Briton Lewis Hamilton came close to overtaking the three-time world champion in his Mercedes at the end of the race, but he was forced to settle for second place. Lando Norris finished third in his McLaren. Sergio Perez, Verstappen’s Mexican teammate, finished fifth.
Prost and Vettel on the horizon
In the all-time world rankings, Verstappen is close to Frenchman Alain Prost, who won 51 times during his career in the first series of races and is ranked fourth. Hamilton leads the standings with 103 victories, ahead of Germans Michael Schumacher (91) and Sebastian Vettel (53).
For Verstappen, it was his 15th win of the season, equaling his record. The Formula 1 season still has four races after this weekend.
This was the third year in a row that Verstappen had won the United States Grand Prix in Austin. A day earlier he was also the best in the sprint race. This reinforced Limberger’s idea that he could take the win despite his sixth place start.
At the start, Verstappen moved up one position and then also passed Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz (lap 5) and Charles Leclerc (lap 11) very quickly. The Red Bull driver took the lead exactly halfway through the race. After a somewhat less good second stop, lasting 3.3 seconds, Verstappen stayed just ahead of Norris on his return to the track and retained the lead.
Perez and Hamilton
The gap over Hamilton, who has now moved to second place, closed very quickly in the last three laps. However, Verstappen has maintained his position and now has 466 World Cup points. Perez is in second place with 238 points, followed by Hamilton now with 219 points. No. 4 Fernando Alonso did not make it to the finish in Austin and was therefore left at 183 points.
Formula 1 continues next weekend with the Mexican Grand Prix.
