USGP 2021 - Verstappen’s first win in the West

October 28, 2021 - Welcome to the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin Texas! The 17th race this season, here is everything you need to know about the 2021 United States Grand Prix. Due to coronavirus restrictions in 2020, the US Grand Prix was canceled but the competition returns to COTA this year at the perfect time of the final 6 races of the season.

56 laps of the 5.513-kilometer circuit in Austin, the race took place over the weekend of October 21 to October 24 with F1's biggest ever race audience with a record-breaking 400,000 fans throughout the weekend eagerly watching the action take place from the grandstands. With the rise in popularity of the formula one docu-series on Netflix: Drive to survive, the sport has gained an impactful number of American fans with 264,000 more fans at COTA this year than in 2018.

Heading into the weekend as the battle for the championship between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen continues, the stakes are high as Max holds a narrow 6-point lead over the British driver. Yet this track has been dominated by Mercedes with Hamilton, a five-time winner of the past US grand Prix.

Apart from the enticing race taking place this weekend, big celebrities are known to attend in the texas circuit among the few spotted in the pit lane was actor Ben Stiller, rapper Megan Thee Stallion, tennis champion Serena Willams, and host of the post-race party Shaquille O’Neal who also delivered the winner’s trophy to the podium standing alongside Verstappen and Hamilton.

With Saturday’s weather conditions involving a light drizzle at the end of qualifying, Verstappen took pole, the first of Redbull since 2013 achieved by Sebastian Vettel. He is alongside Hamilton on the front row with Redbull teammate Sergio Perez third. Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas took a five-place grid penalty due to the replacement of his internal combustion engine. Drivers George Russel, Sebastian Vettel, and Fernando Alonso were also set to take engine-related penalties this weekend and are all sent to the back of the grid for taking a full engine replacement.

Tire compounds C2, C3, C4 were used in this race with almost all drivers starting with the C3 or mediums for the race with the exception of Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz and Alphatauri driver Yuki Tsunoda starting on C4’s or softs.

We start the race and on to turn one Hamilton takes the lead–coming out on top after a battle with Verstappen through the first corners. Down the grid also involved a fight with Sainz and the 2 Mclarens mainly with Daniel Ricciardo ultimately winning finishing the race 5th, his teammate Lando Norris finishing behind him in 8th, and Sainz finishing before Norris in 7th. Contact occurred between the 2 Canadians Lance Stroll and Nicholas Lattifi which sent both drivers to the back of the grid.

Hamilton maintained the lead for the first few laps in placed Redbulls tire strategy in an attempt for Verstappen to undercut the British driver. With a total of 56 laps around the Austin track in the race, Verstappen pitted early at lap 11 with Hard compound tires with Hamilton staying out in the lead. Perez pits soon after Verstappen as Redbull forces a pitstop on Hamilton as both drivers will have fresher tires behind him which risks losing 2 track places–Hamilton pits and Verstappen takes the lead.

Rebull's second pit stop comes in at lap 30 as Verstappen along with Perez change to a new set of Hard tires. In an attempt to “force” pit Hamilton once more but the British driver stays out and takes the lead and eventually pits at lap 38. After a tire change, he comes out behind Verstappen once more with the last laps of the race involving a straight race between the Championship rivals, Verstappen with the track position but Hamilton on the fresher tires.

Achieving a 1.3-second lead at the end of the race, Verstappen took the victory, his first in COTA after a long win streak by Hamilton prior to this year and extending his lead in the driver’s championship. The Redbull win ended the long dominance of Mercedes in COTA not only winning P1 but a double podium with Perez taking third.

“He had quite a bit of a tire advantage to the end. And of course, I could see him coming from behind” said Verstappen in his reaction to the race.

“Track position is everything, I guess. And we lost it early, at the beginning. Well, after the first stop. Yeah. I thought that we By being able to fo longer, I thought we were in the better position but they were just too strong. They were being stronger all weekend” explained Hamilton.

As the Mercedes-Redbull rivalry between teams and drivers continues, a battle for 3rd place in the constructor’s championship comes close for Ferrari and McLaren with Ferrari leading with 16 points at the moment. The race witnessed Charles Leclerc in 4th place, Lando Norris in P7 at the start with the former finishing the race at the same position. Daniel RIcciardo of McLaren placed 5th just behind Leclerc. Fellow Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz placed 7th after the race with Lando directly behind at 8th.

The varying elevation of this track leads to an exciting race as Hamilton took the lead from Verstappen on the first turn yet struggled to maintain that lead as Max overtook running on newer tires. Nonetheless, the events of the US Grand Prix were watched by people all around the world with the addition of Twenty One Pilots and Billy Joel performing in the post-race show. The United States Grand Prix was an exciting weekend for both teams and fans.