Austin, Texas – Max Verstappen through the Lewis Hamilton late to earn a record 13th win of the season in the USA grand opening on Sunday, and brought a victory to honor the memory of Red Bull founder and group owner Dietrich Mateschitz.
Verstappen’s race was almost completed by a rare slow pit stop by Red Bull in the middle of the race that left him far behind Hamilton. But Verstappen fought back to overtake last season’s opponent for the championship in round 50 of 56.
Verstappen then had to hold Hamilton through the final laps when his team warned him not to exceed the track limit for a penalty.
Winning as a relief for Red Bull. The team announced just before qualifying on Saturday that Mateschitz had passed away at the age of 78. Verstappen swore he would give everything to get the win in his honor.
Victory continues to maintain Verstappen’s dominance into 2022. He won the season championship in Japan two weeks before. Sunday’s victory tied him with Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel the most in a season with three races still to go.
Since its inception, Red Bull has won six driving championships and five assistor titles. Verstappen’s win won the team this season’s championship
Mateschitz, the Austrian billionaire, co-founder of the global energy drink empire Red Bull, bought Jaguar team in 2004 and changed its name to Red Bull in 2005. He added a second team to the Red Bull stable when he bought the Minardi program renamed Toro Rosso in 2006 to train younger drivers. That team is now Alpha Tauri.
The team brought a teenage Verstappen into its racing program and promoted him F1 in 2015 when he was just 17 years old, with the hope that he could become the youngest champion in the history of the sport. Mercedes‘The dominance in 2014-2020 prevented that.
But Mateschitz, who was said to be ill for months and died aged 78, lived long enough to see Verstappen win two championships and start another era of dominance for the team he founded. .
F1 held a brief memorial service in Mateschitz’s honor before the race. Big signs of “Danke Didi” (Thank you, Didi) were posted on video screens and Vettel, who has won four championships with Red Bull and is now racing with Aston Martinseemed to be trying to hold back the tears.
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