2023-10-22 21:10:24
Max Verstappen secured his 50th Formula 1 victory in Austin on Sunday. The world champion in the Red Bull completed a comeback from sixth place on the grid with the optimal result and won ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes and McLaren driver Lando Norris. It was the Dutchman’s 15th Grand Prix victory this year. Before that, only he had won so many races in one season, that was last year.
Verstappen crossed the finish line almost two seconds ahead of Hamilton. Only four Formula 1 grandmasters have currently achieved more victories than the 26-year-old. Hamilton (103) is ahead of Michael Schumacher (91), Sebastian Vettel (53) and Alain Prost (51) in the all-time best list. It was Verstappen’s third Austin victory en suite.
“You might see that it was really close in the end. It’s incredible to win my 50th Grand Prix here. I’m of course very proud and we’ll keep trying to achieve even more,” he said followingwards. During his victory drive, the three-time champion complained of problems with his brakes several times, but these did not have a decisive impact.
Norris won the start of the race from second place. The Brit took the first corners ahead of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Hamilton was initially fourth ahead of Verstappen, but the two each overtook the Ferrari duo and moved up two positions. As the fastest man on the track, Hamilton then saw Norris and Verstappen fall back through pit stops. After his own, not ideal, stop, the Brit was only third behind the two and had to fight his way back up.
By the halfway point of the race, Verstappen had reduced the gap to Norris to less than a second. On the 28th lap, the world champion pulled off a strong maneuver and squeezed past his younger challenger on the brakes. As a result, he gained a three-second lead. Norris pitted a second time following the 34th lap, Verstappen reacted immediately and remained just ahead of the McLaren following the second stop a lap later.
While Verstappen approached the next victory, Norris had to defend his second place once morest the doggedly fighting Hamilton. He mightn’t do that, Hamilton overtook him with seven laps to go. Behind Sainz, Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez took fifth place. Leclerc was sixth, George Russell seventh in the second Mercedes.
Hamilton congratulated the winning Red Bull racing team. “They did an incredible job and were flawless all year long. My team did a fantastic job to bring the upgrade here. We fought and are really happy with this result.” said the seven-time world champion.
“The pace in the first ten laps of each stint was strong, I just mightn’t maintain it. That’s progress,” said Norris. “I did my best and I’m still happy – being on the podium here is better than we expected before the weekend.”
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