2022 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix highlights

Introduction

 

Max Verstappen recovered from a slow pit stop in Sunday’s race at Austin to seal his 13th victory of the season at the 2022 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix, securing Red Bull’s first constructors’ title since 2013.

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Mario Isola, Motorsport Director, Pirelli:

With Max Verstappen winning the race and his team clinching another constructors’ championship, we offer our congratulations to Red Bull Racing, obviously, along with our condolences for the sad passing of Dietrich Mateschitz. The race today was an intense one, interrupted by two safety cars that helped to reduce tyre degradation – which we nonetheless observed was lower than expected in these warm conditions. The strategy proved to be all-important once again, with Lewis Hamilton attempting to undercut Verstappen and the race coming down to a breath-taking duel between them. Before, we also saw a great fight between Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. The two drivers on different compounds during the final stint were a real point of interest for the huge American crowd; around 440,000 people were treated to a thrilling battle to the finish. Both drivers pushed to the maximum, but their tyres were certainly up to the fight.

How the race was won:

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took the lead at the first corner, having started on the P Zero Yellow medium tyre – the same choice that was made by 16 of the 20 starters. Verstappen pitted for P Zero White hard tyres from the lead and then emerged back in front shortly after Hamilton made a similar stop. Having survived two safety car restarts with his advantage intact, Verstappen made his second stop for another set of medium tyres 20 laps from the end, dropping behind Hamilton – on the hard tyre for the final stint – after a problem in the pits. Chasing down the Mercedes driver, Verstappen eventually won the race by four seconds after managing his tyres perfectly and sealing the 2022 constructors’ title for Red Bull.

The alternative strategy:

Haas’s Kevin Magnussen was the highest-placed driver on the grid to start on the hard tyres (from P13) and was the only driver to stop just once, finishing in the points after completing a long 38-lap final stint on the medium tyres. Mercedes driver George Russell was the only driver to stop three times and use the P Zero Red soft tyre, which he fitted two laps from the end to claim an extra championship point for the fastest lap.

2022 Formula 1 United States GP Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Country	Team	Time	Points	Overall
1.	1	Max Verstappen	Netherlands	Red Bull Racing Honda	1:42:11.687	25	391
2.	44	Lewis Hamilton	Great Britain	Mercedes-AMG Petronas	+5.023s	18	198
3.	16	Charles Leclerc	Monaco	Scuderia Ferrari	+7.501s	15	264
4.	11	Sergio Perez	Mexico	Red Bull Racing Honda	+8.293s	12	265
5.	63	George Russell	Great Britain	Mercedes-AMG Petronas	+44.815s	12	213
6.	4	Lando Norris	Great Britain	Mclaren Racing	+53.785s	8	109
7.	5	Sebastian Vettel	Germany	Aston Martin F1 Team	+65.354s	6	38
8.	20	Kevin Magnussen	Denmark	Haas F1 Team	+65.834s	4	26
9.	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Japan	Scuderia AlphaTauri	+70.919s	2	13
10.	31	Esteban Ocon	France	Alpine F1 Team	+72.875s	1	79
11.	24	Zhou Guanyu	China	Alfa Romeo F1 Team	+76.164s	0	6
12.	45	Alexander Albon	Thailand	Williams Racing	+80.057s	0	2
13.	10	Pierre Gasly	France	Scuderia AlphaTauri	+81.763s	0	23
14.	47	Mick Schumacher	Germany	Haas F1 Team	+84.490s	0	12
15.	14	Fernando Alonso	Spain	Alpine F1 Team	+85.078s	0	65
16.	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Australia	McLaren Racing	+90.487s	0	29
17.	6	Nicholas Latifi	Canada	Williams Racing	+103.588s	0	2
18.	18	Lance Stroll	Canada	Aston Martin F1 Team	DNF	0	19
19.	77	Valtteri Bottas	Finland	Alfa Romeo F1 Team	DNF	0	46
20.	55	Carlos Sainz	Spain	Scuderia Ferrari	DNF	0	202

2022 Constructor Standings

Pos	Picture	Team	Points
1.		Red Bull Racing	759
1.		Scuderia Ferrari	554
3.		Mercedes-AMG F1 Team	515
4.		Alpine F1 Team	173
5.		McLaren Racing	159
6.		Alfa Romeo Racing	55
7.		Aston Martin F1 Team	55
8.		Haas F1 Team	37
9.		Scuderia AlphaTauri	35
10.		Williams Racing	8

Here are the team-by-team highlights:

Red Bull Racing

 

Max Verstappen delivered a remarkable drive at the Circuit of the Americas to secure the 33rd win of his F1 career and help ensure that Oracle Red Bull Racing won its first constructors’ title since 2013.

