Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Lewis Hamilton fell twelve points behind Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship after finishing second to the Dutchman in Sunday’s United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver took the lead at the start heading into turn one, but with Red Bull Racing pulling Verstappen into the pits before him, he lost out to Verstappen when he made his first pit stop.

The same scenario played out in the second round of pit stops, and although Hamilton pitted eight laps after Verstappen to give him fresher tyres in the final laps, he was unable to bridge the gap in time to make an attempt to overtake.

“Firstly, congratulations to Max, he did a brilliant job today,” said Hamilton.  “And also, a big thank you to the amazing crowd we’ve had in Austin all weekend, to perform in front of such packed grandstands and passionate fans has been a real honour.

“I really thought for a second we might be able to win, I gave it absolutely everything out there. It was such a tough race, but unfortunately, we couldn’t convert it. Red Bull just had the upper hand, and we couldn’t match them.

Christian Horner was delighted to see Red Bull Racing claim their first victory in the United States since 2013 on Sunday as Max Verstappen took his eighth victory of the year ahead of title rival Lewis Hamilton at the Circuit of the Americas.

After losing the lead at the start to Hamilton, Verstappen and Red Bull made aggressive strategy calls to get ahead of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver, before holding onto the position in the closing laps despite the Briton having better performance from his tyres.

Horner, the Team Principal at Red Bull, says the team opted to get track position through the pit stops, a decision that ultimately paid dividends as Verstappen held on to win by just 1.333 seconds to extend his advantage in the Drivers’ Championship to twelve points.

“What an incredible victory and double podium for the Team!” said Horner.  “It’s our first US GP win since 2013 and what a way to do it. 

“At the beginning of the race we had really good pace on the mediums and Max was able to put pressure on Lewis, but we know that he is so strong at the end of the race and he went long which bought himself an advantage.

Max Verstappen superbly won the United States Grand Prix on Sunday, but the Dutchman acknowledged the pressure from Lewis Hamilton was there throughout the fifty-six laps as Red Bull Racing took an aggressive pit strategy that saw his rival close the gap in the closing laps.

From pole position, Verstappen lost the lead at turn one to his championship rival, but the Dutchman never let the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver get away at the front, and he pitted before Hamilton to regain the lead when the Briton hit the pits himself.

Verstappen then pitted eight laps before Hamilton in the second round of tyre changes, but despite the Briton having better tyres in the closing laps, he ran out of time to make an overtake on the Dutchman.

The advantage for Verstappen over Hamilton in the Drivers’ Championship is now twelve points as a result of the victory, and he was delighted to be able to take his first win in the United States in front of a huge crowd at the Circuit of the Americas.

“It was an exciting race and it feels incredible to win here in front of all the fans,” said Verstappen.  “The pressure was on for the whole race and not knowing how quickly Lewis would catch up.

Kyle Larson winning a NASCAR Cup Series race is not a new development. In leading 130 of 267 laps in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, he converted his domination of the series into history as he surpassed Jeff Gordon‘s 1998 campaign for the most laps led in a thirty-six-race Cup season with 2,397. In contrast to Gordon’s historic year in which he led 2,032 of 10,229 laps for 19.87 percent in 1998, Larson’s 2,397 of 8.837 totalled up to a whopping 28.58 percent. He also won his third straight race and led the most laps in each for the second time in 2021, the latter of which had not been achieved since Dale Earnhardt in 1987.

Larson started on the pole and hit the ground running immediately, leading every lap until rain and a lightning delay arrived on lap 11. Kyle Busch wrecked on lap 24 for the lone race-related caution of the opening stage, while Brad Keselowski, Matt DiBenedetto, and Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports team-mates Chase Elliott and William Byron briefly led laps either under caution or during green-flag stops. Larson re-assumed the lead on lap 37 and held it to the finish ahead of Byron, Elliott, Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Alex Bowman, Ross Chastain, Kyle Busch, and Tyler Reddick. All four Hendrick drivers finished in the top ten.

Stage #2 ran fully green. Much like the previous segment, Hendrick drivers dominated as Elliott led before Byron wrapped things up with the stage win, with Kurt Busch and Joey Logano breaking up the Hendrick party during stops. Once again, Hendrick cars finished 1–2–3 with Byron leading Elliott and Larson. Busch, Harvick, Reddick, Bowman, Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, and Chastain followed.

Anthony Alfredo crashed on lap 174 for the first of three wrecks in the final stage. Keselowski and Ryan Newman made contact on lap 219 for another yellow, as did Austin Dillon and Ryan Blaney on lap 225 for a wreck that proved especially damaging to the latter’s playoff chances as he sank from second in points to below the cut line in fifth.

At the front, Larson dominated the segment and had to stave off charges from the likes of Reddick, Busch, and Elliott. He cleared the field on the final restart following the Dillon/Blaney wreck and led the rest of the way to win his ninth race of the season and third in a row. The win is Larson’s first at Kansas and the first for Hendrick since Elliott at the 2018 fall event.

