TOPSHOT - Red Bull Racing's Dutch driver Max Verstappen (C) sprays Red Bull as the Red Bull Racing team celebrates winning the Constructors title and the Formula One United States Grand Prix, at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, on October 23, 2022. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Formula One Power Rankings: United States Grand Prix

It was an exciting race at the Circuit of the Americas featuring a battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, and an incredible race from Sebastian Vettel in his final race in the United States.

Once again it was Red Bull's weekend with the team wrapping up the constructors' championship following the death of Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz.

There were crashes, penalty pandemonium and chatter on the team radio about track limits in an exciting weekend in Texas.

Last week's rankings are in brackets.

1. Max Verstappen - Red Bull Racing (1)

Already the 2022 World Champion, Max Verstappen could take the final four races of the season easy but the Dutchman has a final record in his sights for this season. Now equal with Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher for race wins in a single season, Verstappen is poised to have one of the all-time great ends to the season.

Finishing five seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton, it's easy to forget that Verstappen came back from an 11-second pit stop when the wheel gun failed that left the Dutchman fuming. However, as he has so many times this season, Verstappen picked off the drivers in front of him and secured yet another win.

2. Charles Leclerc - Ferrari (2)

Charles Leclerc defied the odds at COTA this weekend, clocking in the second-fastest time in qualifying to start 12th on the grid after an engine penalty. It was a tall order for the Monaguesque driver to finish on the podium.

But that's just what he did earning his fifth consecutive podium for the first time in his career, pulling off one of the overtakes of the race on Perez to put himself in prime position to nab a spot on the podium.

3. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes (5)

It feels good to see Lewis Hamilton lead a Grand Prix and while he didn't cross the line in first place in Texas, the seven-time World Championship winner put on a show.

Leading for eight laps, Hamilton - on hard compound tyres - held off Max Verstappen on mediums for as long as he could, and when that failed, in true Mercedes form in 2022, Hamilton brought out the rule book. Hamilton got on the team radio, broadcasting every moment the Dutchman exceeded track limits but couldn't force race control's hand to give Verstappen a five-second penalty.

4. Sergio Perez - Red Bull Racing (3)

After two brilliant races in a row from Sergio Perez, a fourth-place finish might sound disappointing but what some people who didn't tune in may not have noticed is the Red Bull driver had a broken front wing for almost the entirety of the race.

Losing up to two-tenths of a second per lap and with George Russell and Charles Leclerc in fine form, a fourth-place finish heading into his home race was an impressive feat.

5. George Russell - Mercedes (4)

George Russell has entered his villain era in the second half of the season and decided to wreak havoc on the grid at the first corner on race day, t-boning Carlos Sainz, but the Mercedes front wing suffered very little damage.

After receiving a light penalty a top five finish was well within reach for Russell and by the end of the 56-lap race, Mercedes gave up on the battle for fourth with Sergio Perez to chase the additional point for fastest lap clocking in at 1:38.788.

6. Lando Norris - McLaren (7)

Not many drivers pulled off more overtakes than Lando Norris at the Circuit of the Americas who tumbled down to 13th after pitting and had to fight his way back into the points, picking off cars one by one with some incredible overtakes going into the corners.

7. Carlos Sainz - Ferrari (6)

Starting on pole, Carlos Sainz was looking to continue his 100 per cent conversion rate of pole positions into podium finishes but George Russell had something to say about that coming into turn one on the first lap.

After Russell t-boned Sainz it appeared as though the Ferrari may have been able to continue but as he came into the pits it was clear he couldn't continue due to damage to the car as a result of the collision.

8. Sebastian Vettel - Aston Martin (9)

You wouldn't know it based on his recent form but after the US Grand Prix Sebastian Vettel only has three races left in a Formula One car. The four-time World Champion had an unbelievable race going head-to-head with the top three teams and finally crossing 3500 laps led, leading for laps 39-40 before Lewis Hamilton overtook him.

Vettel could have finished with more points in hand if it weren't for a dreadful pit stop that seemed to never end, but kept in the points for the third race in a row.

9. Esteban Ocon - Alpine (8)

Esteban Ocon's slight dip in form continued this week with the Frenchman struggling in qualifying and setting the 18th-fastest time, starting in the pit lane after exchanging power units in parc fermé.

However, despite a horrible qualifying, Ocon capitalised on the various incidents throughout the race to cross the line in 12th, only to get promoted into the points following post-race penalties being handed down.

10. Fernando Alonso - Alpine (10)

There are so many things that could be said about Fernando Alonso's performance in Texas. As the driver that had the most eventful race of any of the drivers got caught up in the collision with Lance Stroll, losing half his front wing in the process, and fighting back from dead last to finish in seventh in thrilling form.

