F1 United States GP: Verstappen wins as Red Bull secures title
23rd October 2022Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen secured the race win, in the United States Grand Prix, to tie the all-time record of wins within a season.
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, became the first retirement of the race after the Spaniard was spun around by Mercedes’ George Russell at the first corner, on the opening lap.
The majority of the field opted to start the race on the yellow-walled medium compound tyres while; Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Fernando Alonso (Alpine), Mick Schumacher (Haas) and Esteban Ocon (Alpine), selected the white-walled hard tyres.
Red Bull Racing are crowned Formula 1’s 2022 Constructors Champions, in the wake of the death of their founder, Dietrich Mateschitz.
How the race unfolded…
It was a great start from Max Verstappen who had a better start compared to the pole sitter, Sainz, and the Dutch world champion took the lead into the braking zone of turn one. Slightly further back, the two Mercedes raced each other into the uphill hairpin.
However, Russell outbroke himself into the hairpin and stabbed the sidepod of Sainz’s Ferrari while the Britons teammate, Lewis Hamilton, opted for the outside kerb – to avoid the first corner melee.
The contact between Russell and Sainz pit the #55 Ferrari into a spin, and the Spaniard found himself at the back of the field. Sainz was able to get going again but he returned to the pit lane and retired from the race with a water leak.
After the opening corners, the top three stood as Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), in first second and third, respectively.
Russell was soon given a five-second time penalty for his involvement for causing a collision with Sainz, at turn one.
As the race completed its first 10 laps, Verstappen and Hamilton remained as the top two within the order as Russell occupied the final podium position.
However, on lap 11, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas, Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) and Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) were the first drivers to pit from the race to swap their worn mediums for the hard tyres.
Between Verstappen and Hamilton, the Mercedes driver was the first driver to pit for the hard tyres, at the end of lap 12. To protect himself from the undercut, Verstappen pitted a lap later and retained his net-race lead as the Dutchman filtered back into the race behind his Mexican teammate, Sergio Perez.
The safety car was deployed on the 18th lap after Bottas found in the gravel trap at turn 19. This allowed Leclerc to have a cheap pit stop. the Monegasque pitted from second and returned in fourth – behind Perez (third). At the end of the 21st lap, the safety car finally peeled back into the pit lane.
However, the safety car was quickly redeployed onto the circuit after Stroll and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso suffered a heavy crash down the back straight. As Alonso lined-up a move to overtake Stroll, the Aston Martin driver made a last-second move to defend his position, and the Alpine driver nearly went airborne as he veered off into the barrier.
At the same time, the Aston Martin suffered heavy – and terminal – damage as he spun down the back straight. Fortunately, the following pack managed to avoid the stranded Aston Martin.
At the end of lap 25, the Safety Car was recalled back into the pit lane. With a good restart, Verstappen managed to race down into turn one unchallenged by Hamilton and Perez who remained in second and third respectively.
Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly was issued with a five-second time penalty, for exceeding more than 10 car lengths, . On lap 35, Hamilton pitted for a fresh set of hard compound tyresm, in a bid to undercut Verstappen for the race lead. However, after a poor pit stop – a lap later – it handed net-race lead to Hamilton.
In the laps that followed, a fantastic battle ensued between the former 2022 championship contenders; Leclerc and Verstappen. The Red Bull’s Dutchman was the one to put an end to the fight as the reigning world champion found a permanent way past the Ferrari, into the braking zone of turn 12 – down the back straight.
As a result, this allowed Verstappen to lead the charge towards Hamilton as the fight for the race win entered its final laps.
On lap 50, the race lead changed hands as Verstappen broke later down into turn 12 and moved ahead of his former title rival. Despite his best efforts, Hamilton couldn’t retaliate and find a way back past and settled for a second place finish.
Podium:
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
That’s it for the article; F1 United States GP: Verstappen wins as Red Bull secures title! What did you think of the race? Let us know in the comments!
Read more Formula 1 here:
- Esteban Ocon set for pit lane start for US Grand Prix
- F1 United States GP: Sainz secures pole ahead of Verstappen
- F1 United States GP: Verstappen clears final practice in Austin
- Logan Sargeant to race for Williams in 2023 pending super licence points
- F1 United States GP: Sainz tops first practice late on
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
