Source : @F1
AUSTIN — Formula 1 has looked back at one of the most memorable podium scenes in the history of the United States Grand Prix, sharing photographs of basketball great Shaquille O’Neal presenting the winner’s trophy at the Circuit of The Americas in 2021, days before the sport returns to Texas.
The sport’s official X account posted the images on Tuesday (Oct 20) with the caption: “When @SHAQ presented the winner’s trophy in 2021”, alongside the hashtags #F1 and #USGP. One photograph shows O’Neal applauding on the podium between race winner Max Verstappen of Red Bull and second-placed Lewis Hamilton, then of Mercedes. Another shows him grinning and gesturing beside a Red Bull car surrounded by mechanics on the grid, while a third captures a vintage open-top car fitted with a giant pair of longhorns in the pit lane.
The race itself, held on Oct 24, 2021, was one of the tensest of a classic season. Hamilton beat pole-sitter Verstappen into Turn 1, but Red Bull brought the Dutchman in for an early first pit stop and the undercut handed him the lead. Mercedes kept Hamilton out longer for his second stop, on lap 37, and the Briton emerged 8.8 seconds behind before mounting a late charge, getting within a second of the Red Bull with two laps remaining.
Verstappen held on to win by 1.333 seconds, with his team-mate Sergio Pérez third, to extend his championship lead to 12 points with five races to go. According to the BBC, the battle played out in front of 140,000 spectators at a packed circuit, at the end of a weekend on which Formula 1’s popularity in the United States appeared to reach new levels.
O’Neal, a four-time NBA champion who stands 7ft 1in, was at the circuit to perform a DJ set, according to Fox News. Australian broadcaster Nine reported that he arrived in the pit lane in an open-top car and had to duck to make his way into the garage and up onto the podium. In slightly awkward scenes, he found himself standing between the two title rivals as the Dutch national anthem played, although presenters normally appear only after the anthems.
He then remained in the background as Hamilton and Pérez collected their trophies, the Daily Mail noted, still towering over Hamilton, who is listed at 5ft 7in, even though the Mercedes driver was standing on the second step. Verstappen went on to clinch his first world title at the season finale in Abu Dhabi that December.
Several of the drivers in that 2021 race will be on the grid again this weekend in very different colours. Pérez and Valtteri Bottas, who finished sixth for Mercedes that day, now race for the new Cadillac team, while Hamilton drives for Ferrari. Verstappen, now a four-time world champion, arrives in Austin on the back of victory at the Singapore Grand Prix on Oct 11, the 73rd win of his career on his 250th Grand Prix start.
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli leads the drivers’ standings on 340 points, 102 clear of team-mate George Russell, with Hamilton third on 229 and Verstappen fourth on 221. Mercedes top the constructors’ championship on 578 points, ahead of Ferrari on 444.
The United States Grand Prix weekend runs from Oct 23 to 25, with qualifying at 4pm local time on Saturday and the 56-lap race starting at 3pm on Sunday, which is 4am on Monday (Oct 26) in Malaysia. The original Formula 1 post can be viewed on X: https://x.com/F1/status/2112533543263891837.
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