United States Grand Prix – The Best/Worst according to the editorial staff

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Verstappen wins his duel against Hamilton

In Sunday’s race, Hamilton managed to take the lead at the start. After several laps, the Red Bull team realized it would be difficult to outpace Mercedes on the track and decided to do so in the pits. Earlier pit stops allowed Verstappen to overtake Hamilton.

At the end of the race, due to the difference in tire wear, Hamilton began to gradually close in on Max. At one point, it even seemed like Verstappen could come in for a third pit stop, then try to catch up and overtake the Brit with softer tires. But the team decided to finish the race in a defensive mode, which the young Dutchman executed brilliantly. Well-deserved victory.

Thanks to this victory, Verstappen increased his lead over Hamilton to 12 points.

« Ferrari and Leclerc continue to delight »

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz still cannot hope to fight for victory, but they will not concede the status of the third team in the championship.

Once again, the Maranello drivers delivered a solid race. Monegasque traditionally held the second position on the starting grid and, staying close to the leaders throughout the race, finished in a respectable fourth place.

On the other hand, his Spanish teammate had a rather combative race. After conceding several rivals at the start, Sainz fought closely with two McLarens throughout the race. The battle sometimes reached the point of contact between the drivers. At the end of the race, due to problems with the front wing, the Spanish driver was forced to let Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas pass. But even so, he managed to reach 7th place at the finish line.

Finally, in the battle for third place in the constructors’ championship, Scuderia Ferrari scored 18 points and took 4 points from McLaren.

Tsunoda adapts quickly.

A rather successful day for a young driver who took to this track for the first time. He managed to score important points for the team in the fight for fifth place in the constructor’s cup. The Japanese driver struggled in the early part of the race on Soft tires, as his strategy differed from those starting alongside him. During the race, he showed good pace, as evidenced by the intense battle with Valtteri Bottas. Two points for ninth place allowed AlphaTauri to reduce the gap to Alpine to 10 points.

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« Hamilton gave everything, but his team… »

Indeed, the strategy imposed by Mercedes on their driver was not the most suitable and prevented car number 44 from fully competing for the victory this Sunday.

After the successful departure of Britannique, Mercedes’ strategists apparently relaxed a bit and missed the moment when Red Bull decided to change tactics for Verstappen.

The German team did not immediately react to Red Bull’s delicate maneuver and left Hamilton on track until the 14th lap. Meanwhile, Verstappen took advantage of the clear track and began to set fast laps. When Hamilton finally entered the pit lane, he was over five seconds behind the Red Bull driver. The same scenario occurred during the second round of pit stops. Red Bull strategically outperformed Mercedes and won the race with the use of an undercut technique.

Double abandonment at Alpine

On this American track, the blue single-seaters did not shine. The Norman Esteban Ocon has been fighting at the back of the pack since the start of the race and therefore retired to preserve the mechanics. A few laps later, his teammate Fernando Alonso also retired due to a problem with the rear wing of his single-seater. In this tragedy, it is especially regrettable for the Spanish veteran, who at the beginning of the race seemed quite militant and actively fought with the two Alfa Romeo drivers.

Zero tolerance for track limits.

How each year before the United States Grand Prix weekend, the drivers were warned by the stewards that a zero tolerance policy applies to track limits. Any driver going completely beyond the curb will have their lap time canceled. And they didn’t lie. During the race, many drivers received a black and white flag, which means the driver has crossed the red and white curb zone three times. The scenes of scandal mainly occurred during the drivers’ fight, which often ended off the track and the stewards did not fully understand whether it was fair or not to penalize the driver in such a situation. This could clearly be seen in the battle between Fernando Alonso and the Alfa Romeo team drivers.