The Circuit of the Americas welcomed the F1 caravan for round 17 after one-year break. Once again there were grid penalties to take place. Surprisingly Mercedes' Bottas was given already his third grid penalty since the summer break, as the Finn's W12 had once again been installed a new engine. Williams' Russell and Aston Martin's Vettel were also hit with grid penalties, as well as Alpine's Alonso. The three of them were to start to the race from the back of the grid.
Red Bull showed top form both in the hands of Verstappen and Perez. But the Silver Arrows weren't far behind. Preference in Q2 was the medium compound, as both Red Bulls, both Mercedes and both McLarens came out on the medium Pirellis. The Ferrari aces had a differing tyre strategy, as Charles opted for the medium rubber, whilst teammate Carlos came out on soft Pirellis. The four top teams -Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari- were nicely mixed, as Verstappen, Hamilton, Norris and Leclerc were the fastest men in Q2.
Perez kept shining in the decisive last session. The Mexican claimed provisional pole by 0.019s to his teammate. Now the pecking order between the teams was more straightforward, as the Red Bull drivers were followed by Bottas and Hamilton, and the Scuderia drivers Sainz and Leclerc were 5th and 6th. However, Hamilton's last flyer made the Briton jump on top. The reigning world champion's joy was premature, as Verstappen absolutely flied round the COTA and stole the desired pole from the Briton by two tenths. Perez was left third, but nevertheless it was an impressive result from the Mexican. Bottas qualified fourth in the sister Mercedes, but due to the 5-place grid penalty, the Finn was dropped down to P9. Due to Bottas' penalty, the Ferrari duo of Charles and Carlos were to start to the race from P4 and P5. P6 and P7 were claimed by the McLaren drivers Ricciardo and Norris. Bottas and AlphaTauri's Gasly completed the top ten.
Carlos Sainz in his Ferrari and Yuki Tsunoda in his AlphaTauri were the only drivers to start to the race on the red-marked soft compound, as medium rubber was the majority's choice. Hamilton took an absolutely magical start and made it in the lead ahead of Verstappen. Perez remained his third place, whilst both McLarens intensively raced Sainz. Alpine's Ocon and Alfa Romeo's Giovinazzi collided on the opening lap, and Ocon had to pit for a new nose.
Tyre degradation was high on the bumpy circuit, and Verstappen pitted from P2 on lap 11 already. The Dutchman switched to the hard compound and was utterly flying having rejoined the track. His gap to the race leader Hamilton was 16 seconds, proving, that Verstappen's undercut was geniusly planned tactics by the team. As Hamilton pitted on lap 14, Verstappen had no difficulties to take over the lead. Now the gap between the two world championship candidates was over six seconds.
However, on lap 27 the gap between Verstappen and Hamilton had shrunk into 2.7s. Virtual safety car was deployed, as Alonso and Räikkönen had had a fiery battle a bit earlier, and some debris from the Iceman's front wing had fallen off. Virtual safety car ended quickly, and the race was on. One-stop strategy was a no go, and the race leader Verstappen pitted for the second time on lap 30. The Red Bull ace opted for another set of hard Pirellis, whilst teammate Perez opted for a fresh set of medium tyres, as he pitted a couple of laps later. Hamilton pitted not until on lap 38. Verstappen's undercut guaranteed him the lead, but would Hamilton be able to challenge the hot-headed Dutchman at the end of the race? Would Max run out of tyres on the closing laps?
With ten laps to go, Hamilton had decreased his gap to Verstappen into four seconds. Meanwhile, there was an exciting battle between Ricciardo, Sainz and Bottas for P5. Bottas had made it within DRS distance from the Spaniard and put serious pressure on Carlos, who had small damage in his front wing. But Carlos fought bravely and kept the Finn behind him. Until the very final lap, when the ice cool Finn attacked and moved past, robbing Carlos of the sixth place.
Hamilton had made it within striking distance from storming Verstappen, but the Dutchman's victory wasn't jeopardised. After all, Max didn't have problems to manage his tyres till the end. Max drove to the chequered flag as the race winner, claiming 25 points. Hamilton brought home the fastest lap time, which entitled the Briton for the extra point. Perez completed podium by finishing third, which was a valuable result for Red Bull. Charles drove a strong race, bringing his SF21 to the finish line in P4, followed by McLaren's Ricciardo, Mercedes' Bottas and Sainz in the sister SF21.
Shining Verstappen extended his lead into 12 points in the drivers' championship standings. Red Bull made excellent work in Texas, as Perez, too managed to extract the maximum out of his RB16B. The energy drink team are now only 23 points off the reigning world champion Mercedes. In the battle for both drivers' and constructors' championship, everything is still wide open. The upcoming races will be hair-raisingly exciting!
The boiling hot battle continues in Mexico in a fortnight. Hopefully the Red Team will be able to fight again for a podium finish. Forza Ferrari!
With passion for racing red,
Iina Huhmarniemi
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