Verstappen holds off chasing champion as Texas is thrilled by battle for supremacy
hvictory extends Dutchman’s lead in title race to 12 points hhamilton falls short after tyres gamble fails to pay off
They say everything is bigger in Texas; the steaks, the skies, the hats, the boots. To that list, Formula 1 can now be added too. What a weekend. What a race. After decades of casting about on this side of the pond, it feels as if the sport has truly established itself Stateside now.
A crowd of 140,000 fans lapped up an absolutely stonking grand prix yesterday, a race which went down to the very final lap as Lewis Hamilton narrowly failed to pull off what would have been a sensational victory.
In a race that resembled a chess match, Red Bull responded to Hamilton’s superb start, which saw the seven-time world champion roar past pole-sitter and championship leader Max Verstappen at Turn 1, by adopting an “aggressive” undercut strategy, coming in much earlier than expected for the first of their two pit stops.
The strategy allowed Verstappen to reclaim the lead and a bit of clean air.
But it also left the Dutchman vulnerable on wearing tyres after the second round of pit stops. Hamilton, on fresher tyres, hunted his rival down, his deficit tumbling with every lap. But he could not quite make the catch, finishing +1.333 seconds behind in the final reckoning.
Verstappen’s eighth win of the season saw the Dutchman extend his lead at the top of the drivers’ championship to 12 points with five races of the season remaining. And with the next two rounds in Mexico and Brazil expected to favour Red Bull, there are some who believe the championship is as good as over. Far from it.
This enthralling season has ebbed and flowed and defied expectations at every turn. And even if Red Bull do have the quicker car for the next few races, all it would take is one DNF for everything to turn on its head again.
Not that Hamilton looked or sounded particularly optimistic.
“The next two tracks are very strong for Red Bull, so it’s going to be tough for sure,” he conceded. “But I’ve got to be happy with the job I did today.
“I gave it absolutely everything but at the end of the day they were quicker this weekend. ”
And what a weekend it was. There was a real sense in Texas of F1 as it was pre-covid, with huge crowds, and concerts, and traffic jams and a serious run on hotel rooms and hire cars in Austin.
After 18 months which has felt rather anaemic much of the time, it was a weekend which saw F1 get its buzz back. The paddock felt busier than it has in years, while the grid was positively heaving with celebs and hangers-on.
Martin Brundle was spoiled for choice on his grid-walk with basketball legend Shaquille O’neal, rapper Megan Thee Stallion and tennis superstar Serena Williams mingling with mechanics and drivers and FIA bigwigs.
But they were here for a reason. And after the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders and the Texas Longhorns marching band had finished doing their thing, and we had all enjoyed a rousing rendition of The Star Spangled Banner, not to forget a flyby of Apache helicopters, it was time to race.
Hamilton got off to a flier, beating Verstappen off the line and holding his nerve as the Dutchman tried to squeeze him off track. But his lead did not last long, Verstappen diving into the pits after just eight laps. “It was a courageous move because it really was very early [to stop],” acknowledged Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff later of Red Bull’s undercut.
It worked brilliantly. By the time Hamilton came in, three laps later, his one-second advantage had turned into a six-second deficit.
Mercedes did not panic. They knew that Red Bull’s gamble would afford them an opportunity later on. And by the time Verstappen came in for his second pit stop on lap 29, they were clearly feeling quite confident, Wolff even getting on the radio to inform Hamilton he was “racing for the win”.
Hamilton came back with a succinct response. “Leave it to me, bro. Thanks.”
Hamilton eventually came in
for his second stop on lap 37 of 56, emerging 8.5sec behind Verstappen. He had 20 laps in which to pass the Dutchman on his fresher set of hard tyres. But he could not quite manage it. The gap tumbled as Hamilton turned the timesheets purple. Six seconds, five seconds, four seconds.
With 10 laps to go, the gap was down to just 2.8sec and the Dutchman was on the radio, nervously asking his team for updates. “I wasn’t sure [our strategy] was going to work,” he later admitted.
But Verstappen is a worthy adversary and the heir apparent had managed to hold a little rubber back. When Hamilton got to within two seconds, Verstappen was able to hold the gap steady for a few vital laps, stalling the Englishman’s charge. “If Lewis had had two laps more, who knows?” Wolff mused.
Hamilton did at least bank a bonus point for the fastest lap of the race, limiting his losses to just six points.
A fabulous race, which also witnessed some lively duels further down the field, between the Ferraris and Mclarens and even between a couple of old-timers in Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, ended with O’neal arriving to deliver the winner’s trophy in the Texas Longhorns’ mega Cadillac, a car which made even the 7ft1in basketball great look small. Big Tex delivered in some style.