F1 United States GP: Verstappen holds off Hamilton to take 50th win

The win gives Verstappen his 50th F1 career victory in a race where he struggled with a brake problems and Ferrari’s challenge disappeared early.

At the start, Norris got a better start than Ferrari’s polesitter Charles Leclerc and was quickly alongside the Ferrari before heading to the Turn 1 apex to make certain of the lead.

Behind, Hamilton tried to defend against Carlos Sainz but was jumped when the Spaniard followed Norris through the inside line of the uphill hairpin and Hamilton instead moved wider and saw off Verstappen’s run even further to the right.

The leaders plunged through the track’s sector one esses complex with Norris shooting clear of Leclerc, with Sainz, Hamilton and Verstappen trailing.

Norris’s lead was 1.7s at the end of lap one of 56, which he tripled over the early laps – during which Hamilton battled by both Ferrari’s with DRS runs to Turn 12 at the end of the long back straight on tours four and six, with Verstappen doing likewise to Sainz soon after.

Even as he passed Leclerc, Hamilton was lapping quicker than Norris and he set about trying to close down the McLaren’s three-second advantage as the leaders carefully paced the medium tyres they had all started on.

But over the next phase of the race, Norris and Hamilton were matched in laptimes in the low 1m42s, while Verstappen remained behind Leclerc even with DRS – the Ferrari dropping back from Hamilton by a few tenths per lap.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL60, prepare to lead the field away for the start (Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images)

Just as McLaren was getting a scare having to retire Oscar Piastri’s car due to radiator damage sustained in a lap one clash with Esteban Ocon, Verstappen finally passed Leclerc with a move to Turn 12’s inside that the Ferrari defended too late and was shoved wide on exit – a move race control noted but deemed it not worthy of further investigation.

Leclerc tried to hang on to the world champion, who faced a 7.0s deficit to Norris at the end of lap 11, when Hamilton had just brought the leader’s gap under three seconds again for since the early laps.

Hamilton pressed on and by lap 16 had cut a second out of Norris’s previous advantage – the younger Briton now struggling to stay in the 1m42s bracket.

At this stage, Verstappen triggered the race’s first big strategy called when he came into take more new mediums, with McLaren bringing Norris in from the front a lap later at the end of the 17th tour, but putting him onto new hards.

Mercedes asked new leader Hamilton if he could stay out for an additional five laps, but when he was not certain he could it opted to bring him in at the end of lap 21 – just after he had slipped off track with a big lock up at Turn 11 leading onto the back straight.

This was too soon for a one-stop strategy, which Ferrari left Leclerc out to attempt back in the lead he had held earlier for only a few seconds, so Hamilton rejoined a net third behind Verstappen but with a tyre life hard advantage of five laps and the Mercedes also on the hard.

By stopping earlier and with consistent pace in the 1m41s, Verstappen had cut his previous seven-second gap to Norris in half and he was soon homing in on the McLaren – which retook the lead when Leclerc finally pitted on lap 23.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W14, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB19, Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL60 (Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images)

Norris gifted Verstappen 1.2s when he locked up and went deep at Turn 11 on lap 25 and two tours later the Red Bull was in DRS range.

Verstappen used the overtaking aid to close in on the back straight on lap 28 and he made a late dive to the inside of Turn 12, where Norris tried to cut back on the exit but was overcome in the ensuing technical sequence.

But Norris did not immediately fall adrift and indeed behind Hamilton was soon closing in again on the leading pair with his younger hards, before Verstappen upped his pace into low 1m41s and pulled a new three-second lead.

Just after Verstappen became the latest driver to lock up and go deep at Turn 11, McLaren pitted Norris to take a second set of new hards at the end of lap 34, with Verstappen coming in for the same compound at the end of the following tour.

The undercut’s power plus a slightly slow left-rear change meant Norris had Verstappen’s previous gap down to 1.7s, as they ran behind the one-stopping Leclerc.

Hamilton stayed out longer again given his previous off-set approach and so cycled back to the lead, before pitting at the end of lap 38 to go back to the mediums.

As he rejoined, Verstappen passed Leclerc with DRS into Turn 1, with Norris making a late dive by the Ferrari into Turn 12 on the same lap, at the end of which he faced a 1.2s deficit to Verstappen.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL60, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23 (Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images)

From there, Hamilton caught and passed Leclerc and it was he who had the most gripping end to the race, as his pace was either the same as quicker than the leader – who had been 7.6s ahead when the Mercedes rejoined for the second time.

