Red Bull wins the Constructors’ Cup, Verstappen equals historic record! What did the US Grand Prix have to offer?

Max Verstappen set a great record, Red Bull Racing ended Mercedes’ hegemony and dominated this year’s Constructors’ Cup! The US Grand Prix produced a dramatic spectacle of some great battles and one big accident…

Carlos Sainz took pole position after winning Saturday’s qualifying, and was joined on the front row by reigning world champion Max Verstappen.

However, the starting grid was affected by several component change penalties received by Júki Cunoda, Esteban Ocon, Sergio Pérez and Charles Leclerc, who changed the combustion engine and turbo. Sainz, Verstappen, Hamilton, Russell, Stroll, Norris, Bottas, Albon, Pérez, Gasly – this is how the top ten order looked at the start of the US Grand Prix.

Drama at the first corner

The very first lap and the first corner of the nineteenth race of this season brought a very dramatic moment, when Sainz made a very bad start and was also shot down by George Russell at Turn 1.

The Spanish Ferrari driver became the first driver to crash out of the US Grand Prix.

It should be noted that all the drivers, except for Ocon, Fernando Alonso, Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher, started the race on a medium set of tyres. These four drivers were on hard tyres at the start.

In the opening laps, Charles Leclerc, who started from 11th place due to penalties, fought his way up. After the fifth lap he was already in seventh place. Thanks to the chaos at the start of the race, both Aston Martin cars were also at the front.

Russell then received a five-second penalty on lap six for causing a collision in turn one.

From lap ten to eighteen, most drivers pitted due to a change to a different tyre specification, in many cases drivers opted for the hardest tyre. On lap nineteen another driver retired.

Safety car, yellow flags, Bottas in the duck

Valtteri Bottas failed to clear his Alfa Romeo on the exit of turn nineteen and ended up in the duck.

This meant that the safety car had to take to the track, the exit of which was used by a number of drivers to make a very convenient pit stop. Monaco’s Leclerc undoubtedly made the most of it, moving up to fourth place.

In the attached Twitter post below, you can see the starting order after the 20th round of the US Grand Prix.

The big Alonso x Stroll accident

The safety car pitted at the end of lap 21, but soon had to pit again. This was due to a major collision between Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.

In this case, the Canadian driver was primarily responsible for causing the collision. Alonso was using the so-called slip stream, or air pocket behind the other car, which made the Spanish driver faster and wanted to overtake Stroll.

However, the latter decided at the last moment to take a defensive manoeuvre and did not give Alonso a chance to react. The Spanish legend’s Alpine even took off with the front wheels for a moment, but fortunately there was no major moment.

The safety car pulled back into the pits at the end of lap 25 and the Circuit of The Americas was able to race again. During the rest of the US Grand Prix, fans watched many beautiful battles.

On lap 30, Monaco’s Leclerc pulled off a stunning maneuver to take the podium, passing Sergio Pérez in the Red Bull. Lap 36 of the US Grand Prix brought drama in the pits, with a pit stop by Verstappen.

It was prolonged by problems with a tightening left front wheel and the fresh double world champion dropped to fourth.

Vettel and his stop…

However, the Red Bull driver was back ahead of Leclerc a few laps later. It should be noted, the lead in the race in the so-called pit-stop window was taken for a few moments by Sebastian Vettel, who stopped at his mechanics on lap 42.

Unfortunately for him, and despite a great start to the race, his pit-stop was not at all successful, whereupon Vettel subsequently dropped to thirteenth place, although some of the drivers ahead of him in the standings had not yet stopped.

Hamilton, Verstappen, Leclerc, Pérez, Russell, Magnussen, Alonso, Ocon, Albon, Norris – this is how the top ten points standings looked after 42 laps of the US Grand Prix.

However, as the nineteenth race of the season progressed, Magnussen dropped down the order due to a very worn out centre set of tyres. In the closing laps of the race, Lewis Hamilton tried to hold on to first place ahead of Verstappen, albeit in vain.

Winner Max, Red Bull dominates the Constructors’ Cup

The Dutch driver took the top spot on lap 50 and would not let that go until the end of the US Grand Prix. Verstappen thus equalled the record for most wins in a single season (13). Along with him, this record is held by Michael Schumacher from the 2004 season and Sebastian Vettel from 2013.

Red Bull Racing also won the Constructors’ Cup in the USA, confirming its complete dominance this season. Especially in the second half of the season.

In the attached twitter post below you can see the final top ten points standings. Verstappen and Hamilton were joined on the podium by Leclerc, with Pérez finishing fourth and Briton Russell capturing fifth place due to a penalty.

With two laps to go, Japan’s Cunoda moved into tenth ahead of Alexander Albon, with Vettel securing at least the final eighth place on the final lap when he beautifully passed Magnussen.

He completed an incredible 37 laps on the yellow-marked medium set of tyres! Russell took the fastest lap of the race, with Vettel deservedly taking the driver of the day.

Source: F1 TV