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Max Verstappen claimed a glorious victory in the USGP at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin on Sunday. The Dutchman’s duel with chief title rival Lewis Hamilton, which lasted until the final lap, made the race one of the most nail-biting affairs of the season. Behind them, Sergio Perez finished third, helping Red Bull claim a second consecutive double podium result.
While the starting grid set up the USGP for a back-and-forth battle out front, down the running order, a midfield tussle between the McLarens and Ferraris added further interest.
Verstappen extends title lead over Hamilton with USGP win
Despite starting second on the grid, Hamilton managed to outrun Verstappen in the race to the first corner with a fiery start. The two drivers were closely matched in the opening laps and Red Bull Racing capitalized on the available pit-window by pitting the Dutchman as early as Lap 11.
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Hamilton attempted to pull out a healthy lead in clean air but once Perez also made an early stop, it forced the race-leader to pit as well in an effort to avoid getting undercut by the Red Bulls. But that's exactly what transpired, as after the first round of stops cycled through, it was Verstappen out in front.
The Red Bull ace followed the same strategy for his second pitstop on Lap 29, while Hamilton tried to pull a 16-second gap to him. However, once again, the Briton would rejoin behind Verstappen, on Lap 37.
In theory, the strategy to pit later than Verstappen the second time should have aided Hamilton, but careful tire management from the Red Bull man prevented the Brit from catching up to him. Despite a late charge from the Mercedes driver over the last five laps, Verstappen's composed drive saw him hold on to the lead by a narrow margin of 1.3 seconds at the finish line.
USGP midfield mayhem between Ferrari and McLaren
Following the top three, Charles Leclerc and Daniel Riccardo finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Leclerc had a relatively lonely USGP but his Ferrari teammate Sainz was hounded by two McLarens early in the race. At the start, the Spaniard, who had started fifth on the grid, fended off the two McLaren drivers. However, he eventually succumbed to Ricciardo after a wheel-to-wheel duel on Lap 43.
Although Sainz had undercut the Australian, some on-track resistance from the latter cost him a fifth-place finish. The Ferrari driver made contact with the McLaren man during their on-track battle on Lap 43 and sustained damage. Bottas managed to split the Ferrari-McLaren train by finishing sixth after starting ninth on the grid, with Sainz having to settle for seventh.
McLaren driver Lando Norris finished down in eighth, which saw his team's lead over Ferrari in the constructors' standings trimmed to just 3.5 points.
Alpha Tauri driver Yuki Tsunoda was ninth. Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel picked up the final point in tenth. The German had to start from P18 on the grid due to an engine change penalty.
Vettel ran P13 for the most part and surged up the grid after his final pitstop. However, his former teammate Kimi Raikkonen, spun out of P10 in Turn 6 on Lap 53, giving Vettel a free pass into the points.
The race had three retirees: Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso. Ocon was forced to retire his Alpha Tauri due to a suspension problem, while both Alpine drivers called it a day after suffering damage to their cars during the race.
Full USGP classification