Norris dropped back from Verstappen, who has unhappy with the braking on his RB19, and on lap 48 Hamilton was all over him in the final sector – then mounted a DRS attack into Turn 1 where Norris defended hard.

But Hamilton was able to nip by on the exit as Norris went deep and that left a 5.2s gap to Verstappen up ahead – the Dutchman agitated with his brake issue and annoyed at receiving radio messages while trying to cope with it.

Initially over the final few laps, Hamilton was able to shrink Verstappen’s lead by a few tenths each time by, but as the leader continued to struggle with his brake issue it came down more rapidly right at the end.

But it was not enough for Hamilton – with Verstappen benefitting from getting DRS lapping Zhou Guanyu on the back straight on the last lap – and the gap between at the flag was 2.2s, with Norris a further 8.5s back in third.

Sainz ended up fourth after being waved by Leclerc late on – the Monegasque driver frustrated his one-stopper had backfired, as Sergio Perez demoted him to sixth by the flag.

Ferrari and Sainz, on the medium-medium-hard two stopper, briefly thought Norris might be beatable, but in the end the McLaren had a 4.4s gap at the finish as Norris upped his pace in response to his former team-mate’s late threat.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W14 (Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images)

George Russell looked at one stage as if he was on the one-stopper before he was taken off a shortened middle stint on the hards and he ended up seventh ahead of Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll.

Stroll rose from the pitlane – where he forgot to return too after the pre-race reconnoitring laps and had to be pushed back off the grid by his Aston Martin mechanics to claim ninth, the Canadian emerging ahead from a close late battle with Yuki Tsunoda.

The AlphaTauri driver was the only competitor to try the three stopper, which paid off and he had enough pace on the softs right at the end to seal another point to go with his 10th place finish by setting the fastest lap on the last tour.

Fernando Alonso had to retire with floor damage in the closing stages – the Spaniard also rising from a pitlane start to lead Stroll in the points before his issue occurred – and his former team-mate Ocon was the first DNF, also due to damage sustained in the clash with Piastri.

Alex Albon was the only driver to receive a five second penalty for track limits abuse on his way to 11th, but several others – including Hamilton – were given black-and-white warning flags for repeatedly going off track on another scorching day in Texas.

F1 United States GP results

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

         

Driver Info			Main Information Additional Data
Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Chassis	Engine
1	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		56	-			2	25		Red Bull	Red Bull
2	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44		56	+2.225 2.225	2.225		2	18		Mercedes	Mercedes
3	L. Norris McLaren	4		56	+10.730 10.730	8.505		2	15		McLaren	Mercedes
4	C. Sainz Ferrari	55		56	+15.134 15.134	4.404		2	12		Ferrari	Ferrari
5	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11		56	+18.460 18.460	3.326		2	10		Red Bull	Red Bull
6	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		56	+24.662 24.662	6.202		1	8		Ferrari	Ferrari
7	G. Russell Mercedes	63		56	+24.999 24.999	0.337		2	6		Mercedes	Mercedes
8	P. Gasly Alpine	10		56	+47.996 47.996	22.997		2	4		Alpine	Renault
9	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		56	+48.696 48.696	0.700		2	2		Aston Martin	Mercedes
10	Y. Tsunoda AlphaTauri	22		56	+1'14.385 1'14.385	25.689		3	2		AlphaTauri	Red Bull
11	A. Albon Williams	23		56	+1'26.714 1'26.714	12.329		2			Williams	Mercedes
12	L. Sargeant Williams	2		56	+1'27.998 1'27.998	1.284		2			Williams	Mercedes
13	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27		56	+1'29.904 1'29.904	1.906		2			Haas	Ferrari
14	V. Bottas Alfa Romeo	77		56	+1'38.601 1'38.601	8.697		2			Alfa Romeo	Ferrari
15	Z. Guanyu Alfa Romeo	24		55	1 lap			2			Alfa Romeo	Ferrari
16	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20		55	1 lap			2			Haas	Ferrari
17	D. Ricciardo AlphaTauri	3		55	1 lap			2			AlphaTauri	Red Bull
dnf	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		49				3		Rear suspension	Aston Martin	Mercedes
dnf	O. Piastri McLaren	81		10				1		Collision	McLaren	Mercedes
dnf	E. Ocon Alpine	31		6				1		Collision	Alpine	Renault
View full results

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