Max Verstappen’s victory on Sunday at the United States F1 Grand Prix, bringing the constructors’ title to Red Bull, came as a consolation to the Austrian team bereaved by the death of its founder, Dietrich Mateschitz, and under the blow of a penalty for exceeding the budget ceiling in 2021.
” It was hard. Everything seemed to be going well, but the pit stop was a bit longer than expected,” said Verstappen. “Obviously it’s a very difficult weekend for us, and we dedicate it to Dietrich. The only thing we could do today was to win,” he stressed.
Two weeks after his coronation at Suzuka, in daunting conditions due to the rain, the Dutch double world champion beat the Briton Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), who will wait to clinch his first victory of the season, and the Monegasque Charles Leclerc ( Ferrari).
Teammate of the latter, Carlos Sainz Jr, who started in the lead position, retired after a few hectometres, after having missed his start and hit at the first corner by the Briton George Russell (Mercedes).
Verstappen took the opportunity to equal the record of 13 wins in a season, co-owned by Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel. A remarkable performance, to be put into perspective, however, because, in their time, the two Germans had fewer races on the calendar (18 and 19 against 22).
The fact remains that the domination of “Super Max” is more than ever overwhelming in this 2022 financial year and it has three events left, in Mexico, Brazil and then Abu Dhabi, to establish a new benchmark.
” Attractive “
His victory on the always bumpy Circuit of the Americas, his second in a row, was not easy. Although it has long dominated the debates, a turning point that occurred at the 36e of the 56 laps added suspense to the race, when his tire change took forever (11.1 seconds).
When he left the pits, behind Charles Leclerc, who entered just after him but was quicker to get out, the angry Dutchman launched a “nice” bitter on the radio, addressed to his technicians.
Down in 5e position, the Dutchman did it twice to overtake the Monegasque. And with six laps to go, he passed Hamilton to escape for good, although being exposed to a five-second penalty if he came out of bounds a fourth time.
His success alone gave Red Bull the 5e constructors’ title in its history, the first since 2013 and 17 years after the first, crowning an almost total domination this season, as the team, based in Milton Keynes in England, now have 15 victories in 19 events, Ferrari picking up the remains .
One only had to see the eyes filled with tears of his boss, Christian Horner, to understand that mixed feelings crossed the stable, orphan of its owner, Dietrich Mateschitz, who died on Saturday.
Tribute to Mateschitz
A tribute was also paid, before the race, by the entire paddock to the businessman, who died at 78 years old.
Under these conditions, it is useless to wait from Red Bull for an announcement as to whether it would accept the sanction proposal formulated Thursday by the International Automobile Federation (FIA,) which pinned it for exceeding the budget ceiling. last season.
Some 440,000 fans gathered around the Circuit of the Americas, a record.
Proof that the popularity of F1 in the United States is also verified in the sphere of celebrities of all kinds, singers and musicians Ed Sheeran, Pharrell Williams, the new tennis retiree Serena Williams, actress Eve Hewson, daughter of the singer of U2 Bono, strolled the grid before the start, as did former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal, responsible for sending sound under the moniker of DJ Diesel after the race.
The actor Brad Pitt, he came all weekend to observe the life of the paddock, in view of a film on F1, with Lewis Hamilton at the production, in which he will play and which will be shot on certain Grands Price in 2023.