Max Verstappen claims 50th F1 career win at the Texas Grand Prix
Max Verstappen claimed his 50th career win in Formula 1 at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
The Dutchman started from P6 after his fastest Q3 lap time was deleted due to track limits on the second to last corner.
Verstappen began the race with great patience and slowly picked his way through the pack to take the lead from Lando Norris. The McLaren driver had taken first place on the opening lap ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
For a moment or two, it looked as though Norris had a great shot at victory but it wasn’t meant to be for him and his wait for his first career win goes on.
Lewis Hamilton hunted down Norris on fresh mediums and overtook him with seven laps to close in on Verstappen for the win. Unfortunately for the British driver, he was left with too much to do after he was let down by his team strategists earlier in the race when they hesitated to bring him into the pits early in the race.
The seven-time world champion did get the gap down to under two seconds on the final lap but it was too little too late.
Then, hours after the race concluded, the FIA announced the disqualification of Hamilton and Leclerc due to technical breaches, bumping Carlos Sainz up into the podium places.
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Hamilton and Leclerc have been disqualified from the United States Grand Prix due to a technical infringement.
The FIA undertook a plank wear inspection post-race, with irregularities identified.
Both cars were found to have excessively worn rear skid blocks.
Their respective disqualifications were confirmed roughly three hours after the completion of the race.
Norris moves to P2 as a result of the penalties, with Sainz joining him on the podium.
American driver Logan Sargeant also jumps to P10 — his first points in F1.
A historic weekend for Max!
Lap 56: Verstappen hangs on for the win! His 15th of the season!
Lap 54: Verstappen’s lead is down to three seconds with two laps to go! The Red Bull is struggling to deal with its brakes and Max vents on the radio.
Lap 52: The Mercedes of Hamilton isn’t gaining enough on Verstappen and it appears as though his pit crew did leave him with too much to do after not pitting him earlier.
Lap 49: Hamilton’s got him! It’s at turn one and he’s now 5.4 seconds behind the leader Verstappen with seven laps to go…
Lap 47: It’s crucial for Hamilton to get past Norris ASAP and he’s really putting his foot down. If he can get past the McLaren, he may have six or seven laps to get at the Red Bull.
Lap 45: Mercedes believe Hamilton can get Norris and are even hinting he could be within a chance of getting closer to Verstappen out in front but he’s running out of time. We’ve got 11 laps to go!
Lap 39: Verstappen now leads the race as he gets past Leclerc at turn one. Norris then follows the Dutchman and is back in second.
Lap 36: The McLaren of Norris pitted for fresh hards on lap 35, Verstappen’s team reacted and brought him in for hards too. The Red Bull still manages to come out ahead of him!
Lap 33: Norris is now three seconds behind Verstappen and Hamilton is FLYING! He’s coming up on his fellow Brit.
Lap 28: Verstappen gets himself within DRS and dives down the inside for the lead of the race and holds off Norris.
Lap 25: Lando locks up and Verstappen is now two-tenths of a second away from having DRS. These next few laps feel critical to how the race may play out.
Lap 23: Lando is back out in front and he is on the hard tyre so he does not have to pit again if he can manage his tyres. Verstappen is closing in on him but the Red Bull will have to pit at least once more in this race.
Lap 20: Hamilton has pitted and he also puts the hard tyres on. Verstappen comes out ahead of the Brit and the Mercedes driver is frustrated with his team.
Lap 19: Hamilton is now leading the race as Norris comes in for hards. Verstappen is P5 and 20 seconds behind the Mercedes out in front.
Lap 17: Verstappen comes in for fresh mediums, so he will be committing to a two-stop race as he started on the mediums as well.
Lap 14: Lando’s lead is decreasing as Hamilton puts in the fastest lap of the race. The Mercedes driver is now within two seconds after being over three seconds behind just a couple of laps ago.
Lap 11: Verstappen gets the inside line and forces Leclerc wide but the Dutchman prevails and is now chasing Hamilton in second.
Lap nine: Hamilton, Magnussen and Hulkenberg have already had a lap time deleted and track limits could come into play later in this race.
Lap seven: Ocon is forced to retire for the third time in the last five races! Not the start Alpine would have imagined after their new investment this week.