Just one day after the sad passing of Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz, Verstappen showed plenty of class and no short amount of fighting spirit as he triumphed in duels with Ferrari’s Charles LeClarec and a resurgent Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes to secure victory.

Verstappen may have already secured his second world title, but he was determined to help his team clinch the constructors’ crown. Having controlled the early part of the race, his final pit stop handed the lead to Hamilton and also dropped him behind Leclerc.

However, Verstappen’s incredible straight-line speed would see him take the lead with six laps remaining, and he held on to secure a 13th win of the season – equalling the record for wins in a season, held by Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.

Sergio Pérez would also deliver a masterful drive as he fought back from ninth on the grid to finish fourth. The Mexican driver has now slipped to third in the driver standings but is just two points behind LeClerc with three races remaining.

Pérez will be hoping to excel in front of a home crowd at next Sunday’s Mexican Grand Prix, while Verstappen will look to make history and become the first driver in F1 history to win 14 races in a single season.

Max Verstappen

It was tough to hear the news ahead of qualifying. The result today doesn’t really matter. What does matter is reflecting on Dietrich and what he did for us as a Team, the whole of Formula One and the wider Red Bull family. Dietrich was always super kind and caring to me. I will forever remember the last visit I had with him a month ago or so. At the time, it was extraordinary, but it’s definitely more special now. He believed in me from a young age and many other younger drivers and gave incredible opportunities to many people. Without him, I would not be sitting here today. So, it’s an incredibly tough day.

Sergio Pérez

This is a sad day for the whole Red Bull family. It makes you realise there are many more important things in life. Dietrich’s influence on sport and how he supported athletes globally made a difference to the world. He gave me an opportunity that no one else ever gave me, and I will always be grateful to him. It was a sorrowful moment when we heard the news because we knew we were about to become champions, and he won’t be here to see us do it. The whole team will be racing for him and his family tomorrow, and I hope we can bring the result he wants from us. We couldn’t find the maximum today with just three sets of tyres, but it was a weekend when we knew we had the penalty, so we have focused on tomorrow and the race. Hopefully, that pays off. It will be tricky to get up there on this track, but we will try our best because it would really mean a lot this weekend.

Christian Horner – Team Principal & CEO

A very emotional moment, a big moment for the team and everyone at Red Bull, and a tribute to Dietrich for everything he has done for the team and the company. God bless him.

Red Bull Racing Honda best pictures:

Scuderia Ferrari

 

Charles Leclerc was in great form today and combined with a perfect strategy and an effective F1-75, he made it to third place on the podium from 12th on the grid in the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas. However, Carlos Sainz was out of luck, hit at the first corner by George Russell while he was fighting with Max Verstappen. The Spaniard managed to keep going and brought the car back to the pits, where he had to retire because of a water leak caused by the collision.

On the attack. Charles was very aggressive right from the start, moving up into the top ten and then seventh, running a strong pace on the Medium tyres, extending his first stint as much as possible. That paid off because when Valtteri Bottas stopped on track, bringing out the Safety Car, Leclerc pitted, thus losing very little time to his rivals. He rejoined in fourth place behind Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez. At the restart, the Monegasque immediately attacked Perez, passing him at his second attempt at turn 12, at the end of the longest straight. He then set off in pursuit of Verstappen and Hamilton, getting ahead of the Dutchman when the Red Bull driver’s pit stop was very long. A thrilling fight between Max and Charles then took place, with a lot of overtaking from both drivers at turn 1. Verstappen eventually got the upper hand, going on to win the race ahead of Hamilton. Thanks to a hard-charging performance, Charles could be happy with his podium finish, his tenth of the season.

Mexico next. The World Championship resumes very soon; next Sunday, it’s time for the second Mexico City Grand Prix.

