Mario Isola, Motorsport Director reflected on “breath-taking battles in Austin” as Pirelli tried out new hard compound tyre testing at the United States Grand Prix in preparation for the 2023 season.
Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen took the lead into turn one after pole sitter Carlos Sainz was taken out after a coming together with George Russell. Verstappen started on the P Zero Yellow medium tyre with sixteen of the twenty drivers starting on that compound. Kevin Magnussen was the highest placed driver on the grid to start on the hard tyres from thirteenth.
Verstappen pitted for the P Zero White hard tyres and lead the race until he pitted again for another set of medium tyres with twenty laps remaining. After having a very slow stop, the Dutchman emerged out of the pit lane behind Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
Hamilton was on the hard tyre and Verstappen eventually won the race by four seconds after chasing down the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team driver on fresher and quicker tyres to win at the Circuit of The Americas for the second year in a row and perfectly sealing the 2022 Constructors Championship for Red Bull.
Mario Isola: “With Max Verstappen winning the race and his team clinching another constructors’ championship, we offer our congratulations to Red Bull Racing, obviously along with our condolences for the sad passing of Dietrich Mateschitz.”
“The race today was an intense one, interrupted by two safety cars that helped to reduce tyre degradation – which we nonetheless observed was lower than expected in these warm conditions.”
“Strategy proved to be all-important once again, with Lewis Hamilton attempting to undercut Verstappen, and the race coming down to a breath-taking duel between them. Before, we also saw a great fight between Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.”
“The two drivers on different compounds during the final stint was a real point of interest for the huge American crowd; around 440,000 people were treated to a thrilling battle to the finish. Both drivers were pushing to the maximum, but their tyres were certainly up to the fight.”
Mercedes’ George Russell was the only driver to stop three times and use the P Zero Red soft tyre, which he fitted on the last two laps of the race to claim the fastest lap of the race and an extra championship point.
Next weekend, F1 heads to Mexico City for the Mexican Grand Prix. The free practice two session will be extended again to an hour and a half for slick tyre testing for 2023. After plenty of data was collected from the hard tyre testing in Austin, the focus will now be on the softer compounds in Mexico.