However he didn't stay in seventh. If it weren't for a pesky mirror that flew off the car and race control not showing him the black and orange flags, the stewards made the decision to give Alonso a 10-second stop and go penalty post-race following a protest from Haas resulting in 30 seconds getting added to his final time and plummeting him down to 15th.

The issue hasn't been resolved, with Alpine protesting the decision that won't be heard until Thursday but until then Alonso and the results of the USGP remain in limbo.

11. Pierre Gasly - Alpha Tauri (12)

The FIA seems to have taken Pierre Gasly's criticism at Suzuka personally and executed its revenge by handing down penalty after penalty on the Frenchman. Starting in 11th, Gasly looked impressive and seemed to have the same pace as his teammate but there was drama afoot when Gasly received a five-second penalty for being more than 10 car lengths behind the next car under a safety car that even the commentary team deemed harsh.

Said penalty resulted in another penalty with race control ruling he did not come to a complete stop for five seconds and because Gasly did not serve that penalty during the race, an additional five seconds was added on top of that resulting in a 10-second penalty that pushed him from 11th to 13th.

12. Lance Stroll - Aston Martin (13)

The moment everyone will be talking about from Lance Stroll's time at the US Grand Prix is the collision that took him out of the race with Fernando Alonso.

But other than that moment, it was an impressive weekend for Stroll, qualifying in seventh and promoted to fifth after grid penalties. The Canadian got off to a great start creeping up into third but was unable to hold off the likes of George Russell and Sergio Perez for long.

13. Yuki Tsunoda - Alpha Tauri (18)

From P19 to P9, Yuki Tsunoda was unlucky to not be named driver of the day, putting in a solid performance without any drama whatsoever at the US Grand Prix.

Tsunoda seemed to make his car look tiny, finding incredible lines to make a few risky overtakes while also avoiding the chaos, while being helped on by Alpha Tauri making the right strategy calls when bringing him into the pits.

14. Zhou Guanyu - Alfa Romeo (15)

Zhou Guanyu was tantalisingly close to the points at the Circuit of the Americas, finishing in 11th following the Alonso penalty. Guanyu's first appearance in Texas wasn't an overly exciting one but aside from a lap time getting deleted he made very few mistakes all weekend.

15. Kevin Magnussen - Haas (19)

After seven races outside of the points, Kevin Magnussen finally got a top 10 finish and in his team's home race to boot. For 55 laps it was a reasonably quiet race from the Haas driver who worked his way up into the points from 13th on the grid.

However, it was lap 56 that everyone was talking about with Magnussen battling Sebastian Vettel and only just losing out.

16. Daniel Ricciardo - McLaren (11)

If your favourite part of Daniel Ricciardo's weekend was the moment he rode into the Paddock at COTA on a horse on Thursday then you'd be correct because there was nothing to write home about for the rest of the weekend.

Aside from a P3 in free practice two, Ricciardo was nowhere near it all weekend, getting eliminated in the first round in qualifying and finishing in 16th only ahead of Nicholas Latifi who he struggled to pass.

17. Valtteri Bottas - Alfa Romeo (14)

Valtteri Bottas cannot win a trick it seems. The second half of the season has been a tale of two scenarios. Either the Alfa Romeo engine is well off the pace and finishes outside the points, or Bottas looks competitive and something goes wrong.

This time it wasn't due to the Alfa Romeo's reliability issues that caused the DNF and was instead an error on Bottas' part, resulting in him spinning off the track and getting caught in the gravel trap.

18. Alex Albon - Williams (17)

After two DNFs in a row starting eighth on the grid and finishing 12th overall has got to taste pretty sweet for Alex Albon. It wasn't the ideal race for the Williams driver, who was well within range to finish within the points. But after having to pit earlier than the rest of the field twice and staying out on older hard compound tyres, his ability to go toe-to-toe with Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda was impressive.

19. Mick Schumacher - Haas (16)

Luck just doesn't seem to be swinging Mick Schumacher's way after the second-year driver finished outside of the points again this weekend after putting in a good fight initially.

After the race, Schumacher revealed that his car picked up damage following the collision between Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll with debris out on the track hampering his performance but with only three races to go and the German desperately in need of points to retain a seat, there's only so many excuses left before he's out.

20. Nicholas Latifi - Williams (20)

It was another race weekend with nothing special from Nicholas Latifi, the Canadian driver qualifying in 20th on Saturday and the last place finisher of the drivers on race day.

The most notable moment of Latifi's race was when he spun out, tumbling down the order and staying there for the remainder of the race.