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Haas F1 Team Principal Günther Steiner praised the team for a “fantastic” effort at the United States Grand Prix, as Kevin Magnussen was able to bring home points after pulling off a risky one-stop strategy at Circuit of the Americas.

“After two difficult days, a good result. The whole team did a fantastic job, you cannot ask for more as the car was fast and Kevin was sure he could get to the end with his tires. I wouldn’t say we took a gamble, we took a chance, but we had a back-up strategy to go onto the soft tires and we brought home some points.”

Steiner was displeased that drivers such as Fernando Alonso were not given a black and orange flag to return to the pits for repair after sustaining damage. Alonso was, however, given a thirty second post-race time penalty after the concern was brought to the FIA. A hearing will take place on Thursday to determine the validity of the penalty, which may once again shift points earnings.

“I’m not really happy about what happened out there with the other cars that are losing bits and pieces and don’t get called in like we normally do, so we will follow-up on that one.”

Finishing in fourteenth after Alonso’s penalty was applied, Mick Schumacher had solid pace up until he picked up debris from an incident later in the race, which saw him lose considerable downforce. Steiner said that it seemed that the diffuser sustained damage, which kept him from pulling the same times on fresh tyres in the race’s final stages. 

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen scored key points at the United States Grand Prix with a ninth place finish. He was, however, boosted to eighth after Fernando Alonso’s post-race time penalty was applied. This penalty is currently being appealed by BWT Alpine F1 Team, so this result remains subject to change after Thursday’s hearing. 

Magnussen was happy to have been able to secure a points finish at Haas’ home Grand Prix, also aligning with the announcement of a significant sponsorship with MoneyGram. 

“I’m super happy. For us as a team, it’s very important to get these points at our home race in the US – and it’s very big on the weekend that we announce a great title sponsor with MoneyGram – it couldn’t come at a better time.”

Magnussen came within inches of gaining one more position, having fought wheel-to-wheel with Sebastian Vettel through the final turns of the last lap in what was one of the race’s most intense battles. Nonetheless, Magnussen praised Vettel’s fierce driving.

“Of course, I’m gutted to lose a position to Sebastian. I have to say it was some driving from him, that’s when you realize why he’s a four-time World Champion.”

Mike Krack admitted that the result of the United States Grand Prix was somewhat disappointing for the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team, particularly as Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel were both running inside the top five at the end of the opening lap.

Stroll’s race ended early after suffering heavy damage following a collision with BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso – ironically the Canadian’s team-mate next season – while Vettel fell away from a near-certain top six finish when he suffered an extremely slow pit stop.

Vettel did make a late race charge to climb from thirteenth to finish on the road, including passing Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen for that position at the penultimate corner on the final lap of the race, and was then promoted to seventh when Alonso was handed a post-race penalty by the stewards.

Krack, the Team Principal at Aston Martin, was pleased with Vettel’s recovery drive at the Circuit of the Americas, but it could and should have been a better scoring day for the team than what transpired.

“Having been third and fifth on lap one, clearly we are disappointed to have come away with only a DNF and a P8,” Krack said prior to Vettel’s promotion to seventh.  “But that is racing.

Sebastian Vettel admitted his adrenaline was pumping hard in the closing stages of Sunday’s United States Grand Prix as he climbed back through the field after a slow pit stop cost him a certain sixth place finish.

The Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team driver led a handful of laps at the Circuit of the Americas as strategies played out, but a slow pit stop left him outside of the top ten and forced him to start a fight back through the field.

He passed a number of cars to get back into the points and then was involved in a last lap battle with Kevin Magnussen over eighth place, which he won by diving down the inside of the Haas F1 Team driver at the penultimate corner.  A penalty post-race for Fernando Alonso then promoted him to seventh place and six FIA Formula 1 World Championship points.

“In the end it was a good recovery drive to score four points today,” Vettel said prior to being promoted to seventh.  “I really enjoyed the last few laps, especially the final-lap fight with Kevin [Magnussen]. When I crossed the finish line, the adrenaline was really pumping.

