This past weekend, the Circuit of the Americas staged a fantastic race, and the suspense of the championship continued until the end. The two drivers most likely to contend for the title this year adopted different race strategies here, and in the end, Verstappen won the championship and Hamilton failed to finish the overtaking.
Both drivers used a two-stop strategy, but both pit stops verstappen preceded Hamilton. On lap 37, Hamilton came out in second place, nine seconds behind Verstappen, and at the moment Hamilton had a newer tyre than his opponent.
Red Bull team leader Horner spoke about how stressful the final laps of the American Grand Prix were, as Hamilton struggled to catch up with Verstappen in the final moments of the race.
Horner: "I really don't think Verstappen can succeed. Lewis used eight laps newer tyres than we did, and the first set of hard tyres also performed very well. Then we thought, in the final stages our tyres may not have much left. But Verstappen did a very good job of tyre management after the last stop, ensuring that there was still room to defend in the final five or six laps. ”
Even though Hamilton says they're not fast enough to catch up with Red Bull, Horner still insists he's been wary of Hamilton's tyre advantage.
"I mean in the final moments of the game, Lewis was very strong. He (the first two sets of tires) ran long distances and built an edge for himself. I think we're probably going to lose the game in the last two or three laps, like we lost to Jenson Button in Montreal, and it's going to be really painful to lose here. ”
'Yes, Max kept, he did a good job, managed the whole game very smartly and in the end everything was just fine.
Hamilton was never able to overtake Verstappen in the final lap of the showdown, with Mercedes manager Toto Wolfe explaining why they failed to deal with Red Bull's aggressive strategy.
"They used a very aggressive strategy at the first stop, which was very bold. We did that at the beginning of the season at the Bahrain Grand Prix and won, and now they've recreated that scene in reverse. I thought maybe it was enough to catch up with them, but in the end I couldn't overtake them. ”
Hamilton pitted for the first time on lap 13, and Wolfe explained why they didn't come in earlier. Wolff said: "We thought about whether to pit early on lap 10 or 11 and take advantage of the tyres to overtake Verstappen. But no matter how you choose, it's a little too early. Our neutral tires are slow, so we don't think hard tires can last long. ”