	56	1:42:11.687	25
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	56	+5.023s	18
3	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	56	+7.501s	15
4	11	Sergio Perez	RED BULL RACING RBPT	56	+8.293s	12
5	63	George Russell	MERCEDES	56	+44.815s	11
6	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN MERCEDES	56	+53.785s	8
7	5	Sebastian Vettel	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	56	+65.354s	6
8	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	56	+65.834s	4
9	22	Yuki Tsunoda	ALPHATAURI RBPT	56	+70.919s	2
10	31	Esteban Ocon	ALPINE RENAULT	56	+72.875s	1
11	24	Zhou Guanyu	ALFA ROMEO FERRARI	56	+76.164s	0
12	23	Alexander Albon	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	56	+80.057s	0
13	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPHATAURI RBPT	56	+81.763s	0
14	47	Mick Schumacher	HAAS FERRARI	56	+84.490s	0
15	14	Fernando Alonso	ALPINE RENAULT	56	+85.078s	0
16	3	Daniel Ricciardo	MCLAREN MERCEDES	56	+90.487s	0
17	6	Nicholas Latifi	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	56	+103.588s	0
NC	18	Lance Stroll	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	21	DNF	0
NC	77	Valtteri Bottas	ALFA ROMEO FERRARI	16	DNF	0
NC	55	Carlos Sainz	FERRARI	1	DNF	0

 

Note – Russell scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race. Gasly received a 10-second time penalty for not serving a safety car infringement penalty correctly. Latifi received a five-second time penalty for forcing another driver off the track. Schumacher received a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits. Albon received a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Alonso received a 10-second stop-and-go penalty converted to a 30-second time penalty for a technical infringement.

https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1135/united-states/race-result.html

 

Click here for the 2022 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings.

 

Round 20 of the 2022 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the famous Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico for the Formula 1 Gran Premio De La Ciudad De Mexico 2022 from Friday October 28-Sunday October 30.

 

Vale Dietrich Mateschitz 1944-2022