“Without the slow stop, I think we had sixth place easily in the bag so we should focus on the positives of our competitive car pace today.

Like Team Principal Toto Wolff, Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin believes that the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team is making significant progress after the team introduced a final upgrade package of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season at the Circuit of Americas.

After coming within touching distance of a win at Austin, Shovlin is confident more than ever that the team are approaching where they want to be. Despite the team being aware of the extra work they have ahead of them, Shovlin is glad that their hard work is contributing to the team’s performance.

Lewis Hamilton and team-mate George Russell were both showing decent pace, with Hamilton leading the race from lap forty-one to forty-nine, but the car seemed to be a handful for both drivers thanks to the strong winds in Austin and an unfortunate racing incident off of turn one that compromised Russell’s balance and downforce.

Shovlin felt that the team now understand the car a bit better, and the struggles encountered by both drivers, he intends to take away as positives that will allow the team to better understand what they need to work on in order to come back stronger for the following 2023 season.

After the sad news of Dietrich Mateschitz’s passing, Shovlin congratulated the Oracle Red Bull Racing team on their Constructor’s Championship win.

McLaren F1 Team had a successful weekend in Austin, as they outscored BWT Alpine F1 Team at the United States Grand Prix.

While Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon scored just one point for the French outfit, McLaren’s Lando Norris drove home for an impressive sixth-place finish with an extremely impressive driver after having bad luck with pitstops and safety cars.

However, it wasn’t all positive for McLaren. Daniel Ricciardo failed to score points again and made next to no impact on the race after a poor qualifying on Saturday.

Andreas Seidl praised Norris’ race and was happy with the points gained on Alpine.

“An eventful race here at the Circuit of the Americas, in front of this enormous crowd. The team made some good strategy calls, executed great pit-stops coupled with a stellar drive from Lando, including some great overtaking in the final stage of the race, which secured us an encouraging P6 and gave us good points in our Constructors’ Championship battle.“

Toto Wolff felt that the United States Grand Prix was a much-needed step forward for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team after the seven-time world Champion Lewis Hamilton narrowly missed out on a first race victory of the season as he came home in the second position, with team-mate George Russell recovering from an unfortunate race start and securing the fifth position.

The win was in sight for Mercedes driver Hamilton after a problematic eleven-second pit-stop cost Max Verstappen the lead of the race, allowing Lewis to take the lead during laps forty-one to forty-nine. After introducing the final upgrade of the season, hopes for a race win were high amongst the team as Hamilton’s performance showed that Mercedes are still offering an exciting and competitive car this season.

Team Principal Toto Wolff, was pleased with Hamilton’s performance and felt that the team have made considerable progress at the Circuit of the Americas, where Oracle Red Bull Racing clinched the Constructor’s World Championship, following Verstappen’s comeback win.

“First, congratulations to Red Bull and to Honda for winning the Constructors’ Championship; given the sad news yesterday about Dietrich Mateschitz, it was fitting that they should secure the title today. From our side, this weekend was a step forward for us and we showed encouraging performance.

“No doubt, Red Bull are still ahead of us, but I think we’re getting closer to them and Ferrari – and that’s a positive outcome for us. We brought an upgrade to Austin and we’ve seen that reflected in terms of car performance.“

Formula 1 made a welcome return to Austin this weekend for the United States Grand Prix and it was a good day for McLaren F1 Team, which saw them move closer towards BWT Alpine F1 Team in the Constructors Championship.

Lando Norris’ drive was simply remarkable with the British driver losing out on the pit stops and the safety car calls throughout the race. He also took damage driving through the debris of the crash between Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, which made driving a lot more difficult. But despite having no luck, he managed to get his McLaren into sixth place.

He was picking off other midfield cars with ease and outscored his Alpine rivals, Alonso and Esteban Ocon making it an extremely successful weekend for both him and the team.

“A good race! Races like these are more enjoyable compared to just being on your own, even though it’s a lot tougher. It was very enjoyable, especially the race with Fernando.

