On Sunday, Max Verstappen raised the morale of his team a little at its lowest.

Its victory at the F1 Grand Prix of the United States, bringing the title of the constructors to Red Bull, came to console the Austrian team bereaved by the death of its founder Dietrich Mateschitz and under the blow of a sanction for exceeding the budget ceiling in 2021.

“Obviously it's a very difficult weekend for us and we dedicate it to Dietrich.

The only thing we could do today was win, ”reacted the double world champion hotly.

Two weeks after his coronation at Suzuka, the Dutchman was ahead of Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari).

Overwhelming dominance

Carlos Sainz Jr (Ferrari), who started from pole position, retired after a few hectometres, after missing his start, hit at the first corner by Briton George Russell (Mercedes).

Verstappen also took the opportunity to equal the record of 13 wins in a season, co-owned by Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.

A remarkable performance, nevertheless to be put into perspective because, in their time, the two Germans had fewer races on the calendar (18 and 19 against 22).

The fact remains that the domination of "Super Max" is more than ever overwhelming in this 2022 financial year and it has three more events, in Mexico, Brazil and then Abu Dhabi, to establish a new benchmark.

His second consecutive victory on the bumpy Circuit of the Americas was not easy, however.

While in the lead, a turning point in the 36th of the 56 laps added suspense to the race, when his tire change dragged on (11.1 seconds).

When he left the pits, behind Charles Leclerc, who entered just after him but was quicker to get out, the angry Dutchman launched a bitter “pretty, pretty” on the radio, addressed to his mechanics.

Down in 5th position, he took it twice to overtake the Monegasque.

And with six laps to go, he overtook Hamilton to win the race.

Already 15 wins for Red Bull this season

Verstappen's success therefore offers Red Bull the 5th constructors' title in its history, the first since 2013 and 17 years after the first, crowning an almost total domination this season, since the team now has 15 victories in 19 events.

One only had to see the eyes filled with tears of his boss Christian Horner, to understand that mixed feelings crossed the stable, orphan of Dietrich Mateschitz, who died at 78 on Saturday.

Under these conditions, it is useless to wait from Red Bull for an announcement as to whether it was going to accept the sanction proposal formulated Thursday by the International Automobile Federation (FIA), which pinned it for exceeding the budget cap last season.

Despite everything, it was time to celebrate, in front of some 440,000 fans gathered around the Circuit of the Americas, a record.

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