Carlos Sainz #55

Not much to say today. I got hit by the Mercedes going into turn 1 while battling with Max (Verstappen), I managed to return to the pits, but the car was too badly damaged to continue.

I feel the pace would have been there, and it would have been an interesting race, but I prefer to look ahead and start focusing on Mexico. It’s not easy to catch a break this season, but we’ll keep going at it until the end.

Charles Leclerc #16

It was a fun race, and I really enjoyed the battles with Max (Verstappen) and Checo (Perez) on track today. I had a solid start, and after that, the first few laps were all about practising patience. Things looked quite good, and we even got lucky with the timing of the Safety Car, but unfortunately, we had a little too much tyre degradation for the rest of the race and couldn’t fight for higher positions. It was great to be back in the US and see how much popularity our sport has gained here over the past years.

Mattia Binotto, Team Principal & Managing Director

Obviously, there are mixed emotions after today’s race. Carlos was out after the opening lap through no fault of his own. Charles meanwhile staged a great climb up the order, which took him all the way to the podium.

We know that currently, we are lacking something in the races when compared to Red Bull, who, by winning the title today, honoured their founder in the best way possible.

We will continue to work on giving them a hard time, starting right from next week in Mexico and naturally, we are also working hard on our preparation for the challenges that lie ahead next season.

Scuderia Ferrari best pictures:

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team

 

Lewis took a strong P2 finish this afternoon in Austin, running a Medium/Hard/Hard strategy and leading the race from laps 41 to 49 until the superior pace of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull saw him pass for the lead on Lap 50.

George secured P5 after serving a five-second penalty for a Turn One collision with Carlos Sainz, then carrying front wing damage for much of the race that compromised the balance and downforce of his car.

The team’s performance in the race confirmed the performance step of the final upgrade package of the season, which was introduced this weekend.

The team scored a total of 29 points thanks to George’s fastest lap on the race’s final lap, closing the gap to Ferrari in P2 by 14 points.

Lewis Hamilton

I’m shattered. It felt amazing to be in the lead, but the car was a handful today. We came here with upgrades, and we closed the gap a little bit. It was so close, and I did everything I could to try and stay ahead, but Red Bull was just a little bit too quick. We’ve been working so hard as a Team this year, and there are many positives from this race. As a team, we showed great pit stop and strategy performance. I’m also happy with my performance; it showed that when we have a competitive car, I can bring it home. So we’ll keep pushing, and we’ll try and give it everything we can over the next three races – it’ll come to us at some stage.

George Russell

It was a difficult afternoon for me – miserable how things unfolded at the start as I don’t want to be in a position where I contribute to another driver having to retire. It’s probably the furthest we’ve been away from the midfield and the closest we’ve been to the front for quite a while, so a good step forward this weekend. The team back at the factory are doing a great job continuing to update the car, trying to make it a little bit lighter and understanding what we need to work on for next year, and that’s where most of our focus currently is. Obviously, I want to get back on the podium because the last time feels like an age ago. We had such a good run of form, but the last couple of races didn’t go well in terms of my personal performance. Truly fighting for race wins is still the goal for us. Even if we don’t achieve a race win, we want to be in a position where we have a chance to fight for the win.

Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO:

First, congratulations to Red Bull and to Honda for winning the Constructors’ Championship; given the sad news yesterday about Dietrich Mateschitz, it was fitting that they should secure the title today. From our side, this weekend was a step forward for us, and we showed encouraging performance. No doubt, Red Bull is still ahead of us, but I think we’re getting closer to them and Ferrari – and that’s a positive outcome for us. We brought an upgrade to Austin, and we’ve seen that reflected in terms of car performance. Obviously, an unfortunate start for George, colliding with Carlos, which I would classify as a racing incident. Lewis had a strong race today and was giving it everything. He had a tyre deficit on the Hard because he simply didn’t have any Mediums to choose, and still holding on to a potential win felt feasible at that stage, but once Max was past Charles and he couldn’t fight back, it was just a matter of time. Next up is Mexico, which we’re looking forward to and hopefully can continue to show our performance. On paper, this should be a track that suits our car, but as we’ve learned this season, it can be a bit unpredictable where we actually stand in reality.