“I had a tricky start, getting caught behind an incident ahead. We also picked up damage halfway through the race, so I’m very happy to have finished P6 today. We came away with the best result possible and picked up some decent points.” 

Mattia Binotto says there were mixed emotions for Scuderia Ferrari following Sunday’s United States Grand Prix, with good feelings about Charles Leclerc’s climb from twelfth on the grid to the podium being offset by Carlos Sainz Jr.’s first lap retirement.

Sainz had started the race at the Circuit of the Americas from pole position but found his afternoon all but over at turn one after being turned around by Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team’s George Russell, with the damage to his car too much for him to continue.

Leclerc had started outside the top ten after taking a ten-place grid penalty for engine component changes earlier in the weekend, but a rapid start and well-timed safety car intervention put him into contention for the top three.

Binotto, the Team Principal at Ferrari, admits Oracle Red Bull Racing have an advantage over them at this stage of the season, and it will be up to them to prepare a better car for the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship so Leclerc and Sainz can have a better chance of competing for the title.

Red Bull clinched the Constructors’ Championship at the Circuit of the Americas, which Binotto says honoured Dietrich Mateschitz, who passed away across the weekend, in the best way possible, but he says Ferrari will be trying to make it difficult for their rivals across the final three race weekends of 2022.

Charles Leclerc admitted he enjoyed the United States Grand Prix on Sunday as he climbed from twelfth on the grid to finish on the podium in third place.

A grid penalty had relegated the Scuderia Ferrari driver from the front row to the sixth row at the Circuit of the Americas, but Leclerc made early gains to run inside the top ten, and then took advantage of a well-timed safety car to move into contention for the top three.

He even took second place away from Max Verstappen when the Dutchman suffered a slow pit stop, but the pace of the Oracle Red Bull Racing driver was too much for him to keep him behind, and he felt back to third.

Although he suffered with tyre degradation in the closing laps, he had done enough to take the final step on the podium, and even withstood a late charge from the second Red Bull of Sergio Pérez to ensure he moved ahead of the Mexican and back into second place in the Drivers’ Championship.

“It was a fun race and I really enjoyed the battles with Max (Verstappen) and Checo (Pérez) on track today,” said Leclerc.  “I had a solid start and after that, the first few laps were all about practicing patience.

Max Verstappen dedicated his United States Grand Prix victory to the memory of Dietrich Mateschitz, the co-founder of Red Bull who sadly passed away last weekend.

Mateschitz died aged seventy-eight on Saturday and was an instrumental part in Verstappen’s career, the Dutchman joining one of his two teams – Scuderia Toro Rosso – in 2015 before switching to the other – Oracle Red Bull Racing – in 2016.

Verstappen was in control of the race at the Circuit of the Americas on Sunday until a slow pit stop relegated him to third, but he made decisive overtakes on both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, arguably his biggest rivals of the past two years, to retake the lead and win for a record-equalling thirteenth time in 2022.

“It was a tough one,” Verstappen is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. “It was all looking good, but then the pit stop was a bit longer than we would have liked, so I had to fight my way forward again. But we gave it everything out there today.

“Of course it’s a very difficult weekend for us, so this is dedicated to Dietrich, for what he has done for everyone.

Lewis Hamilton felt the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team showed solid pit stop and performance strategy at the Circuit of the Americas. The team’s performance in Austin confirmed the final step-up of the upgrade package of the season, which was introduced this weekend.

Hamilton took a strong second-place finish at the United States Grand Prix after leading the race from laps forty-one to forty-nine before a late overtake from Max Verstappen denied him his first win of the season. Running a medium/hard/hard strategy, Hamilton drove superbly as the W13 seemed to bring the pace that Mercedes had been lacking for the majority of the 2022 season.

The seven-time world champion was happy with his performance, but the drive proved to be harder than Hamilton expected upon his reflection on the race.

“I’m shattered. It felt amazing to be in the lead, but the car was a handful today. We came here with upgrades, and we closed the gap a little bit. It was so close, and I did everything I could to try and stay ahead, but Red Bull were just a little bit too quick.

