Verstappen victorious over Hamilton in tense Texas showdown; Perez P3 for surging Red Bull

Sunday’s United States Grand Prix proved an exceptionally tense showdown between this year’s top two championship contenders, Red Bull’s sublime Max Verstappen and the seven-time and current World Champ. Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton. Running a two man race of their own far ahead of the rest of the field, Verstappen prevailed to take the win at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas in a welcome return to the USA after a year’s absence due to the COVID pandemic. With the grandstands and grounds of this beautiful, purpose built circuit completely packed with ecstatic fans, Verstappen was able to withstand Hamilton’s best efforts in the waning moments of this 56-lap contest, keeping enough life in his older Pirelli tires to hold off the hard charging Englishman. The Dutch phenom not only claimed victory in the Texas heat but also increased his lead in the Drivers’ Championship to twelve points with just five rounds remaining in the 2021 season. If the supremely talented Verstappen should go on to win his first F1 title, his masterfully poised and consistent effort in America could well be looked back on as the crucial turning point.

With Verstappen starting from pole and Hamilton lining up in P2 on the grid, and both on the Medium Pirelli tires they set their fastest lap in Q2 on as per the rules, Hamilton made a lovely and forceful overtaking maneuver on the opening Lap to take the lead. But he could not pull away from Verstappen in the ensuing laps and It quickly became evident that the majority of teams would be running a two-stop strategy and going to th Continue reading →