Our 2021 US Grand Prix Result Review is here for a race that saw Max Verstappen take a big step towards the 2021 World Championship.
He fended off a late charge from Lewis Hamilton, but Red Bull outplayed the Mercedes team in Austin. Behind that the number two drivers of the big teams did just that, and the best of the rest was competitive between McLaren and Ferrari.
Our review usually covers what happened in the race so you don’t have to in the laps that matter. Plus we throw in our Race Ratings, the Best (Great) and Worst (Grape) drivers of the race weekend. This time there’s not much to do.
The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered. And we don’t blame you.
The 2021 US Grand Prix Result Review Summary gives you just enough to catch up, and stand by for our Power Rankings which highlight our driver of the season so far.
2021 US Grand Prix – THE LAPS THAT MATTERED
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch both races? Well here are the laps that mattered.
We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
What a season 2021 has been, and Turkey delivers another wet track. Not actually raining, so a Belgium washout seems unlikely but a wet track none the less. Good times ahead.
Lap 1 – Lewis Hamilton outdrags Max Verstappen off the line initially and the Red Bull driver pushes further and further to the left to stop the Mercedes driver getting past but Lewis sticks his car down the inside and nails the overtaking move. Verstappen runs wide at the first corner and his tea m mate Perez was right on hand to take advantage a few corners later and would have moved ahead if it wasn’t his team mate. Further back Carlos Sainz and the two McLaren provide real entertainment in a three way fight for 5th. All three drivers have a run in front of this pack but ultimately Daniel Ricciardo gets 5th with a super move into turns 16 and 17. Further back Latifi hits Stroll into a spin, the Canadian saying he was squeezed by another car which was a Haas, And one could unfairly blame Mazepin. In other back of the grid news Ocon needed a new front wing after being clipped by an Alfa.
ORDER – HAM VER PER LEC RIC SAI NOR TSU BOT GAS
Lap 5 – We may have seen the peak in on track action with the hot conditions. But at least Max Verstappen is holding onto the back of Lewis Hamilton (less than a second) giving us an indication that they will either have a great battle at the pit stops or run into each other again. Either way for us. Perez is just a further two seconds behind Verstappen in third. It’s another seven back to fourth placed Leclerc. So accidents and stuff ups aside the podium is already decided.
Lap 7 – Max Verstappen warned about track limits on the radio by his team, and Lewis Hamilton already having half a moan about the Red Bull being faster.
Lap 8 – Fernando Alonso becomes the first driver to pit for new tyres and not a broken front wing. The pit stop of course taking less time than it would to pick your nose. But unlike nose picking it doesn’t require a team of 15+ mechanics or a person holding at sign at the front to say Stop/Go. Although, that would be pretty funny.
Lap 10 – Max Verstappen is still right on Hamilton’s tail, so it’s not a bad time to go through the order again. Carlos Sainz has been told on the radio to give a place back to Norris after the first lap shenanigans. Norris was in front for a full second, but Sainz did run wide.
ORDER – HAM VER PER LEC RIC SAI NOR GAS BOT RAI
Lap 11 – Very interesting. Max Verstappen pits for new tyres looking to undercut Lewis Hamilton. He ends up behind Ricciardo’s McLaren. But not for long, Max gets past within half a lap. He is much faster than Lewis Hamilton even on the out lap. Lando Norris pits too talking of McLarens. Ricciardo pits a lap later too.
Lap 14 – Lewis Hamilton pits after Verstappen took a massive four seconds out of his lead burning around the Austin track. No surprise that the Red Bull driver flies past the Mercedes on pit straight as Hamilton exits the pits. Verstappen is now six seconds+ in front of Hamilton. Predicting some Mercedes moaning on the radio. It’s a two stop race, so Lewis gets a chance to reverse the order, but on current speed he won’t be close enough to make a difference.
ORDER – VER HAM PER LEC BOT RIC SAI NOR BET STR
Lap 16 – Valtteri Bottas pits after a call from his team “Strat 4”. Which we translate to “Valtteri we’re going to stuff your race by making you do the rest of the GP on one set of tyres, so enjoy”. Further back is a nice battle for the Over 40’s trophy between Kimi and Alonso. It’s for 12th but still.
Lap 19 – Lance Stroll is the only driver not to have pitted for tyres yet. This will likely be the only point of interest involving Stroll so why not add it in.
ORDER – VER (6.2 sec) HAM (5.8 sec) PER (11 sec) LEC (10 sec) RIC SAI NOR BOT TSU RAI
Lap 23 – Nice shitstorm brewing between Alpine, Alf Romeo and the FIA over Raikkonen v Alonso v Giovinazzi. Overtaking on the outside being the argument. Alonso’s late braking effort and running wide was ambitious. The race stewards decide that Alonso has to give the place back or suffer a five second penalty. That’ll make him happy. Giovinazzi and Alonso continue their entertaining battle for 11th. Alonso finally gets past into turn one.
Lap 24 – Hamilton is zooming now. After the gap remained in the low six second range, the Mercedes driver has cut the gap to 4.6 second in a few laps. By lap 26 it is only 3.3 seconds and Max advises he is struggling for speed.
Lap 26 – Really nice pass from Sebastian Vettel on George Russell around the outside. Mr Saturday heading in his usual direction on Sunday again.
Lap 28 – Virtual Safety Car for some reason. Looks like it was for a marshall to pick up something from the track. Will this kill the Hamilton momentum?
Lap 30 – Max Verstappen is going for the undercut again, making his second pitstop. A solid 26 laps need to be negotiated on these tyres. Sainz trying the same in his ongoing McLaren battle. Verstappen takes second off his teammate before the out lap is done.