“We’ve been working so hard as a Team over this year, and there are lots of positives from this race, as a team we showed great pit stop and strategy performance. I’m also happy with my performance and it was showing when we have a competitive car, I can bring it home. So we’ll keep pushing and we’ll try and give it everything we can over the next three races – it’ll come to us at some stage.”

Christian Horner felt Dietrich Mateschitz, the Red Bull co-owner who passed away during the United States Grand Prix weekend, would have been proud of the way Max Verstappen recovered from a slow pit stop to pass both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to take victory in Sunday’s race at the Circuit of the Americas.

Verstappen looked on course for an easy win as he was clear of the field prior to his second pit stop, but a problematic wheel gun meant an eleven second pit stop and the loss of the lead.  Such was the delay he came out behind Scuderia Ferrari’s Leclerc as well as Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team’s Hamilton.

Horner, the Team Principal at Oracle Red Bull Racing, was delighted to see Verstappen take the victory, with he and team-mate Sergio Pérez doing enough to clinch the World Constructors’ Championship in the United States, something Mateschitz would have taken great delight in celebrating.

“I think that Max was driving a very controlled race today,” Horner is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. “And then it all came alive when we had a gun issue on the second stop for Max, and we’d already elected to go on to the medium, which we felt was the better tyre.

“And he lost close to probably eight seconds in the pitstop. Which put him behind Charles [Leclerc], and then obviously he had to close down that gap down to Lewis. And it was almost as if it had been scripted for him to have to come back through the field.

BWT Alpine F1 Team are to protest against the penalty that was awarded to Fernando Alonso following the conclusion of the United States Grand Prix.

Alonso was awarded a penalty after Haas F1 Team claimed that the Alpine car was unsafe due to the right-hand mirror moving and falling off. The damage had been done after an incident that saw Alonso going airborne after a crash with Lance Stroll during the race when the Spaniard was trying to overtake the Canadian driver.

The stewards and FIA technical staff reviewed the protest and agreed the car was unsafe, but this morning Alpine issued a statement confirming they will protest the decision. They are deciding to protest the decision due to the Haas protest being lodged twenty-four minutes after the specified deadline and they believe that it should not have been accepted by the FIA.

“The team acted fairly and deemed the car remained structurally safe as a result of Fernando’s incident with Lance Stroll on lap 22 of the race with the right-side rear view wing mirror detaching from the chassis as a result of accident damage caused by Stroll,” read the Alpine statement.

“The FIA has the right to black and orange flag a car during the race if they consider it unsafe and, on this occasion, they assessed the car and decided not to action the flag. “Moreover, after the race, the FIA technical delegate considered the car legal.

Kyle Larson has long been a threat to win at Homestead-Miami Speedway, dazzling with his high racing line along the outside wall. However, that often came back to bite him in the end as his strong runs were generally undermined by coming up short or being overshadowed by the championship battle during Homestead’s time as the season finale.

While he has been eliminated from the playoffs, he still locked his #5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet into the NASCAR Cup Series Owner’s Championship Round by leading 199 of 267 laps en route to his first win at Homestead. It is his third victory of 2022 after Fontana and Watkins Glen.

“Definitely the best run we’ve had all year long,” said Larson. “We’ve been capable of it I feel like many weekends, we just haven’t quite put it all together. Cliff (Daniels, crew chief) gave a great speech this morning and got us all ready to go and focused and did my best to keep it out of the wall. I got in the wall a few times but I could still make speed doing that.

“Amazing race car. I knew that that last run was going to be short enough where I was going to be in some sort of trouble there, but thankfully A.J. (Allmendinger) and Ross (Chastain) were racing hard behind me.”

It was not all smooth sailing for Larson as highlighted on lap 246, when Tyler Reddick wrecked to bring out a caution. As they came to pit road, Larson spun Martin Truex Jr., who was leading up to the accident, and caused him to nearly collide with his pit crew. Both drivers shared responsibility for the incident.