Mercedes-AMG F1 Team best pictures:

McLaren Racing

 

Hear from McLaren Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris, Daniel Ricciardo, and Team Principal Andreas Seidl after the 2022 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix.

Lando holds P6 on Lap 1, and Daniel moves up to P13. Lando loses places to Leclerc and Gasly, and Daniel gets passed by Tsunoda and Zhou. Daniel swaps his Medium tyres for Hard tyres on Lap 10 and returns to the track in P18. A safety car is deployed for Bottas, who was beached in the gravel. Lando boxes for Hard tyres and comes out in P14. Stroll and Alonso collide, causing another safety car. Lando picks up damage after driving over debris. The race resumes, and we have a clean restart. Lando is P9, and Daniel P12. Daniel drops to P15, passed by Albon and Alonso. Both cars box for fresh Hard tyres. Lando is P13, and Daniel P17. Lando picks off the cars in front, overtaking Tsunoda, Zhou, Albon, Ocon, and Magnussen. Daniel passes Latifi for P16. Lando passes Alonso for P6 before the chequered flag.

Lando Norris

A good race! Races like these are more enjoyable compared to just being on your own, even though it’s a lot tougher. It was delightful, especially the race with Fernando. I had a tricky start, getting caught behind an incident ahead. We also picked up damage halfway through the race, so I’m delighted to have finished P6 today. We came away with the best result possible and picked up some decent points.

Daniel Ricciardo

I hoped today was going to be better. I thought we had a bit more to show after yesterday, but it was tough today. I could tell early on in the race that it would be tricky. We, unfortunately, just didn’t have the grip. I couldn’t really push the car like I could see the others around me doing, so it was just a struggle.

We’ll keep our chin up and try to find a way. Obviously, days like this are painful to try to deal with and understand as we put a lot of effort in but weren’t rewarded. We’ll keep going.

Andreas Seidl

An eventful race here at the Circuit of the Americas in front of this enormous crowd. The team made some good strategy calls and executed great pit stops coupled with a stellar drive from Lando, including some great overtaking in the race’s final stage, which secured us an encouraging P6 and gave us good points in our Constructors’ Championship battle. We struggled to extract a similar performance on Daniel’s side, which didn’t allow him to progress in the race. We’ll study that in the next few days and work out where we can improve.

Thanks to the team here and back home, plus our colleagues at Mercedes HPP, for all of their work. Our congratulations go to Red Bull Racing on securing the Constructors’ Championship. Five days and we will go again to Mexico.

McLaren Racing best pictures:

Alpine F1 Team

 

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso clawed his way back from a heavy impact to score a well-deserved six points from today’s thrilling 2022 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix in Austin, with team-mate Esteban Ocon going from the Pit Lane to eleventh place.

Fernando made contact with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll on lap 22 while overtaking on the straight, which sent the Spaniard airborne towards the barrier. Despite a heavy hit on the Armco fencing, Fernando managed to nurse his way to the pits before delivering a smart drive to the flag to take seventh place.

Esteban started from the Pit Lane after adding new Power Unit components under parc ferme conditions. On a two-stop, Hard-Hard-Medium strategy, Esteban came close to the points, with a charge on Mediums on his final stint bringing him just two seconds away from taking the final point.

The team remains fourth in the Constructors’ Championship with 149 points.

Fernando Alonso

It was a fantastic race for everybody today. We were lucky with the first Safety Car and were very fast after that on the Medium tyres. At the restart, I tried to overtake Lance [Stroll], he moved towards me, and we touched wheels. I thought I would retire the car after the incident, which was pretty scary. But the car is made of strong stuff, and we were able to carry on after changing the front wing. I’m very proud of our efforts today as a team. It’s incredible that we were able to make the tyres last on the final stint, and despite losing out to Lando [Norris] on the last few laps, we still came away from this race with some good points.

Esteban Ocon

We were very close to finishing in the points after starting from the Pit Lane. We can be pleased to recover from the back to eleventh place with the car showing good pace. I think more was possible – some points would have been fantastic – so we’ll review what we could have done to achieve that next time. We’ll debrief, learn, and move forward to come back stronger as a team. Mexico is next weekend, so that’s a chance for us to go again and score points. The battle for fourth place is close, and every top-ten finish will be valuable for us. Congratulations also to Red Bull Racing for their very much-deserved Constructors’ title.

