The US GP on Sunday turned out to be an interesting and entertaining event. The track saw good duels in the tight corners.
The race also saw a dangerous situation when on lap 22 Alpine Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin Lance Stroll collided at full speed on the finish line.
Mercedes Lewis Hamilton despite the tough challenge, the name of the winner was still the same: Red Bull Max Verstappen. The win was the 13th of the season for the 25-year-old Dutchman Michael Schumacher (2004) and Sebastian Vettel’s (2013) single-season wins record. The second was Hamilton before Ferrari Charles Leclerc.
At the same time, Red Bull secured the manufacturers’ world championship. Alfa Romeo Valtteri Bottas made it to the top ten in qualifying for a long time, but the race itself ended with an exit for the Finnish driver.
Urheilu’s F1 expert Jukka Mildh analyzes the weekend’s hottest topics.
How did the race end?
The Ferrari that started from the pole position Carlos Sainz the race ended short already in the opening lap, when the Spaniard, who had a bad start, got into Mercedes of George Russell to be busy. Verstappen, who started from the second grid, took control of the race, but the safety car, which entered the track twice, changed the settings.
Hamilton, who drove a great weekend, came out on top of the competition on lap 43/56, when Verstappen had to take too long in the pit. However, the two-time world champion came out like a tailwind at the end and overtook both Leclerc and Hamilton.
Mildh says the race turned out to be an entertaining strategy competition.
– The safety car caused a lot of tactical changes. Even though the pit stop failed, Verstappen still had the fastest car in use. He was against Hamilton on real tires (softs).
The pace of Hamilton and Mercedes was good throughout the weekend. The seven-time world champion was at close range throughout the race. Even though Verstappen overtook Hamilton, who was on hard tires, the Mercedes driver was still able to hang on to the lead driver.
– Mercedes has done significant development work after the problems in the early season. Hamilton also got to fight for the first time. The car used to be a weak point, but now that it’s running, I think they’ll take more power out of the engine. This tightens the competition for the rest of the season.
What are we talking about?
Just before Saturday’s qualifying sessions, the sad news was brought to the F1 pit by the co-owner of the founder of the Red Bull company by Dietrich Mateschitz, 78, of death. Mateschitz’s death made Red Bull qualifying and especially the race particularly emotional.
Stable advisor Helmut Marko and team manager Christian Horner were seen as particularly moved after Verstappen’s victory and securing the team championship. Red Bull dedicated the win to Mateschitz.
The Austrian was founding the energy drink company Red Bull in the 1980s. Sports and especially motor sports have become a visible part of the Red Bull brand. The Red Bull logo was seen in F1 on the side of a Sauber car in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In F1, however, Red Bull has become a concept in its own right.
Red Bull bought the Jaguar team and it was involved for the first time in the 2005 season. Since then, Red Bull has won a total of six World Championship titles under the leadership of Vettel and Verstappen. The development from a mediocre team to one of the leading manufacturers in the F1 series is one of the sport’s finest stories.
Mildh says that the tobacco industry used to be a big part of Formula One’s marketing. Mateschitz can be thanked for the fact that there is a team called Red Bull in F1 at all. Without Red Bull, the series would have been very different in the 2000s.
– When they (the tobacco industry) left, everyone thought that there was no longer a similar product in F1 that would replace the big market issues. Red Bull became the king of this region as an energy drink giant, which has done market work in sports and formulas. Mateschitz played a significant role in this.
Mateschitz has also sponsored several drivers. He had his own keys in the game, including Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and for Verstappen, who are all graduates of the Red Bull academy. In addition to the parent team, the second team of the Red Bull brand has been the so-called sister team AlphaTauri, which previously bore the name Toro Rosso.
– I wouldn’t be in Formula 1 without him, Verstappen commented to the F1 series after qualifying.
– He was a background influencer who was listened to a lot. He had the final say on many things and has a very big influence on the careers of many drivers. Vettel is one of them and of course Verstappen too. He helped Christian Horner make the right decisions. He was a good sparring partner for many, says Mildh.
Who surprised?
The surprise of the weekend can be the speed of Aston Martin, which has been the fastest this season. Stroll, who started from a good position, was third at the beginning of the race. Stroll later had to stop, but team mate Vettel drove a full race.
Due to the changed situations due to the safety car, Vettel even led the race for a while. He was well on his way to sixth place, but the team shined in the pit.
However, the four-time world champion did not let this bother him, but made several great passes at the end and took eighth place.
– Vettel was on top of it, so to speak, for a long time. It’s nice to see Aston Martin moving forward. Vettel drove his last race in the USA and waved to the spectators. It would be great to be able to end on a good note.
A flop
Mildh singles out Stroll as the flop in Sunday’s race, who was seen to cause a crash between him and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso before the halfway point of the race.
Stroll, who cut to the left, hit Alonso, who was trying to overtake, whose Alpine car’s nose rose frighteningly into the air. However, the car managed to come down before the wall. Neither driver was injured in the wild situation.
– I see it as an error of judgment that Stroll tried to make a late change of direction when Alonso tried to get past him. That was a big mistake. It could have been really serious.
Stroll received a three grid grid penalty for the situation for next weekend’s race in Mexico.
– Such situations have rarely been seen in F1. At that point, when an F1 car starts flying, we are dealing with really dangerous things. I would consider recklessness and short-sightedness in that situation to be a flop.
What about Bottas?
Mildh also counts Valtteri Bottas’ self-inflicted crash in the flop department. The Finn, who was in the top ten in qualifying, was fighting for the points before his driving mistake. Suomalaskuski admitted that he made a mistake.
– There were bounces at the exit point and the wind direction also changed. An F1 car is really sensitive when you come to a fast corner like that.
However, Alfa Romeo’s speed was promising. Also Zhou Guanyu was on the way to qualifying for the top ten until his fastest lap was wiped out for crossing track limits. Alfa Romeo is sixth in team points.
– From Alfa Romeo’s point of view, it is very good that development parts are still imported. The car worked better on the track. Alfa is currently fighting in the team competition. The competitions at the end of the season give an opportunity, Mildh concludes.
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