Resurfacing work at COTA has smoothed out sections of the circuit that would otherwise have been problematic for Mercedes and both Hamilton and George Russell had qualified just half a second shy of Verstappen’s pace instead of the regular 0.8-0.9sec. And their race pace is better compared to single-lap performance.
Not only that, but Jenson Button, Hamilton’s McLaren team mate for three seasons, reckons that COTA is Lewis’s strongest circuit, even more so than Silverstone, and plays perfectly to his strengths. JB was quite happy to tell Sky’s viewers that even after surveying Lewis’s data (in 2012) he couldn’t get near him.
It was all about being able to live with a car that was on the edge in fast corners, something Button wasn’t comfortable with. To illustrate the point, Hamilton qualified on the front row for that inaugural Texas race in 2012, a tenth behind Sebastian Vettel, while Button started 12th, eight-tenths away from Lewis in Q2. In the race, Hamilton beat Vettel to take his last race win for McLaren, while the ’09 world champion finished fifth, some 56sec in arrears.
Verstappen stalks Hamilton — and he wouldn’t have to wait long
Florent Gooden/DPPI
Lewis and Max, you felt, could get spiky. You started to think in terms of Gilles Villeneuve/Rene Arnoux last laps. But no. There was no DRS in those days and with Red Bull’s straightline speed advantage versus a draggy Mercedes, it was no contest, Lewis not even bothering to cover off the inside into T12.
I’ve got to admit, and it all got a bit lost in the furore surrounding the FIA’s procedural matters in Abu Dhabi last year, but I had wondered at Hamilton letting Verstappen down the inside of Turn 5 with just a lap separating him from an eighth world championship. Yes, the Red Bull was on fresh softs, I know, but I’d expected Hamilton to park the Merc in the middle of the road through Turns 5/6/7, be slow to pick up the throttle out onto the straight and force Verstappen to attempt to go around the outside of Turn 8 with superior late-braking capability on his softs. Gilles Villeneuve, for example, would surely have run Max out of road, even if he was driving on just rims! If Lewis had somehow managed to keep his nose in front as far as Turn 11 — a big ask admittedly — he was home and dry.
You could have understood if Vettel had gone slightly into cruise mode.
That’s probably a bit churlish and easy to say from behind a laptop! But Austin wasn’t that, it was Lewis accepting the inevitability of the situation, even if he had a go back on the exit of T12. If Max hadn’t got him that lap, he would have done so next time.
It gave Verstappen win number 13 of 2022, equalling the single-season record of Michael Schumacher in 2004 and Vettel in 2013. There were 18 and 19 races respectively in ‘04/’13, giving Michael a 72.22% strike rate and Sebastian, 68.42%. Max’s, currently, is 59% for the full 22-race season. If he mops up the remaining three races he will finish on 72.72% for what it’s worth.
Whether he does or doesn’t, the numbers tell you all you need to know about the quality of Verstappen this year. Yes, he’s had the best car, but so has Sergio Perez, who has won two races. And Max has done it in a year in which he’s had to contend with two early retirements and a driver of Charles Leclerc’s calibre in a Ferrari that has been quicker over a single lap. Hugely impressive.
Sebastian Vettel & Fernando Alonso
You can apply the same verdict to the races of two other world champions – Vettel and Fernando Alonso. Back in the day, Jackie Stewart decided very early on in 1973 that he was stopping at the end of the season. He’d been to something like 57 racing funerals in an era that was brutally different. Professional to the Nth degree, he told team owner Ken Tyrrell and Ford’s Walter Hayes, so they weren’t caught unawares at the end of the season, but no-one else. Not even wife, Helen, who he didn’t want to be in a ’10 green bottles’ situation, counting down the races. Sebastian, by contrast, announced his decision around the summer break and you could have understood if he’d gone slightly into cruise mode.
But not a bit of it. Vettel’s races in Singapore, Suzuka and Austin have been fabulous to behold and there was the four-time champion celebrating eighth place at COTA as if he’d just taken a fifth title!
Eighth place, after a late pass on Magnussen, saw Vettel celebrating as if he’d won
Aston Martin
He’d done it after a cruel pit-stop delay and recovery that included a fabulous outside pass of Kevin Magnussen – not something you might naturally contemplate if your priority was a safe and secure retirement, with no disrespect to Kevin, whose propensity for getting the elbows out makes him the racer he is.
Seb’s efforts were later rewarded with promotion to seventh when Fernando Alonso was cruelly penalised 30s in lieu of a stop/go penalty for driving an Alpine that was in an unsafe condition.
This all came as a result of a protest from Haas, who were aggrieved that, three times this year, they’ve been forced into the pits via black-and-orange flags for damaged front wings, while there was Alonso driving around minus a wing mirror in an Alpine that had done a spot of aviation before clobbering the barrier upon landing, after contact with Lance Stroll.
Loose right mirror brought trouble for Alonso
Getty Images
Whether or not you are desperately worried about the safety implications of a one-mirrored Alpine, there was mild amusement in this. First, Martin Brundle’s great line about what the heck Alonso was doing still running seventh in a car that had not long since appeared on the radar at Austin’s international airport!
Second, Fernando’s presence of mind. After Stroll’s late jink to the left and the scary contact, you couldn’t wait for Alonso’s radio communication. Those incidents are not nice. Formula 1 has done a great job of improving safety, but you can never legislate for a flying car. Alonso was fortunate that more air didn’t get under the Alpine and launch him into the fence. Scary. You anticipated a rant. But Alonso’s calm response was more in keeping with something like receiving a tiny tap at Monaco’s Loews Hairpin. And then you realised. Obviously he’d quickly assimilated who was writing his pay cheques next year…
Alonso and Stroll come together 💥😮#USGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/H8Wbs0GaXL
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 23, 2022
You could only imagine the demeanour of Alpine sporting director Alan Permane, a racer who has been around the block, in the stewards’ office. ‘So, let me get this right: Fernando’s had a bit of a scare but has shrugged it off, driven his balls off for another 33 laps, during which you could have given him the black-and-orange flag at any time, and now you’re going to take his heroically-earned points off him? Yes, Guenther, I can see why you’re a bit irritated, Kevin will get a couple more points, which moves you clear of AlphaTauri in the championship, and that means money, but come on!’
Just as I hoped that Sergio Perez wasn’t going to lose his Singapore win to a post-race penalty, I’d love to see Ferdy get his seventh place back! I’d be surprised if it happens though, despite Alpine’s counter-protest to be heard in Mexico.
Whatever, F1’s four world champions all covered themselves in glory in Austin and proved that class is permanent.