The key details that boosted Red Bull and held back Hamilton in Verstappen’s USA victory

As the 2021 Formula 1 title battle winds towards its climax, the United States GP added another thrilling act in the Lewis Hamilton-Max Verstappen battle. Although Hamilton aced the start, Verstappen and Red Bull took the initiative with strategy and were richly rewarded, despite Mercedes' best efforts as the race went down to the wire

Alex Kalinauckas Oct 25, 2021, 9:25 AM

Upd: Oct 25, 2021, 3:19 PM

Formula 1’s Netflix documentary series, Drive to Survive, loves to engineer drama through creative licence. That’s apparent from its name. But the bumper, sellout 2021 United States Grand Prix crowd – the Austin venue boosted by new fans that have watched the series to the point it had to build new grandstands and bridges to extra infield viewing areas for the returning event – was treated to a true spectacle. One packed with real, scintillating, sporting drama.

Once again it was all about Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, with the former winning out in a thriller fought out on different strategies – after they’d once again gone wheel-to-wheel.

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Author Alex Kalinauckas

Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.