Verstappen returned, Sainz achieved the podium after the disqualification of Hamilton and Leclerc and Alonso abandoned

Verstappen was surprised in the fight for the pole on Friday by high speed in one lap of Leclerc, Norris or Hamilton and his mistake at the decisive moment. He failed in his final attempt at qualifying, which exceeded the limits of the track and relegated him to 6th position. But, the few times Max makes a mistake, he usually responds forcefully. Everyone knows this. This is to be expected. Although for a while, Norris had big dreams. But as the laps passed, Max became even more giant. And won. He did it, initially, against Hamilton (2nd), Norris (3rd), Sainz (4th), Pérez (5th) and Leclerc (6th). But that classification changed due to the final disqualification of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc after the race.

After the event, the cars of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc did not pass the stewards’ technical inspection because the wooden plates under their respective cars were smaller than allowed due to erosion. caused by friction on the car, floor or piano. This means that two drivers finished the race in two cars that did not comply with the regulations, so they were disqualified.

Lewis Hamilton’s disqualification gave second place to Lando Norris and third to Carlos Sainz, who thus added another box but was not satisfied at the time of the awards ceremony. The final top-10 was as follows: Verstappen (1st), Norris (2nd), Sainz (3rd), Pérez (4th), Russell (5th), Gasly (6th), Stroll (7th), Tsunoda (8th), Albon (8th) and Sargeant (10th).

F1 2023 United States GP Results

F1 World Cup classification

Verstappen is unforgiving

SA Verstappen He can lose at a turn, but in the race he continues to make a huge difference at the wheel of the best car in the World Championship. He did it again this Sunday, earning his 15th victory of the year in 18 races by winning the F1 United States GP, thus equaling his own record of wins in a year achieved in 2022. Now, he has 4 races left to establish a mark that will be very difficult to beat. He can win 19 races out of 22 held this year. More than 80%. crazy

Verstappen warned on Saturday of the sprint-independent day without giving any options: he won the short classification and the subsequent sprint race. And this Sunday, starting the 6th, he has to correct his mistake. Unnerved, with the calm of a three-time world champion driver who knows he has the best possible weapon in his hands, he returns. He begins by taking advantage of Russell’s bad start to gain a position.

In turn 1, he avoided an accident with a Hamilton who overbraked. And because of the pure pace, he soon overtook the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, which he overtook, forcing him to leave the track. The Dutchman risked a penalty for that action, his only point of impatience in a race that eventually shut down entirely.

He was third behind Norris, who was ahead of Hamilton. It will happen to Lewis with a different approach. And that ended Norris’ dream before he stopped a second time. He showed tremendous braking prowess to change direction at turn 12 to complete a masterful overtake on Lando’s McLaren which gave him the lead.

From there, the race was over. He has to complete the file by making his second stop and manage to head to the finish line. Not a final brake failure preventing him from winning. He managed his ‘mattress’ perfectly to win against Hamilton which got hot and ended in just 2″2. All this, before the inspection of Lewis’ car by the stewards, which would leave him without the final podium due to disqualification.

After Max’s return, the excitement was more than just fighting for second place. With 8 laps remaining, Hamilton, who had tried a riskier initial approach, caught fire with a good comeback. Norris tried to defend himself in everything against the 7-time champion, but he could do nothing to stop a Mercedes that with its improvements in Austin took another step forward.

Mercedes, in progress

The silver arrow will only be slowed down by subsequent changes. Despite this, those from Brackley should go to Mexico with a smile. Much more important than a certain result or disqualification from a race is knowing that they continue their tremendous development. Mercedes has made it clear in its evolution that it is a good candidate to fight to be the second best car with McLaren in the 4 remaining events. Even if Red Bull surprises some of them, as happened last year in Brazil. Hamilton stayed close to Max, even without Verstappen’s brake problems, the champion’s advantage was greater.

At the finish line, Carlos Sainz was fourth, but he inherited the podium that Hamilton lost after his background was measured. The Madrid native was 3rd He had a good race, no mistakes and was on the verge of the podium after passing his team-mate Leclerc with just 6 laps to go, with more speed due to having younger tyres. Ferrari tried the impossible by stopping Charles, wrong approachand prevented the Monegasque from a podium that Sainz would finally catch a few hours after the awards ceremony.

Alonso left

Fernando Alonso took the race as a test to learn. He and his teammate Stroll left the pit lane after breaking parc ferme to apply changes to their car after their poor classification. Alonso came out with the Qatar aerodynamic package, while Stroll came out with the new one shown in Austin.

The goal is to learn from the comparison of data from the same solutions, but the race Fernando is performing very well, better than expected, at a pace that allows him to fight for 8th. He is going to achieve it, to leave Austin with a prize greater than imaginable. However, a mechanical problem with 5 laps remaining forced him to retire. Weekend to forget him.