Lap 31 – Both McLarens pit and come out of the pits either side of Sainz. As they were then.
Lap 32 – Lewis Hamilton going fast and setting fastest laps, but he needs a 20 second buffer to keep the lead. It was 17 seconds at best and starts dropping a few laps into Max’s stint on new tyres, so looks like Hamilton is going to have to attack from behind for the last part of the race.
Lap 34 – Sergio Perez threatens to do something interesting on raceday and sets current fastest lap. It will at least piss off Mercedes.
Lap 36 – Lewis Hamilton’s lead down to just under 14 seconds, so pit stop coming soon surely. Better do an order before the pitstop so it can be different from the end one.
ORDER – HAM VER PER LEC RIC SAI BOT NOR VET TSU
Lap 38 – Lewis Hamilton pits and comes out over eight seconds behind Max Verstappen. Game on for the win.
Lap 39 – Good battle for the final Championship point between Tsunoda, Raikkonen, and Alonso. Verstappen is catching them so wonder if they can be a factor in the race for the win. Tsunoda has really behaved himself this weekend. Good for Alpha Tauri as Gasly is already out with car failure.
Lap 42 – Max Verstappen being held up by backmarkers, Tsunoda giving Verstappen the shits for a few laps. Lewis Hamilton flying and reducing the gap. Esteban Ocon retires in case anyone is interested. Maybe Ocon isn’t either.
Lap 43 – Great battle between Carlos Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo. There’s a hint of a touch, but the coverage goes to something else just as the point of excitement happened.
Lap 48 – Lewis Hamilton is still catching Verstappen but not as swiftly as he or fans at home looking for another collision between the pair would hope. It just over two second by the way.
ORDER – VER HAM PER LEC RIC SAI BOT NOR TSU RAI
Lap 49 – Gap is under two second now. That sweet, sweet DRS is available if he can close within that one second gap.
Lap 51 – Fernando Alonso retires.
Lap 52 – Max Verstappen slightly increases his lead for the first time in a while, and the gap remains just under two seconds.
Lap 53 – Lewis Hamilton takes four tenths of a second out of Max’s lead. Nice spin from Raikkonen.
Lap 54 – Gap at the front down to 1.2 seconds. Tense finish coming.
Lap 55 – It’s under a second now, can Lewis maintain that gap into the DRS zone? Mick Schumacher getting some rare on track air time by getting in the way of the battle group.
Lap 56 – Lewis Hamilton misses out on DRS on the long back straight. That’s probably it for the win for Hamilton. Yep, Max Verstappen holds off Lewis Hamilton and wins the US Grand Prix.
FINAL ORDER – VER HAM PER LEC RIC SAI BOT NOR TSU VET
2021 US Grand Prix Result – RACE RATING
We rate the big race itself so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 9/10
Verstappen and Red Bull outplay Mercedes on a track where they have been so strong previously. Better strategy and faster more times than not. The Dutch driver extends his lead in the Championship, but it is the manner of the performance which is the important factor with a few races to go.
ON TRACK ACTION – 5/10
Great action early between Sainz and the McLarens, and Fernando Alonso provided some passing and light entertainment. The end battle was a little tense but Verstappen always looked under control.
ENDING – 7 / 10
Not a bad finish with Lewis Hamilton chasing down Max Verstappen, but it never looked likely to change did it quite?
OVERALL RATING 21/ 30
Important race for the title. Good good midfield racing and a battle up the front. And for those not living in Europe a decent bloody timeslot to watch it.
2021 SEASON RACE RANKINGS
Bahrain GP – 25/30
Emilia-Romagna GP – 17/30
Portuguese GP – 11/30
Spanish GP – 18/30
Monaco GP – 12/30
Azerbaijan GP – 23/30
French GP – 22/30
Styrian GP – 12/30
Austrian GP – 20/30
British GP – 22/30
Hungarian GP – 26/30
Belgian GP – 0/30
Dutch GP – 12/30
Italian GP – 25/30
Russian GP – 26/30
Turkish GP – 13/30
2021 US Grand Prix Result – Great & Grape
Here we go through the field and highlight the three drivers we think deserve a little extra love, and one driver whose had the grapest weekend of all.
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. Five points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 / -2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
It used to be called the good, bad and ugly, but everyone is using that now. And who doesn’t like grapes.
THE GREAT-EST – MAX VERSTAPPEN
A great win for Verstappen with the Red Bull trumping Mercedes on strategy and Verstappen having more than enough pace to hold off Lewis Hamilton in the end. Extends his Championship lead and our 2021 Driver of the Year points.
THE GREAT – SERGIO PEREZ
A really solid weekend, and looked a chance for pole position through the earlier qualifying sessions.
THE GREAT – CHARLES LECLERC
Yet another solid weekend from one of F1’s more reliable drivers. Within 30 seconds off the leaders – 20 seconds in front of the car behind.
THE GREAT – DANIEL RICCIARDO
A good weekend where the Aussie outqualified and outraced his highly talented team mate. Beats his terrible weekend last time out.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
YUKI TSUNODA – Ran a decent race, we’d hate to say for a change. But we will. Made it into Q3 too.
THE GRAPE-EST – PIERRE GASLY
It’s never good when your cars has been dismantled on the grid. That was Gasly’s lot today. He made the start of the big race but his car didn’t last.
DIS-HONOURABLE MENTIONS
LEWIS HAMILTON – Beaten in a straight fight with Verstappen and the World Championship deficit extended.
2021 US Grand Prix Result – Power Rankings
Stay tuned for our Power Rankings from the 2021 US Grand Prix and the overall 2021 F1 Season Power Rankings leader/s.
Read our last edition from after the US Grand Prix here.