Max Verstappen clinched a crucial win at the 2021 United States Grand Prix and extended his lead over Lewis Hamilton to twelve points in the drivers’ championship.

Hamilton had to be content with second position as his attempt to reel in Verstappen in the final laps failed. The Briton scored the extra point for the fastest lap.

Sergio Pérez joined his Red Bull Racing team-mate on the podium for the second race in a row as he finished in a creditable third position.

Charles Leclerc and Daniel Ricciardo finished in fourth and fifth positions to round off the top five positions in hot and tough conditions in front of a full house in Austin.

The race at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Austin took place under hot conditions with air temperatures at 29 degree C and track temperatures at 38 degree C.

Newly crowned triple BTCC champion, Ash Sutton has added the finishing touches to his latest title run by winning the final race of the 2021 season at Brands Hatch.

Sutton always looked ominous and despite Dan Rowbottom threatening at times to hunt him down, he surged away when he claimed the lead with the main battle going on behind him between the Cataclean with Halfords Racing driver and Tom Ingram with the latter doing as he does best – surging through the pack alongside Jake Hill and Josh Cook.

Off the line, Jelley and Chilton led with Sutton into third seeking the leaders. Further down, Ingram and Hill started their charge past Goff into the top 10.

While Sutton went into 2nd as he looked to make his move on Jelley as Rowbottom took the place of Chilton. Turkington’s title hopes went up in smoke during Race Two and he went off and had a moment on the banking and into the pits.

Jelley still led with Sutton still crawling over the back of him while Rowbottom got onto the tail of the duo with the Team BMW driver allowing it to be three for the lead.

Josh Cook has claimed back-to-back BTCC wins at Brands Hatch holding his nerve despite multiple Safety Car periods and maximum success ballast to seal a fifth win of the season – more than any other driver.

Despite that, he was long out of contention for the Drivers’ Championship with Ash Sutton sealing his third crown with a race to spare without the need for the usual frantic showdown in Race Three adding to his victories in 2017 and 2020 with another excellent season from the 27-year-old.

This was due to his margin pre race with a poor showing from Sutton needed and likely a win from Colin Turkington to force it to be decided in Race Three.

Finishing behind Cook was further strong showings from Dan Lloyd and Gordon Shedden who continue their brilliant weekends albeit with the success of Sutton stealing the headlines.

Cook held the lead off the line as Turkington went on the inside of Sutton to take the place but carnage ensued from there as Proctor went off at Druids into the barrier with a tag from Lloyd in the braking zone.

Josh Cook has surged to a fourth win of the season to begin the Brands Hatch BTCC finale as the 2021 season heads towards its conclusion.

It was a one two for BTC Racing and the Steve Dudman ran squad as Senna Proctor who has shown considerable pace since coming into the championship has another podium to show for his efforts.

They finished ahead of Gordon Shedden and Daniel Lloyd with the duo unable to capitalise on a safety car which could have seen them find a way into the fight for top spot. But in terms of the Drivers’ Championship, it is looking increasingly likely that Ash Sutton will defend his title at the end of today.

He finished one place ahead of his main title rival Colin Turkington and now sits 33 points and 45 points respectively ahead of both Turkington and Tom Ingram with only two races to go.

Proctor made a good get away to start the race with Rowbottom sneaking in alongside the duo while Turkington and Sutton in the title fight further back were together alongside Lloyd in 5th-7th.

It was an eventful Saturday for Ty Gibbs. He led the final ten laps of the NASCAR Xfinity Series‘ Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway to win for the fourth time in the series, before taking the green flag in the evening’s ARCA Menards Series event to win the championship.

Daniel Hemric started on the pole and led the first ten laps before Austin Cindric took the spot. He led through the competition caution and a lap 28 wreck involving Jade Buford and Dylan Lupton. A.J. Allmendinger took the stage win ahead of Hemric, Cindric, Gibbs, Justin Allgaier, Myatt Snider, Noah Gragson, Brandon Jones, Justin Haley, and Michael Annett.

The second stage ran completely green. Cindric dominated the segment to win ahead of Gibbs, Hemric, Gragson, Snider, Allmendinger, Harrison Burton, Allgaier, Sam Mayer, and Haley.

Cindric continued to lead to kick off the final stage, only briefly surrendering to Snider after a wreck on lap 96 in which Hemric spun into Gragson. Joe Graf Jr.‘s single-car spin on lap 103 brought out another caution, as did Mason Massey on lap 135. Two more yellow flags waved for debris from Graf’s car and Jones spinning.

At the front, Cindric and Gibbs sparred for the lead. On lap 178, Burton got loose while running three-wide with Mayer and Gragson, causing him to be accidentally turned by the former being coming up into the latter and slamming into the wall.

Max Verstappen clinched pole position at the 2021 United States Grand Prix in the seventeenth race of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

Lewis Hamilton had to be content with second position and will start from the first row. Sergio Pérez initially had provisional pole position and finished in third position. The Red Bull Racing team will have two drivers against one driver at the front for the race on Sunday.

