After a lifeless first sprint race at Austin, the 2023 United States Grand Prix gave the weekend a cracking ending even though the result of both was the same: a Max Verstappen victory. His GP triumph at the Circuit of The Americas was his 50th in Formula 1. But had things worked out only slightly differently, Verstappen’s completion of the half-century could well have extended to the upcoming Mexican GP. Indeed, it could well have been Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton standing atop an F1 podium for the first time since the Saudi Arabian GP in December 2021.
Things went wrong for Hamilton right at the beginning, when frontrow starters Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris had very different getaways. Norris was quickly alongside the Ferrari and at Turn 1 the McLaren was already ahead through the apex, before shooting clear in the lead. Behind, Hamilton went from unsuccessfully fending off Carlos Sainz’s run behind Norris to the inside of the uphill hairpin, to going wide and edging Verstappen to the track limit on the exit.
At the end of lap one of 56, Norris led Leclerc by 1.8 seconds, with Sainz 0.8s further back and Hamilton and Verstappen trailing, the world champion having powered past George Russell off the line. Norris felt “my start was very good” and that “to get into the lead, that was a podium maker”. He added: “I think without that it would have made my race a lot tougher.”
That was because now the McLaren driver’s task was clear: to push on as quickly as possible, come what may, with Verstappen recovering up the order after his Friday qualifying track limits slip and subsequent sixth-place starting spot.
