It was almost a clean start apart away from the grid apart from a tiny tap between the two Ferrraris and the US GP was underway. Antonelli was off into the distance. Leclerc took third and then second place from the Red Bulls and then Verstappen took it back. This argy-bargy meant that Antonelli left them far behind and was over two seconds clear after the first lap. There was a very quick Virtual Safely Car to clear some debris; no time to make a pit stop. Alonso was the only real loser at the start and dropped five places, the debris had come from Albon's car as it came past him.
After only eight laps, Piastri was asked to let Norris through. They were both on medium tyres with no other discerning difference between the cars, it may have been unfair although Piastri was told they were on different strategies. This didn't seem to be put back later and Norris went for some risky strategies to stay ahead and finished fifth.
Russell, who is one of the few drivers who could challenge Antonelli for the championship, was given a five second penalty for leaving the track at the start. It seemed petty.
The first round of stops were very early. I felt we had only just begun. Norris was served poorly with a long stop and Hamilton came out behind Lawson.
In between quite a lot of overtaking, Bearman was given a ten second penalty for a collision with Gasly at the beginning of the race. He received an unusual radio message from the team telling him they were happy to retire the car on lap 26.
Antonelli made one stop whilst many others were going for two. He made it pretty much in the middle of the race and came out in fourth between the Ferraris and bequeathing the lead to Verstappen. After the second round of stops everything was refreshed and he was back at the front.
On lap 52 of 56 a Virtual Safety Car was called because Bottas had come to a stop at the side of the track. It had all been a bit racy up front and now the race was put on a freezehold. Apparently, Antonelli was going to make a stop but he didn't ,which seemed like the right thing to do. He had 19 seconds at the end of it.
Ferrari finally came good, having lost direction in Qualifying, and Leclerc finished second. Verstappen took third place, which he wasn't unhappy with and then it was Hamilton, Norris, Hadjar, Piastri, Russell, Lawson and Gasly.
It was an awful outing for Cadillac and Williams with Aston Martin coming out ahead at the back. Further up it was a real mixed bag with team mate quite far apart from each other. Antonelli did everything he could to secure the championship at CotA: pole position and race winner. Hamilton and Russell were both only one place away from handing it to him. Has he won it this year or did everyone else lose it?
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