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The 2023 F1 US GP sprint saw Max Verstappen cruise to a win. The Dutch driver did face some early resistance from Lewis Hamilton, who was in the DRS zone of him for a few laps. However, once that was shrugged off, it all became a walk in the park.
The 2023 F1 US GP sprint saw Verstappen defend from Charles Leclerc at the start of the race. The aggressive attack didn't work out for Leclerc as he also lost out on P2 to Hamilton. From that point onwards, it was a bit of a stalemate as Verstappen cruised to a win, with Hamilton trying to keep up at one point but falling back by nine seconds.
In a 2023 F1 US GP sprint that was anything but exciting, who would be feeling accomplished, and who would be a bit disappointed? Let's take a look.
2023 F1 US GP Sprint
Winner
Max Verstappen
It was a bit interesting at the start of the race when Max Verstappen was being hounded by Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes driver was within the DRS range and kept up the pressure. Little did we know that the Red Bull driver was being cautious and bringing his tires up to temperature.
Once that was done, Verstappen was on his way to a very comfortable win. The Dutchman continues to turn up and get the job done without doing much wrong these days.
Loser
The Sprint format
It's about time we admit that the sprint format is fractured beyond repair. The concept that has been put in place at the moment will not yield good racing more often than not.
The race in Qatar was an anomaly where drivers were open to different strategic options in terms of tires. Here it was not the case and more often than not it isn't.
FOM is hell-bent on having a sprint weekend but if that is the case maybe it needs to throw the current system into the gutter and find a completely different one.
Winner
Lewis Hamilton
Whenever a new set of upgrades are brought to the car it does appear that Lewis Hamilton tends to gain a lot over his teammate.
This was evident when Mercedes last did it in Monaco and this was evident here as well. George Russell has struggled to keep the same level of performance that his teammate has shown during the 2023 F1 US GP and maybe the upgrades have a role to play in that.
Having said that, the car seems to be strong. With Max Verstappen starting behind Lewis Hamilton in the race there may be a possibility of fighting for the win should it present itself.
Loser
Ferrari
It became obvious very early that the one thing that has plagued Ferrari all season is back at the 2023 F1 US GP.
The car does not have the race pace to keep up with Mercedes let alone Red Bull. Looking at how Lando Norris was hounding Charles Leclerc later in the race even McLaren seemed to have a strong race pace.
Leclerc is going to find it hard to keep cars at bay in the podium fight by the looks of it, the race pace does not seem to be there.
Winner
Daniel Ricciardo
It might not look like that at first glance when we see the finishing order but Daniel Ricciardo has impressed on the Saturday of the 2023 F1 US GP. The Australian was very impressive in the manner in which he got into Q2 while Yuki Tsunoda didn't.
His race pace was also not bad as he continued to put in impressive lap times and stood his ground. With Tsunoda as the benchmark, these drives help a lot. Especially with Sergio Perez not having the best of time at Red Bull either.
Loser
Sergio Perez
On paper, the 2023 F1 US GP sprint was not too bad for Sergio Perez. He finished P5 and had a decent recovery in the race. The perspective does start changing when you look at the fact that the Mexican was more than 20 seconds behind his teammate.
Max Verstappen won the 2023 F1 US GP sprint by nine seconds in a 19 lap race and his teammate was not even on the podium. That's just not a good look for the Mexican.
