American GP F1 Results: Verstappen Withstands Hamilton's Attack To Double Advantage

Max Verstappen (Twitter @Max33Verstappen)

JAKARTA - Max Verstappen won the United States Grand Prix and doubled his lead as Formula 1 leaders to 12 points after holding off his closest rival Lewis Hamilton by more than a second at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) on Sunday.

Hamilton, a seven-time world champion from the Mercedes team, tried to attack late in the race with fresher tires but had to settle for finishing 1.333 seconds as runner-up behind the Red Bull driver, plus an extra point for scoring the fastest lap.

P1 🔥 We did it 🤘 Great job guys, @redbullracing and @HondaRacingF1, really really good 💪 And you fans, thanks for all the support, just amazing 🙌 #USGP 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/B6lBH2fG4y

— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) October 24, 2021

Sergio Perez completed the Red Bull celebrations in third place despite the Mexican driver being thirsty throughout the race due to a broken drink bottle in his car.

Launching Antara, the result was Verstappen's eighth win this season. The Dutchman started from pole but lost his position at the first corner and then adopted an aggressive strategy to get it back.

Hamilton was speeding through the inside into the first corner when Verstappen tried to close the way but then he went wide. The two of them got into a crossroads after that.

The two leading riders separated from the main group, with Perez keeping his distance behind them.

Verstappen was the first to pit on lap 11, when Red Bull opted for the undercut option, a strategy to cut the gap and return to the front when Hamilton pitted three laps later.

"Obviously we lost at the start so we have to try and do something else," Verstappen said.

"Tire wear is quite high at this track, we were aggressive and I'm not sure if it worked but the last few laps were nice."

"A little bit of a loss of control in the high-speed corners but very happy to survive."

Verstappen had a second pitstop on lap 30 to give Hamilton the lead again.

The Mercedes driver was instructed to "target plus six" and only entered the pits seven laps later and returned to the track 8.58 seconds behind Verstappen with 18 laps remaining but on younger tires.

"It's all about the last three laps," Hamilton said over the radio. He was able to cut the distance by a second but couldn't get close enough to make overtaking maneuvers.

"It was a very tough race. I started well, gave everything but in the end, they were stronger this weekend and we have to be satisfied with this result."

Charles Leclerc finished fourth for Ferrari, while Daniel Ricciardo took McLaren to P5 followed by Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas in P6.

That's 2️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ podiums for @redbullracing 🤯👏

And, @Max33Verstappen's very first win in America! 🏆#USGP 🇺🇸 #F1 pic.twitter.com/rC2YIrFZkr

— Formula 1 (@F1) October 24, 2021

Carlos Sainz brought his second Ferrari to finish P7, followed by McLaren's Lando Norris, Yuki Tsunoda of the AlphaTauri team and Sebastian Vettel of the Aston Martin team who completed the top ten rankings.

Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon ended the race early due to mechanical problems in their AlphaTauri and Alpine cars at the sweltering Texas Circuit that day.

Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso took the second Alpine car to the garage after experiencing problems with the rear wing five laps to the end.

The next race will be held in Mexico on November 7th.