Otmar Szafnauer, Team Principal

That was quite the race, and we’re more than satisfied to come away with six points, with Fernando in seventh place. The race was a fitting match for an electric atmosphere in Austin today, and I’m happy that we could put on an exciting show for the fans. After Fernando’s unfortunate incident with Lance [Stroll], it looked like we would do well even to reach the chequered flag, so credit to Fernando for driving superbly to score well-deserved points. On Esteban’s side, it was always going to be a challenging race after starting from Pit Lane. He did a good job of closing in towards the top ten and was very close to sneaking tenth place at the end. Overall, we have some areas to assess as this weekend has been far from our best. We have another race next weekend in Mexico, where we’re keen to demonstrate our true potential with both cars in order to consolidate our Championship position further. Congratulations to Red Bull Racing on winning the Constructors’ Championship. They deserve it after a very dominant year, and it’s a fitting tribute.

Alpine F1 Team best pictures:

Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN

 

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN went close to the points in a chaotic 2022 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix, with a top-ten finish only slipping out of reach in the race’s closing stages.

Zhou Guanyu, starting from P18 after a power unit penalty, made a good recovery with a brave race and an aggressive strategy; he climbed as high as tenth before a late surge by cars on fresher tyres saw him finish in 13^th place. Team-mate, Valtteri Bottas, survived early contact with Sergio Perez and ran into the points when his race ended with a spin.

Valtteri Bottas (car number 77)

We were looking solid for points, so it was disappointing to finish my race early. At the start, I was going into Turn Nine on the opening lap and saw Perez diving in at the very end: it was very close, and I had to go wide, losing momentum and a couple of places, but luckily we just touched. I passed Albon and settled into a rhythm, but when I was trying to close the gap to Gasly to get into DRS range, I made a mistake in Turn 19 and lost the rear end. I later found out that, at the same time, there was quite a big gust of wind, so a combination of that and pushing too hard put an end to my race. It was regrettable, as our pace was promising, and a point finish could’ve been possible today. I’m looking forward to turning the tide next week in Mexico and bringing home some points.

Zhou Guanyu (car number 24)

We knew today was always going to be difficult, starting from the back: we tried to make something happen, but, towards the end, holding off drivers who were mounting newer tyres compared to ours became almost impossible. We tried to stay out, hoping for something to happen that would favour us, but eventually, it didn’t quite work out. Overall, it’s been quite a tricky day for the team, but at least we go again next week in Mexico: as a positive, we showed good performances on the track. For sure, the upgrades we brought here helped a lot, we’ve been so much stronger, especially in a one-lap pace, and we saw both cars had the pace to get into Q3.

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal

It’s been quite a difficult day for the team, and it feels like a big opportunity to score points missed. The race held a lot of promise, as we were starting in a good position with Valtteri, and both drivers seemed really at ease with the car. We suffered early on, as the contact between Valtteri and Perez meant we dropped places and got caught into a battle we wouldn’t have been in, and when Valtteri retired, we knew we’d have a massive job ahead of us to bring home some points. Zhou did really well, starting from 18: he kept out of trouble on a day that caught out many, and the race plan helped him make up ground. In the end, however, that was not enough to bring home the points he would have deserved. It feels like an opportunity that got away from us, but the day’s silver lining is that we’re still in sixth place in the championship. We know we’ll need to fight tooth and nail in the final races to secure this position, but we can rely on our updated package to hopefully be able to score the points we need for this important objective.

Alfa Romeo F1 Team best pictures:

Haas F1 Team

 

Haas F1 Team finished the 2022 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix with Kevin Magnussen scoring two points on home soil in a valiant ninth place while Mick Schumacher took the checkered flag at the Circuit of the Americas in 15th.

Both drivers started on Pirelli P Zero White hard tires, Magnussen 13th and Schumacher 16th, respectively, though both had to bide their time on a frantic opening lap.

Schumacher and Magnussen came into the pits on lap 18, taking on Yellow medium tires under a Safety Car period caused when Valtteri Bottas spun at turn 19.

Magnussen then successfully climbed into the top 10 as he stayed out on a one-stop strategy, preserving his mediums through to the checkered flag – the Dane courageously battling Sebastian Vettel for eighth on the final lap only to lose out to the four-time World Champion exiting the final turn and the charge to the line.

