Formula 1 Champion Max Verstappen showed no signs of a championship hangover to win the United States GP and equal the great Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel’s single-season win records with his 13th win of the calendar.
The Dutchman overcame a late pitstop drama to hold off Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, sealing the Constructor’s Championship for Red Bull as well, their first since 2013.
Hamilton finished second and Leclerc third.
Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez was fourth with Geroge Russell, who took the fastest lap, fifth and Lando Norris sixth for McLaren.
Fernando Alonso finished seventh but was handed a 30 seconds post-race penalty and dropped to 15th after Haas objected to the Spaniard being allowed to race with an unsafe car after his side mirror flapped around and finally flew off.
His demotion meant Vettel finished 7th with Kevin Magnussen, Yuki Tsunoda and Esteban Ocon rounding out the top 10.
The race began frantically with the Pole sitter Carlos Sainz colliding with Rusell on the very first lap and having to retire.
Verstappen then took the lead of the United States GP and comfortably managed the safety cars caused by Valtteri Bottas and Alonso’s collision with Lance Stroll before disaster struck the 25-year-old.
On the 36th lap, he pitted for new mediums but a wheel-gun jam meant his stop lasted 11.1 seconds causing him to drop in the 6th place. But he managed to put the setback behind him picking off Leclerc and Hamilton in time to win again by 5.023 seconds.
Verstappen can now cap off the imperious season by setting the wins record outright at the next race in Mexico.
