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F1 United States GP race results: Verstappen wins in Austin

Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas on Sunday after a tense battle with Formula 1 title rival Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B, battles with Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B, battles with Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12

Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Hamilton led from the start, but Verstappen undercut him at the first round of pitstops.

Although that gave Verstappen the lead, it always meant he’d be vulnerable on tyre life in the closing stages.

Hamilton chased him down, but was unable to get close enough to attack and he came up just short after a charging drive.

2021 US Grand Prix race results

Cla Driver Laps Time
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen 56 1:34'36.552
2 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 56 1:34'37.885
3 Mexico Sergio Perez 56 1:35'18.775
4 Monaco Charles Leclerc 56 1:35'28.798
5 Australia Daniel Ricciardo 56 1:35'53.406
6 Finland Valtteri Bottas 56 1:35'56.680
7 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr. 56 1:36'00.097
8 United Kingdom Lando Norris 56 1:36'00.947
9 Japan Yuki Tsunoda 55 1 lap
10 Germany Sebastian Vettel 55 1 lap
11 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi 55 1 lap
12 Canada Lance Stroll 55 1 lap
13 Finland Kimi Raikkonen 55 1 lap
14 United Kingdom George Russell 55 1 lap
15 Canada Nicholas Latifi 55 1 lap
16 Germany Mick Schumacher 54 2 laps
17 Russian Federation Nikita Mazepin 54 2 laps
  Spain Fernando Alonso 49  
  France Esteban Ocon 40  
  France Pierre Gasly 14  

How the US Grand Prix unfolded

From pole position Verstappen got wheelspin off the start line and Hamilton rocketed past him into Turn 1, holding the inside line from P2 on the grid to lead. Behind them, Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin got punted into a spin by fellow Canadian Nicholas Latifi’s Wiliams at Turn 1.

Hamilton led Verstappen, Sergio Perez (Red Bull) and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), while Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), Carlos Sainz Jr (Ferrari) and Lando Norris (McLaren) fought hard over fifth. Eighth-placed Yuki Tsunoda held Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) at bay, and his AlphaTauri team-mate Pierre Gasly managed to pass Bottas on lap 3.

Hamilton couldn’t pull away from Verstappen, who noted that Lewis was “sliding a lot”, while Perez fell away by 5s on lap 10. Verstappen pitted early on lap 11 for hard tyres, putting him back behind Ricciardo but he quickly dealt with the McLaren on the back straight. Perez pitted for mediums on lap 13, but it was a relatively slow stop.

Hamilton pitted on lap 14, opting for hard tyres, and Verstappen took the lead with a 6.7s advantage but with three laps less on his similar-compound tyres.

As the race approached half distance, Hamilton carved into Verstappen’s lead, cutting it to under 3s by the time Max pitted for a second time on lap 30 – giving him a 26-lap run to the finish. Red Bull feared it would get undercut by Hamilton like Verstappen had done to him after the opening stint.

Mercedes opted to run long, with Hamilton pitting on lap 37, rejoining 8.8s behind Verstappen.

Verstappen lost a chunk of time behind Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen, who’d earlier clashed with Fernando Alonso (Alpine), for which Raikkonen received a black and white flag.

With 10 laps to go, Hamilton got to within 3.4s of Verstappen with his tyres that were seven laps fresher. He got the gap under 2s with six laps remaining, and the gap briefly got under 1s with two laps to go, but crucially not in the DRS detection zone.

Verstappen clung on to win by 1.3s over Hamilton. Behind the lead battle, Perez finished a clear third (although he struggled physically with no drinking water in the car), ahead of Leclerc and the battling Ricciardo and Sainz. Bottas got ahead of Norris for seventh and closed in on their fight, passing Sainz in the closing laps for sixth.

Behind Norris, Tsunoda finished ninth, ahead of Sebastian Vettel, whose Aston passed Raikkonen when the Finn spun with four laps to go.

Gasly slowed with a suspension issue and retired, while both Alpines also retired.

2021 Formula 1 US Grand Prix fastest laps

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 41 1'38.485     201.521
2 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 52 1'39.096 0.611 0.611 200.278
3 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 41 1'39.303 0.818 0.207 199.861
4 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 32 1'39.566 1.081 0.263 199.333
5 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 46 1'40.067 1.582 0.501 198.335
6 Finland Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 41 1'40.147 1.662 0.080 198.176
7 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 41 1'40.228 1.743 0.081 198.016
8 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 43 1'40.345 1.860 0.117 197.785
9 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 40 1'40.377 1.892 0.032 197.722
10 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 40 1'40.481 1.996 0.104 197.517
11 United Kingdom George Russell Williams 36 1'41.120 2.635 0.639 196.269
12 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 44 1'41.145 2.660 0.025 196.221
13 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 47 1'41.151 2.666 0.006 196.209
14 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin 36 1'41.189 2.704 0.038 196.135
15 Finland Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 43 1'41.340 2.855 0.151 195.843
16 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas 36 1'41.395 2.910 0.055 195.737
17 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams 46 1'41.818 3.333 0.423 194.924
18 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 12 1'42.015 3.530 0.197 194.547
19 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 28 1'42.194 3.709 0.179 194.207
20 Russian Federation Nikita Mazepin Haas 42 1'42.886 4.401 0.692 192.900

2021 Formula 1 US Grand Prix tyre history

Cla Driver Chassis 1 2 3 4
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull M 13 H 19 H 27    
2 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes M 16 H 24 H 19    
3 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull M 15 M 21 H 26    
4 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari M 15 H 20 H 24    
5 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren M 14 H 19 H 26    
6 Finland Valtteri Bottas Mercedes M 18 H 19 H 22    
7 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari S 14 H 18 H 27    
8 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren M 13 H 20 H 26    
9 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri S 12 H 23 H 23    
10 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin M 19 M 23 H 17    
11 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo M 8 M 21 H 29    
12 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin M 18 M 16 H 21    
13 Finland Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo M 12 M 19 H 24    
14 United Kingdom George Russell Williams M 9 H 22 H 24    
15 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams M 5 H 20 H 30    
16 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas M 11 H 23 M 20    
17 Russian Federation Nikita Mazepin Haas M 1 H 23 M 13 M 18
  Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine M 7 H 21 H 11 M 10
  France Esteban Ocon Alpine M 6 H 22 M 18    
  France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri M 13 H 4        

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