Max Verstappen earns hard-fought 50th career F1 victory at the US Grand Prix; Lewis Hamilton DQ from 2nd
Max Verstappen sweat. Even if it was just a little bit.
Verstappen had to work through the field after starting sixth instead of from pole position, then held off the charging Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton over the final laps in the Texas heat to win the United States Grand Prix on Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas.
Hamilton's best finish in five months was later wiped out when he and sixth-place finisher Charles Leclerc of Ferrari were disqualified more than three hours after the race for rules violations found with the skid blocks under their cars.
Verstappen's record-tying 15th win of the season also made the Dutch driver just the fifth Formula One driver in history to reach 50 in a career. Hamilton has the most with 103.
Verstappen has four races left this season to leap over Alain Post (51) and Sebastian Vettel (53) for third. Michael Schumacher has 91.
«It's a great number,» Verstappen said of 50.
«Let's try to win more.»
The three-time F1 champion had to work much harder than usual in a season of almost complete domination. But the power of his Red Bull and the right pit stop strategy calls by his team navigated Verstappen to the finish line 2.2 seconds ahead of Hamilton.
Hamilton's Mercedes had been eating up chunks of time while chasing Verstappen over the final laps.
«I think the whole race I was struggling with the brakes. That made the race a bit tougher. It was very close at the end,» Verstappen said.
After splitting the first four races with teammate Sergio Perez, Verstappen has won 13 of the last 14 in a run that would have Red Bull on top of the team standings by himself. Red Bull has already won the constructor's championship.
Verstappen also earned his third consecutive win in Austin.