Schumacher came in for a second stop on lap 34, taking on hard tires, but the German had picked up damage dicing his way through the aftermath and debris of the earlier Stroll-Alonso crash. His prospects were also then adversely affected by being forced wide by Nicholas Latifi, for which the Williams driver was penalized. Schumacher brought his ailing VF-22 home 15th at the flag.

Up front, Max Verstappen claimed victory for Red Bull Racing, ahead of Mercedes AMG driver Lewis Hamilton and Scuderia Ferrari racer Charles Leclerc.

Haas F1 Team holds eighth place in the Constructors’ Championship with 36 points.

Kevin Magnussen, Driver No. 20

I’m super happy. For us as a team, it’s essential to get these points at our home race in the US – and it’s massive on the weekend that we announce a great title sponsor with MoneyGram – it couldn’t come at a better time. Of course, I’m gutted to lose a position to Sebastian. I have to say it was some driving from him. That’s when you realize why he’s a four-time World Champion. The strategy that we pulled off was purely by guidance from the team. As such a small team to put on a fight like this, it’s great.

Mick Schumacher, Driver No. 47

I think we were on for good points today for sure, but it seems like we picked up a big piece which damaged the car quite a lot and then we couldn’t extract the maximum out of it anymore because of that damage. We got it in the second stint, and the car didn’t feel the same anymore, and I couldn’t keep the pace of before which was very promising. It’s a shame as it feels like bad luck follows us.

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal, Haas F1 Team

After two difficult days, a good result. The whole team did a fantastic job. You cannot ask for more as the car was fast and Kevin was sure he could get to the end with his tires. I wouldn’t say we took a gamble or a chance, but we had a backup strategy to go onto the soft tires, and we brought home some points. I’m not really happy about what happened out there with the other cars that are losing bits and pieces and don’t get called in like we normally do, so that we will follow up on that one. Mick had an excellent pace on his first stint, doing a fantastic job and then when the accident happened, he must’ve picked up some debris and lost some downforce. We haven’t seen the car yet, but I guess the diffuser has got some damage, and he just couldn’t do the same times with the new set of tires. Having MoneyGram as our sponsor for the first event, our home race, we are delighted to give them that result – it’s a team effort.

Haas F1 Team best pictures:

Scuderia AlphaTauri

 

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda secured another points finish as he finished in 10th, while teammate Pierre Gasly had to settle for 14th place.

Pierre Gasly

I was happy with the car in the race, the pace was strong from the start, and I had a lot of fun driving out there today. It is a shame we had the penalties, but for sure, I wasn’t trying to be smart or gain any advantage. There are referees that decide, It is unfortunate, but there are still plenty of positives to take from today. I was involved in many awesome battles and overtakes, showing the car could be competitive, with possible points. I look forward to the next few races to see what we can do.

Yuki Tsunoda

It was a tough but fun race today, and I’m happy to be back in the Top 10 again after a long gap. I’m glad that I could finish in the points this weekend and honour the memory of Mr Mateschitz. The pace on the Mediums was perfect, which we didn’t quite expect, and I was able to get some good overtakes in. We struggled a bit more on the Hards, which was a shame, so we need to go away and understand why this compound doesn’t work that well for us. Overall though, I’m pleased to be scoring points again and hope we can carry this on until the end of the season.

Jody Egginton (Technical Director)

Firstly, as a team, we’d like to say a big congratulations to Oracle Red Bull Racing for securing the Constructors’ Championship this weekend. Now looking at our race, we need to get into the details later, but we have missed an opportunity for more points today. Pierre was leading the midfield pack of cars, fighting for seventh until his second stop, but dropped behind this pack due to the penalty we picked up under the first Safety Car. This issue, and a subsequent further penalty, effectively ended his chance of points. With Yuki, he did well to also get into this pack from 19th on the grid, but he struggled a bit on the Hards, meaning it took too long to get past a couple of cars ahead. Therefore, he ran out of time to get onto the back of Magnussen, which put him under some pressure. However, we’ve got three races to go, and there’s still a lot to play for!

