Red Bull added another win to their total as Max Verstappen won the US Grand Prix in Texas.
The Dutch driver held on to outlast Lewis Hamilton, beating the British driver to the chequered flag and victory by just over 2 seconds, though Hamilton would later be disqualified due to a technical infringement.
Victory saw Verstappen win a full F1 Grand Prix for the 50th time, becoming the 5th man to achieve that feat after Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Alain Prost.
Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez initially crossed the line 5th, but Hamilton’s punishment saw the Mexican promoted to finish 4th in the US Grand Prix.
The result means Red Bull took victory in both sprint and full Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, with Verstappen having previously won Saturday’s sprint event.
A 15th full Grand Prix win of 2023 sees Verstappen move up to 466 points, after a race that saw him set a record for points in a season since 25 for a win was introduced in 2010. It also beat his previous record, set in 2022 when he achieved 454 points, and comes with 4 races of the 2023 season still to be run.
The Milton Keynes-based Red Bull Racing team are now up to 706 points, having already won the Constructor’s Championship title for the second year in a row. The team are chasing a record for most points in a season, set by Mercedes in 2016 when they achieved 765 points.
In the US Grand Prix, Verstappen had started 6th but methodically worked his way through the ranks. The Dutchman overtook George Russell off the line, then got his way past the two Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
Red Bull then opted for an undercut as they pit earlier than Hamilton and Lando Norris, the latter of whom had been leading the race when the pit-stops began.
The early pit-stop got Verstappen ahead of the later-stopping Hamilton, and the Dutchman would later overtake Norris on track.
An issue with the car brakes brought Hamilton into play in the latter stages, but Verstappen just about did enough to keep the car on track and take a third consecutive US Grand Prix win, having won the 2021 and 2022 editions.
Perez would make a good start from 9th on track, and moves on Russell and Leclerc after making his second pit-stop would duly help the Mexican finish 5th on the road.
The post-race news that Hamilton and Leclerc had been disqualified for issues with their car’s skid blocks allowed Perez to move up a place to 4th, with the Mexican having finished ahead of the disqualified Leclerc.
