F1 Grand Prix race results: Verstappen wins US GP in Austin

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	Gap	Interval
1	Max Verstappen		56	1:34'36.552
2	Lewis Hamilton		56	1:34'37.885	1.333	1.333
3	Sergio Perez		56	1:35'18.775	42.223	40.890
4	Charles Leclerc		56	1:35'28.798	52.246	10.023
5	Daniel Ricciardo		56	1:35'53.406	1'16.854	24.608
6	Valtteri Bottas		56	1:35'56.680	1'20.128	3.274
7	Carlos Sainz Jr.		56	1:36'00.097	1'23.545	3.417
8	Lando Norris		56	1:36'00.947	1'24.395	0.850
9	Yuki Tsunoda		55	1 lap
10	Sebastian Vettel		55	1 lap
11	Antonio Giovinazzi		55	1 lap
12	Lance Stroll		55	1 lap
13	Kimi Raikkonen		55	1 lap
14	George Russell		55	1 lap
15	Nicholas Latifi		55	1 lap
16	Mick Schumacher		54	2 laps
17	Nikita Mazepin		54	2 laps
	Fernando Alonso		49
	Esteban Ocon		40
	Pierre Gasly		14
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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 (Ferrari) and Lando Norris (McLaren) fought hard over fifth. Eighth-placed Yuki Tsunoda held Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) at bay, and his AlphaTauri teammate 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	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	41	1'38.485			201.521
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	52	1'39.096	0.611	0.611	200.278
3	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	41	1'39.303	0.818	0.207	199.861
4	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	32	1'39.566	1.081	0.263	199.333
5	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	46	1'40.067	1.582	0.501	198.335
6	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	41	1'40.147	1.662	0.080	198.176
7	Lando Norris	McLaren	41	1'40.228	1.743	0.081	198.016
8	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	43	1'40.345	1.860	0.117	197.785
9	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	40	1'40.377	1.892	0.032	197.722
10	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	40	1'40.481	1.996	0.104	197.517
11	George Russell	Williams	36	1'41.120	2.635	0.639	196.269
12	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	44	1'41.145	2.660	0.025	196.221
13	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	47	1'41.151	2.666	0.006	196.209
14	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	36	1'41.189	2.704	0.038	196.135
15	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	43	1'41.340	2.855	0.151	195.843
16	Mick Schumacher	Haas	36	1'41.395	2.910	0.055	195.737
17	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	46	1'41.818	3.333	0.423	194.924
18	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	12	1'42.015	3.530	0.197	194.547
19	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	28	1'42.194	3.709	0.179	194.207
20	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	42	1'42.886	4.401	0.692	192.900
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2021 Formula 1 US Grand Prix tyre history

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