Red Bull's Max Verstappen Wins United States Grand Prix Strategy Chess Match For 50th Career Win

Formula One rolled into Austin's Circuit of the Americas for the United States Grand Prix, but a chess match broke out. One in which Max Verstappen wound up calling Checkmate, but it was far from easy.

Saturday's sprint race was a real snoozefest. It felt like somehow the entire 19-lap race was on Ambien at times. However, it looked like Sunday's race had the makings for an entertaining afternoon.

Verstappen started the race out of position in P6 after having his final qualifying lap time deleted. That meant that Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and McLaren's Lando Norris started on the front row in P1 and P2 respectively.

Norris got the better jump off the line and looked to have the lead well under his control by the time the field made it through COTA's notoriously treacherous first turn.

While Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton snuck past Leclerc's Ferrari and hung on to the back of Norris' McLaren. Norris drove an excellent first stint. However, it was interrupted by Max Verstappen being the first of the leaders to pit.

That opened up a three-way chess match between Red Bull, Mercedes, and McLaren after Red Bull committed to a two-stop strategy. Both weighed the idea of one-stopping it by instead decided to go with a second pit-stop.

While Mercedes arguably made the right call, they needed a few more laps to take the top step of the podium.

Verstappen held on for his 50th career Grand Prix win and was joined on the podium by Hamilton in P2 and Norris in P3.

What Could Have Been For Lewis Hamilton And Mercedes At The United States Grand Prix

Verstappen started the race on back-to-back medium stints. That tipped Red Bull's hand on a planned two-stopper and a final stint on the sower hard tire.

Mercedes managed to lengthen Hamilton's first two stints — first on mediums, then hards — for one final push on mediums.

It turned out to be the perfect call... had the race been about 58-60 laps instead of 56. Hamilton was right on Verstappen's gearbox and looked to be in striking distance of the Dutchman, who battled braking issues the entire race.

While it's easy to get focused on what could have been for Mercedes, it was a solid weekend for Hamilton. He finished P3 in the sprint race and P2 in the Grand Prix for a nice points haul. That'll be useful in their battle to hang on to P2 in the standings with Ferrari trying to hunt them down.

Speaking of the Scuderia, they had a decent afternoon with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc crossing the stripe in P4 and P6.

Update: Hours after the race, both Hamilton and Leclerc were disqualified for technical infringement. This meant that Williams' Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant were both promoted into points-scoring positions, while Carlos Sainz made the podium. This is the first time Sargeant has scored a point in his F1 career.

Despite a stellar first stint, P3 was all Lando Norris could hope for on Sunday at Circuit of the Americas. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

McLaren Could Have Used Piastri Upfront

The three cars at the front of the field in Sunday's United States Grand Prix were all well ahead of their teammates. Unfortunately for McLaren, Norris' teammate Oscar Piastri was forced to retire on Lap 11 after making contact on the opening lap with Esteban Ocon.

Piastri started down the order in P10. However, if his MCL60 had the pace that Norris' car did, he may have been able to crack the top 5.

That would have been a major help for the team and Norris. It would have given McLaren another chess piece in the strategy battle.

Red Bull's Sergio Perez struggled in the Grand Prix as did Mercedes' George Russell. The Aussie could have certainly weaseled past both of them and served as a rear-gunner for Norris.

Oh well, McLaren is still working with the second-highest-scoring car on the grid since Austria except the one being used by the World Champs.

Next Up: Mexico

Next weekend, F1 heads south of the border for the Mexican Grand Prix. A great, fast circuit at a high altitude. Red Bull/Honda's power units have performed well at high altitudes over the years. Could we see Sergio Perez finally win his home race? Or will Max Verstappen ruin it for him?

I think we all have a guess, but we'll have to see how it plays out.

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