Disaster for Carlos Sainz and display of courage by Fernando Alonso in Austin

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It is not convenient to anger

, thirsty for glory even when he has already exceeded all expectations.

No one should exacerbate the two-time champion.

Neither

, in search of his first victory of the year, nor Red Bull itself, which put its leader in a critical situation with a dire

on lap 36. No less than 11 seconds of deficit in the Circuit of the Americas , where the enraged Dutchman recovered to add his thirteenth victory in 2022. After 19 races, this 68.4% success rate is terrifyingly illuminating.

Nothing Hamilton could do, who on lap 34 launched an ordeal with the

, leading virtually.

's further derision

, he had also been beaten by the hand in the

by Charles Leclerc .

He was so furious that

's engineers had to take him down a peg: "We're in this together, so stay focused, because there's a long way to go."

Stung in pride, the two-time champion launched himself like a man possessed by Leclerc.

And as much as the Monegasque resisted, he had to give way at Turn 12. From there, Verstappen sped towards Hamilton, somewhat tender in defending him.

The great leader of F1 was able to pay tribute to

, founder of Red Bull, who died on Saturday.

Far from glory, almost light years away, was

, author of an erratic start from

.

In the first corner, when he was closing the angle in search of more traction, his Ferrari suffered the attack of

.

The problem went beyond a puncture or a dent in the aerodynamics.

, track engineer, had immediately detected the water leak in the radiator that made it impossible for the car to survive.

"It's incredible. I don't even know what happened," admitted Carlos, whose sorrow should not have diminished when he learned of Russell's five-second penalty, the lightest within the reach of the stewards.

Plan E for Leclerc

The Mercedes driver did not even take the hint as he battled with

for third place, in a repeat of his great run by Paul Ricard.

After serving the punishment, during his first

, he would rejoin track ninth.

Knocking out the author of the

, with a block out of place, had not been very burdensome.

With that disheartening prospect at Ferrari, Leclerc at least recovered six positions in 12 laps to take sixth, with a brilliant maneuver against

.

While his rivals passed through the

, the Monegasque came within three seconds of Hamilton's third place, showing that his tire degradation was going better than expected.

Of course, when they told him that his strategy should stick to Plan E, after discarding the previous four, he must have smiled sardonically.

If incentives were missing, beyond

' gravel excursion

brought them all at once.

That safety car favored, among others, Leclerc and

, who took the opportunity to renew their footwear.

A mirage for the Spaniard, who almost suffered a terrible accident on lap 22.

As he was about to

on the backstretch, the Canadian stepped in his way.

With the only support of the rear wheels and the nose pointing towards the sky, Alonso did enough minimizing the lateral impact against the wall.

When they inquired about his condition, he still hadn't heard a thread: "He maneuvered too late."

Without further reproaches, at least registered, against his next partner at Aston Martin.

That unheard of clumsiness, deserving of severe punishment, dirty the Canadian's career, who had even threatened to attack the favorites.

With the front wing destroyed, Alonso did quite a bit to reach the garage.

With the geometry of the car totally altered, continuing in the race seemed, simply, a miracle.

But Alonso still mustered the courage to overtake

, just as his left mirror was falling apart.

He wanted to hunt down the points, while keeping

, McLaren's standard bearer, Alpine's rival in the Constructors' World Championship, at bay.

He only fulfilled one of the premises, but this seventh place should make him feel very proud.

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• Carlos Sainz Jr.

• Max Verstappen

• Lewis Hamilton

• Mercedes GP

• Red Bull Racing

• Fernando Alonso