Max Verstappen managed to fend off the threat from Mercedes and a charging Hamilton at yesterday's US Grand Prix, held at the Circuit of the Americas, in Austin Texas.

Overview

We all know that if there’s one team that’s been dominant ever since the Turbo hybrid era began in F1, it’s Mercedes, and their lead man Lewis Hamilton has been the face of the team to help the team win countless driver and constructors championships.

However, for the first time in over five years, Red Bull has managed to give Mercedes a tough time this season, as they have posed a serious threat to the silver arrows. Max Verstappen also led the driver's championship for a while, until things got really hairy between the Dutchman and Hamilton ever since their coming together at Silverstone earlier this year.

Max, who can be fairly aggressive, has exercised patience and maintained his composure over the yearsand. He has steadily been putting on stellar performances on Sundays, and this weekend was no exception.

Chaos on the First Lap

Red Bull looked strong all weekend. They were so good that it was Perez who was on provisional pole before Max clinched it back from his Mexican teammate. The Austrian team had its drivers with a one-three on the grid for Sunday with the silver arrows qualifying 2nd and 4th respectively, however, Bottas received a five-place grid penalty, effectively qualifying 9th for an engine swap.

The lights went out on Sunday afternoon and it was wheel to wheel racing between Redbull and Mercedes into turn one. Upfront, not two but three cars were fighting for the Lead. However, Hamilton just about managed to put the nose of his car ahead of the two guys in blue and got in front.

Lap one had a lot of drama, with a fierce midfield battle between the two McLarens and Sainz in the Ferrari. Further back, the two Canadians, i.e Latifi in the Williams and Stroll in the Aston Martin came together.

The Undercut

While Mercedes and Hamilton did manage to clinch the Lead, Red Bull clearly had the pace advantage. Come lap 11, they brought in Max for the undercut. Red Bull are MEGA when it comes to pit stops and they didn’t skip a beat with a time of 2.9 seconds for Max. They put Verstappen on a set of hard tires. Hamilton boxed on lap 14 with an even faster time of 2.8 seconds, but Verstappen had some blistering pace on the white-walled tires and got ahead of Lewis on track. Redbull's strategy played out on track.

An Old Duel

It was also nice to see two of the most experienced drivers on the current F1 grid, Kimi Räikönnen a.k.a Iceman, and Fernando Alonso down in 13th and 14th being extremely competitive. I can’t remember the last time these two had a tussle before, perhaps the greatest ones were during the mid-2000s when Alonso was with Renault and Kimi with Mclaren.

It wasn’t just Kimi who got the heat from Alonso though, Giovinazzi in the other Alfa also got a slice of the Spaniard. Both cars ran wide on consecutive laps at turn 12, with the pair having to switch places and hand them back, a couple of times.

The Homestretch

Max came in for another pitstop on lap 30 for his second set of hards, with a stationary time of 2.8 seconds. Hamilton meanwhile, stayed out on track and didn’t box. He came in for his tire change eight laps later (2.4 seconds stationery), so that he would have a better chance of catching up with Max towards the final stages of the race. With seven laps to go to the chequered flag, Lewis was just a couple of seconds behind Max.

By lap 55, Max and Hamilton ran into the backmarkers. Mick Schumacher was shown the blue flags to get out of the way of the race leaders. Thankfully, this helped Max get DRS out of the final corner and he managed to keep Lewis at bay as he began the final lap. After this, Verstappen had to cover just under three miles to cruise to victory in Austin.

To Sum it Up

The Circuit of the America's, down in Austin, is one hell of a venue to host Formula 1. I have only seen the turnout climb at the circuit and this seems promising as more F1 races and venues are being planned for the United States, in the near future.

With five races to go, we are in the final stages of the 2021 F1 Season. Some say that the warmer ambient temperatures (86 F) played in Red Bull’s favor this weekend as the higher temperatures don’t really suit the silver arrows, according to Hamilton.

Regardless, Verstappen Leads Hamilton in the Drivers Championship by 12 points, while Red Bull has clawed in some ground to Mercedes, who are now just 33 points ahead.

Catch Sunday's Race Highlights below