The qualifying session at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Austin took place under hot conditions with air temperatures at 30 degree C and track temperatures at 37 degree C.

Q1: Charles Leclerc Tops The Session

The first drivers on the track were the Haas F1 team drivers and Lance Stroll.

Verstappen went to the top of the time charts with a lap time of 1m34.521s, just 0.054s ahead of team-mate Pérez.

Sergio Pérez went fastest in the third free practice session at the 2021 United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Austin. Carlos Sainz was in second position and Max Verstappen was in third position at the end of the session.

The sixty-minute long second free practice session started under hot conditions with air temperatures at 28 degrees C and track temperatures at 37 degrees C.

The drivers were sat in the garage at the start of the session in a bid to preserve as may sets of new tyres for the race. The hot temperatures and track conditions could lead to a two-stop race and a battle of attrition.

Sebastian Vettel was the first driver on the track on the medium compound tyres and pitted after the installation laps. Fernando Alonso was the next driver on track on the soft compound tyres. The Spaniard had a less than ideal Friday and was on his qualification simulation early in the session.

After ten minutes of the session, Lewis Hamilton and the other drivers were out on the track. Hamilton went to the top of the time charts with a lap time of 1m35.814s.

Pierre Gasly believes Friday’s second free practice session at the Circuit of the Americas was perhaps his toughest FP2 of the season, with the Frenchman struggling to break into the top ten.

The Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda driver was an encouraging sixth fastest in the morning session as the United States Grand Prix weekend got underway, but he struggled to twelfth in the afternoons running, with the AT-02 not feeling as competitive as it has done at other venues in 2021.

As a result, Gasly says the team has a lot of work to do overnight to turn around their fortunes, with the Frenchman aiming for yet another top ten start in what has been a quietly impressive campaign.

“It’s been quite a difficult afternoon for us, the car just didn’t seem to click at all, so we’ve got a lot of work to do ahead of tomorrow,” said Gasly.  

“I think this is the toughest FP2 we’ve had this season, it’s very strange as up until now we’ve been competitive everywhere, but it’s been very difficult here in Austin today.

Fernando Alonso did not have the easiest of days at the Circuit of the Americas on Friday, with a mechanical issue interfering with his morning session and a crash compromising him in the afternoon.

The Alpine F1 Team driver was unable to break into the top ten in either session on Friday, with Alonso ending fifteenth in the morning and thirteenth in the afternoon.

Alonso is hoping for a smoother day on Saturday after losing track time in the morning and then spinning into the barrier – albeit lightly – at the penultimate turn in the afternoon.

“It was not the easiest day out there for us,” said Alonso.  “We had an issue in FP1, but our mechanics fixed it very quickly which was good, and we got some running in.

“It’s quite demanding here with the bumpy surface and track conditions. I clipped the barrier at the end of the session, so it shows how challenging it is. It’s difficult to know where we are in the timesheets, but there is definitely some work for us to do tonight.

Antonio Giovinazzi was in a positive frame of mind after Fridays two practice sessions at the Circuit of the Americas, with the Italian hopeful he can carry the kind of performance he showed into Saturday’s running.

The Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN driver ended inside the top ten in both sessions on Friday, with Giovinazzi ninth in the morning and tenth in the afternoon.

Despite the bumpy nature of the track, Giovinazzi is aiming for a strong weekend in the United States as he continues to fight for his Formula 1 future beyond the end of the current season.

“It was a good day, with a positive FP1 and really good FP2 in terms of qualifying as well as race pace,” said Giovinazzi.  “I’m very happy about it, hopefully tomorrow we can also have a smooth qualifying with a similar level of performance.

“In general terms, it was a good start to our weekend. The bumps in the track are still there and some corners will be very tricky in terms of comfort with the car, but these are the conditions for everyone and we will do our best. 

Andrew Shovlin says the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team made a good start to the United States Grand Prix weekend on Friday by finishing first and second in the opening practice session at the Circuit of the Americas, but the second session was far from the strongest for the team.

Valtteri Bottas topped the morning session just ahead of Lewis Hamilton, but the team ended third and fourth in the afternoon, Hamilton ahead of Bottas, with Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Pérez and McLaren F1 Team’s Lando Norris finding their way ahead.

Shovlin, the Track Engineering Director at Mercedes, says there are question marks to why the team appeared to lose competitiveness in between sessions, as it could be a number of reasons, including a possible failure to adapt to the warm conditions at the Circuit of the Americas.

However, he feels it is useful to find these issues as he knows there is plenty the team can improve on ahead of what is expected to be another tight Qualifying session between Mercedes and Red Bull on Saturday.

“The first session was very good in terms of single lap pace; both cars were getting good grip out of the Soft tyres and the balance was in a good place,” said Shovlin.  “The track is pretty bumpy, which causes issues in a couple of corners, but it’s not so different to previous years and certainly not as bad as we feared.