Scuderia AlphaTauri Team best pictures:

Aston Martin Formula One Team

 

After post-race penalties were applied, Sebastian brought home six points at Circuit of the Americas with a seventh-place result, while Lance had a strong start from fifth but was unable to finish the race. However, the team showed good pace across the weekend as Formula One approaches its final few races of the 2022 season.

Lance Stroll

We had a good start to the race; everything was feeling great with the car, and we were sitting in third for a little while. Unfortunately, we had contact with Fernando [Alonso], which was a shame. There was a big difference in speed, and I was defending.

I gave him plenty of room on the left of the track so it was not as if I squeezed him against the wall. He could have moved earlier or moved more to the left. Thankfully, it was not a big impact with the wall, I did not hit anything hard, and I am OK after the contact.

Sebastian Vettel

In the end, it was a good recovery drive to score six points today [with the post-race penalties applied]. I really enjoyed the last few laps, especially the final-lap fight with Kevin [Magnussen].

When I crossed the finish line, the adrenaline was really pumping. Without the slow stop, I think we had sixth place easily in the bag, so we should focus on the positives of our competitive car pace today.

We were strong all race; the start was great, and I was up in fifth place early on. It was also nice to lead the race for a while because it has been a while since I was in that position.

Mike Krack, Team Principal

Having been third and fifth on lap one, clearly, we are disappointed to have come away with only a DNF and seventh place. But that is racing.

After the Safety Car that had been triggered by [Valtteri] Bottas’s ‘off’, we were running sixth and seventh, looking set for another good points haul, but then Lance and Fernando made contact, ending Lance’s race, and Sebastian was delayed by a problem with his second pitstop, dropping him to 13th.

Thereafter he launched a great recovery drive that resulted in a fine eighth place, [which became seventh after Alonso’s penalty,] the highlight of which was a tremendous dice with Magnussen on the final lap, which happily went Sebastian’s way.

Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team best pictures:

Williams Racing

 

Alex Albon fell narrowly short of a points finish at the 2022 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix following a long stint on hard tyres, ultimately passing the chequered flag in P12 whilst Nicholas Latifi crossed the line in P17.

Alex Albon

We really fought today and gave it everything we had. I had a tricky start with a flat spot into Turn 1, nursing the fronts for the first 10 laps with huge vibrations, so we had to pit early, but then we were offset. It was a shame, but I don’t think we had the pace for points today, but we were very close. It was tricky out there, and we tried our best and were aggressive on strategy, but with the tyre degradation, I was hoping to try to repeat something like in Spa and hold them off, but the tyres took another step of degradation, and once this happened, I tried to fight but just couldn’t hold them off anymore. Points might have been too much to ask for, but we gave ourselves a good opportunity.

Nicholas Latifi

The car was better than I was expecting it to be today, that’s not to say it was still tricky to drive. I made a mistake at the beginning of the race with the spin, getting caught out with the balance in the high-speed corners. I didn’t manage to do any high-fuel race running beforehand, so I was exploring as I was going along. We got back into the race with the Safety Car, but in the end, I was fighting cars that were much quicker behind me to hold them off, which was detrimental to my race but beneficial to help the team. The penalty I received was justified, and I have no issues with it. It wasn’t intentional as I tried to brake as late as I could, but I committed to my braking point, locked up and couldn’t get the car to turn.

Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance:

It was a tough race today, with both drivers having to pit earlier than planned due to flat-spotting their tyres. Alex locked-up badly at Turn 1 of the first lap and struggled throughout the first stint, but to make the strategy work, we needed to get some laps done before we could pit. He was able to recover later in the race with a well-managed stint on the Prime. As we have seen many times before, he is an excellent racer and can defend brilliantly when required. He was able to hold on to a points-scoring position until just a few laps from the end despite suffering some driveability issues in the final stint. It was a frustrating end to the race, but given where we were after the early first stop, it was a good recovery from Alex and his team. Nicholas had a more frustrating race and struggled more with his car. However, he was able to race the faster cars that pitted behind him, holding them up from catching Alex. We thought that the FW44 would struggle in these conditions and at this circuit, and it has certainly been a tricky few days. It was a shame to get this close to the points, but the result nonetheless represents a good weekend from the team in Austin and back in Grove.

We now turn our attention to Mexico, where we will look to build on what we did here in Austin.

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