The deadly wrench, safety car, and left front wheel that started the Texas bloodshed

The US GP was an exciting race with many battles. But let’s not laugh. If the safety car that came out after Valtteri Bottas’ retirement didn’t favor Leclerc, if Verstappen’s wrench didn’t fail and if Aston Martin didn’t delay bolting Vettel’s left front wheel in the pits, the spectacle would be at the Texas race been very inferior. Let’s take things from the beginning.

The TOP 5 conclusions from the US GP

• 1. The elusive Verstappen

Anyone who thinks that there is now a team that can keep up with the Red Bull car, or a driver that can compete against Max Verstappen in the race, is deeply mistaken. The only thing that can keep the Austrian team from a win this year is himself!

And it almost happened in Austin, Texas. Neither Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari nor Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes had any reasonable hopes of victory. The only thing that managed to turn things around and give us exciting battles between the world champion and his rivals was the pin wrench, which broke when delaying the pit stop, throwing Verstappen behind Hamilton and Leclerc.

The Dutchman lowered his head and, despite his shirt, drove quickly and accurately. He overtook both, perhaps not easily but cleanly, to take an iconic win that best honors the memory of Red Bull founder Dietrich Matesic who passed away on Saturday and secured this year’s Constructors’ Championship for Red Bull in style. Worthy! Next goal for Verstappen, the record for most wins in a season.

• 2. Ferrari: Good, but for a while

They solved the strategy puzzle, they stopped the childish mistakes in the races, they continue to have a competitive car in qualifying but they don’t even win with… a broken Red Bull bolt wrench.

Tire management remains Ferrari’s biggest problem at the moment and it doesn’t look like it’s going to be resolved. Would Carlos Sainz have won if he hadn’t given up and managed to stay first at the start? No is the answer.

As we later saw with Leclerc, the F1-75 has the ability to chase the RBR car, but not for long. The Monegasque fought hard with Verstappen after his late pit stop threw him back. Even when Max passed him, Leclerc was chasing him and stayed in the DRS for several laps. But he didn’t last to the end.

But we have to note that Leclerc was faster than Sergio Perez overall. He started 3 places behind him, passed him on the inside straight and finished ahead of the Mexican. Last but not least, this fills us with hope that the Scuderia is on the right track to make their car capable of winning again.

• 3. The sneaky Hamilton and the aggressive Russell

We have to concede to Lewis Hamilton that while the Mercedes car is quickly behind, when the Brit is in a fight he is a tough opponent. Even if the fight is with Verstappen, which is on a different level this year.

It was not easy for the Dutchman to overtake Lewis. But as the overtaking took place, which we all considered more or less safe, a lecture by the 7-time world champion began on the radio about Verstappen violating the limits of the track. At that moment he did exactly the same thing!

It’s clear Lewis still can’t digest what happened last year when he lost the title. He was wronged, yes. But it seems in many cases this year that he is trying in every way to “redeem” this injustice. We will, of course, remember during the first half of the season how openly he – along with George Russell – addressed the porpoise problem and pushed for a review of the regulations.

What is certain, of course, is that alongside the pressure to solve an existing problem, Mercedes had the illusion that Red Bull’s car would lose speed in this way. They even went so far as to indirectly but clearly accuse her of violating floor design regulations. And we all saw after the summer that the rule changes not only didn’t affect Red Bull’s lead, they actually increased it…

The good thing is that in Hamilton’s few fights with Verstappen this year, both have shown a mature face and we don’t have the squeamishness of last year. Something that isn’t the case with Russell who has shown a very aggressive riding style lately. A horrible example of his mistake today that ended Saint’s match before it even started…

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If Mercedes – hopefully – manages to design a winning car, we will see a power struggle between Lewis and George, which will not be very pleasant for the team. And that’s because it’s not just going to be about competitive battles, it’s also about power struggles.

• 4. The stubborn hag

Nothing indicated that this race would be a Scottish shower for Sebastian Vettel. The German appears to be enjoying the final F1 races of his career. He has relaxed and is giving a driving talk.

In Austin he started from tenth place but he had a very good race and took advantage of what was happening on the track and even went to the front! Of course he owed a pit stop, but a top-six finish seemed within his reach.

But bad luck knocked on his door and the left front wheel of the Aston Martin, which didn’t want to turn properly during his second pit stop and thus dropped him back to 13th place.

And yet the stubborn Vettel managed to overtake Tsunoda, Norris, Chow, Albon and Magnussen in 12 laps. Especially with Magnussen they gave us a very nice fight in the last round. Eventually Vettel overtook him on the penultimate corner to finish seventh after Alonso’s penalty, earning – rightly so – the Driver of the Day award.

• 05. The flying Alonso

Fly, literally and figuratively! No one understood how, after the collision with Stroll, and while he first took off and then crashed his left wheel into the guardrail, he finally managed to reach the pits, change tires and continue, even in 7th place!

Fernando Alonso put in another stunning race and before being penalized with a broken mirror and dropping to 15th overall, had reduced the gap to teammate Esteban Ocon to 7 points. And those who know the Spaniard well know how much he wants to wrap up the year ahead of Ocon to ‘tick’ Alpine before jumping to Aston Martin.

On the other hand, while he always has something sharp to say on the team radio on similar occasions, after the accident with Lance Stroll we had… radio silence. Cool people will say that the incident was clearly Stroll’s fault, but they will argue that with his experience, Alonso could have calculated that move by Stroll and avoided the contact, so maybe he had me. But the skeptics will think he was dealing with his new boss’s son here, so… at least we didn’t hear a beep.