Verstappen holds off Hamilton to double his F1 lead

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• Verstappen wins in Austin and extends the lead to 12 points
• Hamilton is just under second and drives the fastest lap
• Perez third for Red Bull
• Five races remaining, Mexico next

October 24 (Reuters) – Red Bulls Max Verstappen doubled his Formula 1 World Championship lead to 12 points after holding up title rival Lewis Hamilton for victory at the US Grand Prix in Austin on Sunday.

Seven-time Mercedes world champion Hamilton shortened the Dutch driver’s lead with a late attack on fresher tires but finished 1.333 seconds behind with a bonus point for the fastest lap on the Circuit of the Americas.

Red Bull Mexican Sergio Perez was a distant third who struggled with dehydration after a water bottle failure in the Texas heat.

“I think I have aged 25 years in this race,” said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, relieved. “I really didn’t think we’d hold out.”

The win was the eighth of the season for Verstappen and the first in America, but one he had to sweat for in front of a sold-out 140,000 crowd.

The 24-year-old started from pole position, finished a Mercedes qualifying dominance run in Texas, lost the lead in the first corner and then regained it with an aggressive pit stop strategy.

Hamilton was the fastest when the lights went out, squeezing inside turn one, forcing Verstappen to run far and there were many overtaking maneuvers.

The couple withdrew from the field, with Perez unable to stay with them.

Verstappen soon started rubbing over the radio that he had more pace and pitted first on lap 11 when Red Bull was aiming for the “undercut” – a strategic attempt to close the gap and take the lead again when Hamilton pitted three laps later.

“Of course we lost at the start so we had to try to do something different. The tire wear is pretty high on this track, we got aggressive and I wasn’t sure it would work, but the final laps were fun. Said Verstappen.

“A little sideways through the high-speed corners, but super happy to hold out.”

Verstappen made his second stop on lap 30 to return the lead to Hamilton.

The Mercedes driver was told that it was now “target plus six” and stayed out for another seven laps before pitting again and with 18 laps to go 8.58 seconds behind Verstappen, but on fresher tires.

“It’s all about the last three laps,” Hamilton was told over the radio, but while closing the gap to under a second, he couldn’t get close enough to attempt a move.

“It was such a tough race. I got off to a good start, gave everything, but at the end of the day they just had the upper hand this weekend and we couldn’t have asked for more,” said the Briton.

NO WATER

Perez said his race was one he hoped would never do it again.

“I fought a lot. I ran out of water since the first lap, I couldn’t drink at all. I think it got pretty difficult from the middle of the second stint and I lost my strength. I think it was my toughest moment physically. ” he said.

Charles Leclerc was fourth for Ferrari, the Australian Daniel Ricciardo fifth for McLaren and Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas sixth.

With the points, Mercedes shortened the lead in the constructors’ championship to 23 of 36 points.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz finished seventh, followed by McLaren’s Lando Norris, AlphaTauris Yuki Tsunoda and Aston Martins Sebastian Vettel.

McLaren’s lead over Ferrari in the battle for third place has been reduced to 3.5 points.

Pierre Gasly from AlphaTauri and Esteban Ocon from Alpine both retired with mechanical problems, while Alpine Fernando Alonso stopped five laps from the pit with a rear wing problem.

The next race is in Mexico City on November 7th, Perez’s home race and a track that is expected to favor Red Bull.

Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Christian Radnedge and Pritha Sarkar

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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