Lewis Hamilton faced a nervous wait ahead of the United States Grand Prix as Mercedes engineers made last-minute changes to his W13.
The Brit reported to his team that he could feel a problem with his brakes on the lap to the grid around half-an-hour before lights out. To resolve it, the Silver Arrows took the bold decision to completely chance the materials in his brakes with just 15 minutes to go.
Fortunately for Hamilton, his engineers were able to complete the job in time for the formation lap. As the work was carried out under the watchful eye of the FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer, it meant there was no penalty and the start of his race was unaffected by the last-minute work on his car.
Even better news for Hamilton was that he was able to avoid the chaos at the start of the race. Carlos Sainz started on pole, but was taken out by George Russell at the first corner and dropped to last place, before being retired by Ferrari.
It meant a sixth DNF of the season for the Spaniard, who has endured some rotten luck in 2022. Russell, meanwhile, was immediately placed under investigation by the stewards, and duly received a five-second penalty for T-boning Sainz's car.
Ferrari later confirmed that they had been forced to retire the car because it had sprung a water leak as a result of the crash. With Charles Leclerc starting in the back half of the grid due to a penalty, it was a nightmare scenario for Ferrari who are desperate for one more race win before the end of the year.
Sainz's loss meant a gain for Max Verstappen, who started second but held the lead coming out of the first corner. Hamilton was up to second as well, but the biggest winners were surely the two Aston Martin drivers.
Lance Stroll was already in a great position starting fifth, and it was looking even better for the Canadian as he was left in third place after that Sainz incident. Sebastian Vettel also had a lightning-fast start and moved up to fifth, before both were reeled in by Sergio Perez.
