They are last laps of glory for Max Verstappen who crosses the finish line first when the checkered flag is waved and takes home the victory in the Austin GP raceWhich means that global hopes are still wide open… Behind him Norris and Leclerc They finished on the podium after battling for much of the GP. But let's take a detailed look at all the action from this race in the rest of the article.
The Austin GP race begins and Charles manages to gain a position
The traffic lights go out and this marks thestart of the Austin GP race with an excellent start from LeclercIn fact, he mounted the soft tyres to be immediately aggressive and so he managed to immediately move into second place, but is forced to fall behind the poleman, Verstappen. Piastri also got off to a good start, moving up to 5° position while bad for Russell who loses 2. The other overtakings to be highlighted at the start are those of Antonelli and Sainz on Bearman and the fact that Tsunoda managed to advance into the points zone. Finally there was only a minimum contact between Albon and Bortoleto at turn 12.
In the following laps it is Max continues to dictate the pace while Leclerc behind progressively loses contact with the leader. In fact, the Monegasque is struggling a little more to keep up the pace, as it has a softer compound than all the others around it. The first twist, however, comes on lap 7 when Sainz hits the rear Antonelli. Result: the race for the Madrid native ends here and he will be investigated at the end of the latter, Antonelli climbs to last position and in the meantime the actions on the track are blocked by the virtual safety car.
Charles's tyres are in trouble: he protects himself well but then Lando overtakes him
At the restart of the Austin GP race, the gaps are practically the same and the only one trying to implement a different strategy is Albon. In fact, the Williams driver stops in the pits to put on the yellow tyre. Meanwhile, a A message for Lando from the McLaren pit wall: “We're starting to see some graining.”, we are on plan B. Also le ghard women don't seem to be that good performance-wise.” Will this really be the case? Only after the pit stops will we really know.
Meanwhile, however, the one who is really suffering is Charles. In this regard it's a brawl between Norris and LeclercWith the Monegasque protecting himself in an extraordinary way, especially masterfully playing the snake. But this is not enough and in fact he is overtaken on lap 22 and then he is forced to make the pit stop in which he switches to mediumWill he be able to get to the end? But above all, how? In the meantime, all this favors the race of Max who is building his gap from those behind that is now more than 10 seconds.
Pit stops begin in the Austin GP race
What is the situation at the halfway point of the Austin GP? the undisputed leader is always Max but Lando is gaining a few tenthsPiastri's performance, however, was anonymous, lapping one second slower than his teammate. Meanwhile, Charles is keeping a great pace and so is Norris he can't be so calm because is at risk of suffering an undercut. And in fact that's what happens., although we must take into account that he will then have much fresher tyres. It's also worth noting that all those stopping are using soft tyres: a sign that degradation is very low.
Al Lap 35 there is action between Bearman and Tsunoda. In fact the English driver tries to overtake on the Japanese who however moves under braking and causes Bearman to spin, who however managed to resume the race without losing any further positions.
Leclerc and Norris are once again heating up the action on the track
Lando finds himself in the DRS zone for the second time in the Austin GP race with the number 16 Ferrari But it's worth remembering that he's already taken the black and white flag. What does that mean? He can no longer do track limits because otherwise he gets a penalty. Furthermore, on top of that, he has to be very careful because he can't afford to make contact, having more to lose in terms of the championship, and he risks overheating his tires more because he's on soft tires. In fact, theDriver number 4 is forced to pull away to let his tyres breathe.
Ma he's not the only one struggling with this compaund, in fact, the others are also complaining: including Verstappen. Could Charles even get close to the leader? Difficult, in fact, probably impossible given that Max has the margin to manage it. In fact, with 7 laps to go Norris is once again putting pressure on the Monegasque of the Prancing HorseA painful ending is expected for Charles… In this regard, after a first attempt that fails Lando manages to get past him and then flies awayCharles's race was one of heart, but it wasn't enough to consolidate his second place.
In the rear, however, Alonso is fighting tooth and nail to hold onto the last place in the top 10 on Lawson and Stroll.
Max triumphs in the Austin GP race and dreams of the world championship
E For the 4th time in his career, Verstappen wins at COTA and thus finds himself within 40 points from the championship leader. Behind him is Norris, who despite the excellent driving paid for a less than perfect set up due to the fact that yesterday the McLarens did not make the sprint. Closing the top 3 is Leclerc which brings the Reds back to the podium in the Austin GP race, where they had triumphed last year. Hamilton is fourth who, on the other hand, hasn't scored even one podium in Ferrari yet and the fifth is an anonymous Piastri who now sees his teammate just 14 points behind. Mercedes is also anonymous which, after the excellent performance in Singapore, finishes only 6th with Russell and 13th with Antonelli (whose performance was ruined by the accident with Sainz).
Asking for the top 10 are respectively Tsunoda, who makes his best performance in Red Bull, Hulkenberg, Bearman and Alonso.
