Howdy, Circuit of Americas
Hello, Circuit of Americas (COTA) after a year of break. F1 is back in Austin, Texas. One of the major defining moments of this season is the battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. Although Mercedes looked quickest in all of the practices, it was Red Bull that took the double podium finish in the race.
With Max Verstappen winning, followed by Lewis Hamilton in second and Sergio Perez coming in third. This extended the gap between Verstappen and Hamilton by 12 points as Verstappen takes the lead once again. Valtteri Bottas, George Russell, Fernando Alonso, and Sebastian Vettel were the drivers who took the grid penalty for the power unit change.
Hamilton with 2nd place on the grid enjoyed an amazing start with Verstappen squeezing on Turn-1. Lewis climbed to P1 by gaining the lead. Perez maintained this P3 as the race went on. Red Bull opened the pit window for Max’s pit stop to change the tires from Mediums to Hards. Lewis also came in on Lap 14 for his pit stop. But at the end of his stop, he was behind the Dutchman.
Verstappen’s amazing race to victory!
The second set of Pit stops came on Lap 29 for both Red Bull drivers. While Hamilton once again stayed out taking a 16-second gap. He pitted on Lap 39 with an 11.5-second lead. The Gap started to close between him and Max from Lap 41 when Hamilton had back marks on his tiyres. Eventually, Verstappen took the final victory with just 1.3 s and Perez took the podium too with 3rd position.
Charles Leclerc started P4 and kept his position throughout with holding off Daniel Riccardo. Bottas climbed his way to the sixth position from ninth. Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi went to take the 11th position due to his teammate Kimi Raikonnen’s mistake. Alpine drivers Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso (broken rear wing) with Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly (failure in suspension) retired from the race.
Max Verstappen was chosen as the Driver of the Day for his brilliant drive. The next race will be in Mexico on 12th November.