© Vladmir Rys
Race Changing Moments - United States Grand Prix 2023It was another history-making weekend for the Team. Here are the moments that made it happen.
The2023UnitedStatesGrandPrixwasanotherrecord-breakingweekendforMaxandtheTeam.BywinningboththeSprintRaceandtheGrandPrix,Maxhasbrokentherecordformostpointscollectedinaseason(hisownrecordthathesetlastyear).He’salsoequalledhisownrecordofmostwinsinaseason(15).Oh,andhealsobecamethefirstdrivertowinatCOTAwhodidn’tstartonthefrontrow.
Checo will be looking forward to his home race next weekend after a solid race in America, in which he climbed four places during the 56-lap race to ensure he keeps hold of P2 in the Drivers’ Championship.
It was also the fifth Sprint Weekend of the season, so it was none stop action all weekend. Here are the ups and downs from round 19 of the 2023 World Championship...
BreakingBad
After successfully winning the Sprint Race on Saturday, and being very happy with the set-up of the RB19, Max was hoping for a similar story in the Grand Prix, but there was an issue with the brakes.
The car was in Parc Fermé, so no alterations could be made to the set up, but the brakes can be changed, which they were. However, Max knew something was different from lights out on Sunday. “It was not a nice feeling under braking,” he said, adding: “We normally never struggle with issues, so we’ll have to look into it.”
However, it was testament to his skill that he was able to move up from P6 to take the win in a car that wasn’t behaving how he would like.
SuperbStart
In Saturday’s Sprint Race Max started from P1, but had a hungry Charles Leclerc with him on the front row. To ensure he kept first place from the start, Max powered off the line and moved across to cover the inside and protect his lead. Leclerc fought back and the pair battled into the first turn almost leaving the track, but Max held his nerve to keep the lead and from there he was able to control the race and take his third Sprint win of the season.
ChecoMakingMoves
Starting in P9 Checo had work to do if he wanted to catch Lewis Hamilton to cement his second place in the drivers’ standings. He finished the race in fifth, but his move of the race came with only five laps remaining. Checo was hunting down Leclerc and at the start of lap 51 and in the run up to turn one. Checo looked to go wide, Leclerc tried to defend the move, but Checo then cut back to take the inside line and move into P5.
After the race Christian praised his result saying Checo will: “Take a lot of confidence from that. Hopefully that will put him in a good space before his home race next weekend.”
Checo now has a 39-point lead on Lewis due to his strong drive and the fact that Hamilton was disqualified for a technical breach after the race (it was deemed that the skids on the floor of his Mercedes were outside the allowed tolerances for wear, a problem also encountered by Charles Leclerc who found himself disqualified as well).
SoaringStrategies
Strategy was always going to play an important role in the United States Grand Prix, and Christian said that the simulations were saying that the quickest race for the Team was going to be a two-stop strategy, and it was going to come down to tyre choices.
Max began his race on the yellow-walled medium tyres. On lap 16, the Team pulled the trigger first and boxed Max for a second set of mediums. McLaren followed suit a lap later, opting to put Lando Norris on a second set of hard tyres. Mercedes waited even longer to pit and called Lewis Hamilton in on lap 20, swapping his mediums for hards.
As the race settled down, Max was leading with Norris in P2 and Hamilton in third. For the second stop, McLaren broke first pulling Norris in for mediums. The Team boxed pitting Max on the following lap ensuring McLaren wouldn’t get the undercut. Mercedes once again waited and brought in Hamilton three laps later for medium tyres for the final stint.
Hamilton was able to get in front of Norris for P2, and was catching Max. He ran out of laps before being able to reel in the Dutchman. He cut down a seven-second deficit to 1.5s (at one point), but was unable to take the win away from Max.
BreakingHisOwnRecords
Max made history – again – in Austin. His win saw him break records, equal records and do something no driver has ever done.
Firstly, Max became the first Formula One driver to win at COTA who didn’t start on the front row of the grid.
Secondly, the result in Austin saw Max collect 33 championship points, which gives him a total of 466 points for the season. That’s the most any driver has collected in one season. The previous record was 454, which was also held by the Dutchman.
And finally, Max equalled the record for most wins in a season, another record he set last season. He now has 15 wins to his name and with four races remaining, anyone placing bets on him extending the benchmark further?
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