RACE DEBRIEF

    After his 18th F1 win, Max Verstappen leaves Austin leading the championship from Lewis Hamilton by 12 points with 5 rounds of the 2021 season remaining. Important numbers, but far from the only interesting ones to come out of Sunday’s United States Grand Prix. Here’s our round-up…

    • Verstappen and Hamilton have now finished 1-2 on 24 occasions - Verstappen has been ahead on 7 of those, with 5 of them coming this year.

    • Every United States Grand Prix in Austin has been won from the front row of the grid.

    REPORT: Verstappen brilliantly holds off Hamilton to seal victory at COTA and extend championship lead

    • Verstappen had never won in the United States, and Red Bull had not won here since 2013.

    • Verstappen now leads the championship by 12 points – his largest advantage since Austria 8 races ago.

    DRIVER OF THE DAY: Verstappen's aggressive Austin drive gets your vote

    • Verstappen had only led 2 laps in Austin before today.

    • A Honda-powered car won in the United States for the first time since Ayrton Senna’s 1991 win for McLaren in Phoenix.

    AUSTIN, TEXAS - OCTOBER 24: Charles Leclerc of Monaco driving the (16) Scuderia Ferrari SF21 makes
    This is becoming a habit - Charles Leclerc took his 6th P4 finish of 2021

    • Hamilton has never won the title when he's not led the championship standings coming to Austin.

    • Hamilton led more laps today than in the previous 9 Grands Prix combined (11 laps).

    • Hamilton has still not won at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) since 2017.

    RACE HIGHLIGHTS: See all the key moments from the US Grand Prix in Austin

    • As well as taking the win, with Sergio Perez 3rd, Red Bull scores their 200th podium finish as a constructor today.

    • It was the first time Red Bull have had both cars on the podium in consecutive races since Malaysia/Japan 2017 with Verstappen and then-team mate Daniel Ricciardo.

    • His podium means Perez moves ahead of McLaren rival Lando Norris for 4th in the drivers’ championship.

    • Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was 4th for the 6th time this year, but still only has 1 podium finish in 2021.

    • Leclerc moves back ahead of team mate Carlos Sainz in the championship.

    AUSTIN, TEXAS - OCTOBER 24: Daniel Ricciardo of Australia and McLaren F1 looks on in the Paddock
    Keep on smiling - it was a 33rd consecutive F1 finish for Daniel Ricciardo

    • McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo secured his 3rd top-5 finish in the last 4 races and his best United States Grand Prix finish since 2016.

    • It was also Ricciardo’s 33rd consecutive race finish – the longest active streak on the grid.

    • In the second Mercedes Valtteri Bottas took P6, meaning he still only has 1 top-4 finish at COTA, which is his victory in 2019.

    • With P7, Carlos Sainz maintained his 100 percent point-scoring record at COTA in his 6th Austin F1 start.

    • All of Sainz’s 6 Austin points finishes have been between 6th and 8th place.

    • With P9, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda scored his first points since the summer break.

    • At Aston Martin, Sebastian Vettel tool P10 to end his 4-race pointless streak.

    • Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi finished P11 for the 2nd race running. He has only scored 1 point in 2021.

    • Neither Alpine car finished – the first double DNF for the Enstone team since Germany 2019.