After finishing the championship in Qatar, Max is looking for his 50th victory in F1 in Austin
In addition, he can equal his own record of wins per season, the 15 he achieved in 2022
Max Verstappen (Red Bull), who two Saturdays ago was proclaimed, mathematically and for the third consecutive year, Formula 1 world champion, will seek this weekend, at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, home of the Grand Prix of United States, its 50th victory in the premier category. A triumph that would also serve to equal his own historical record of successes in the same year (15 in 2022).
One day before winning the very tough Qatar Grand Prix, it was enough for Verstappen to finish second in Saturday’s sprint to certify, at the age of 26, his third consecutive title. He entered the club of three-time champions, along with the Australian Jack Brabham, the Scot Jackie Stewart, the Austrian Niki Lauda and the Brazilians Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna.
Taking into account that Red Bull had already secured, on September 24 and in Suzuka (Japan), the revalidation of the Constructors’ World Championship, It is to be expected that the Austrian team faces the last five races of the year with the intention that the insatiable ‘Mad Max’ continues to break records and that his teammate, the Mexican Sergio Pérez – who second him in the general standings, at 209 points (433 compared to 224 )-, secure the runner-up position.
If he wins in Austin, the Dutchman would be just one away from the fourth all-time record for victories, held by Prost. In a season in which he could also equal – or even surpass – Vettel’s third: 53 times successful in F1. The ‘Kaiser’ won 91 times and Lewis Hamilton, historical record holder, with 103 wins.
The Circuit of the Americas – a 5,513 meter bumpy track, with 20 curves of all types (slow, medium and high speed); which is scheduled to do 56 laps on Sunday, to complete a route of 308.4 kilometers – will host the first test of a triptych that will be completed the following two weekends with the Mexican Grand Prix, at the capital’s Autódromo de los Rodríguez Brothers; and that of Brazil, in the Interlagos circuit of São Paulo.
As in Qatar, the United States Grand Prix is held in a sprint format, so there will only be one free practice session, this Friday; hours before the qualification that will organize the grid for the Sunday race.
Saturday will, once again, be independent. In the morning the reduced qualification (‘sprint shootout’) will be held. that will decide the starting formation of the sprint race, hours later and 19 laps and just over 104 kilometers that will distribute points among the first eight (eight goes to the winner, seven to the second, six to the third; and so on, until the eighth, which adds one).
The drivers’ and constructors’ World Cups have been decided, ‘Checo’ Pérez defends the runner-up position, after finishing tenth in the long race in Qatar (after abandoning the sprint in an accident) with 30 points ahead of Hamilton. Which, in turn, is eleven ahead of Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin).
The Asturian, in a second youth at 42 years old, is fourth in a championship in which he achieved seven of the 105 podiums he has in F1; and in which he adds 183 points. And he will continue aiming, from now on to the end of the contest – although it may seem difficult – for the long-awaited 33rd victory.
Sainz, pole in Austin in 2022
Alonso, who finished sixth in Qatar in a race that Verstappen won ahead of the two McLarens, is 30 ahead of his compatriot Carlos Sainz, who took pole position in Austin last season. The Madrid driver, the only non-Red Bull victorious this year – in Singapore – did not start in Qatar due to a fuel leak in his Ferrari. Even so, he remains fifth overall, with eight points over his teammate, the Monegasque Charles Leclerc.
In the constructors’ standings – mathematically decided in favor of the very dominant Austrian team – Mercedes has 326 points, 38 more than Ferrari. Aston Martin remains fourth, although somewhat distant, with 230 units: only eleven more than the emerging McLaren.
At COTA, tires from the intermediate compound range will be used. That is, the C2 (hard, recognizable by the white stripe), C3 (medium, yellow stripe) and C4 (soft, red): those chosen for the occasion by Pirelli, the sole supplier of the championship; that he has just renewed the contract that links him to F1 until the end of 2027.
The main novelty on the Texan track is the return of the Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who broke his left hand in Zandvoort (Netherlands) and who for the past five races was replaced in Alpha Tauri by another ocean racer, the New Zealander Liam Lawson. Which he fulfilled, scoring points in Singapore, where he was ninth. Adding two points: one less than the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda has throughout the entire season.
The United States Grand Prix – a country in which the debutant Las Vegas will host the penultimate round of the course, a weekend before it closes on November 26, in Abu Dhabi – reaches its forty-fourth edition and has disputed in seven different venues.
The first of them, in 1959, in Sebring (Florida). And, after the previous eight, which were held in Indianapolis (Indiana), since 2012 it has been held in Austin. Where no one equals Hamilton’s five victories, the only six-time winner in the US, which he also won in 2007. But where the last two years the one who triumphed was a certain Max Verstappen.