Even a botched pit stop could not help the competition in the USA to a GP victory. During a pit stop, Max Verstappen and his pit crew stood for more than eleven seconds, struggling with the left front tire wheel skid.

“I had no words for it, it was very frustrating,” said the two-time Formula 1 champion. “That doesn’t make it easy for us,” he said with a small laugh, knowing full well that everything would fizzle out.

“Fortunately, this is a track that you can really race on. It’s not a track where you don’t have a chance if something like that happens,” said the Red Bull Racing driver.

“Win on a difficult weekend”

Verstappen passed Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton one after the other in the closing stages of the race. “I thought I was pushing my tires a bit too much in the first few laps after that pit stop. Nevertheless, I was able to move towards Charles step by step.”

“It wasn’t easy, but I’m very happy that we won what was a difficult weekend.” The world champion was referring to the death of Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz. The emotions were visible in the team, including advisor Helmut Marko, who listened to Verstappen’s words with tears in his eyes shortly after the race.

Verstappen: “We dedicate this win to Didi. We could only win for him. He was so important to the team. I’m sad but also proud of how the team worked.”

Red Bull secured the constructors’ title thanks to Verstappen’s victory and Pérez’s fourth place. “We knew we were going to have a great opportunity here, but you want to do it in style.”

Hamilton also showed his respect for Matechitz after a race in which he finally had another chance of winning. “It felt great to be at the top, it’s what we’ve worked so hard for as a team all year. We build on that. We keep going, one day it will fall to us.”

Nevertheless, Hamilton did not dream of victory for too long. “I thought for a moment: We can continue like this. But the medium tire from Verstappen was too strong for us.”

Hamilton has never completed a season without a win in his Formula 1 career but is still dry this year. Despite the hopeful race in the USA, he doesn’t think he has much of a chance of winning in the three remaining races. “We have to be realistic. The Red Bull is by far the fastest car on the field.”

Hamilton: “It was great to start from third place, but that was due to grid penalties from Charles and Sergio (Pérez, editor’s note). We know where we stand. It’s not very likely that it’s going to be really any different in the future.” Race.”

“I think we’ve taken a step in the right direction. But we still lose a lot of time on the straights, so we have to keep working on that.”

“I’m happy about the win every time”

Verstappen equaled the record of thirteen GP wins in the Texas season. He is on par with Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher. It’s not a statistic that warms Verstappen, at least not a big fan of facts and lists.

“We’re racing more these days so it’s hard to compare. We’re having a great season but you can win a lot with a great car. I don’t really look at those stats, I’m just happy about it.” win every time.”