Postcards from... Austin

This time he had to work for it; in fact the Dutchman made life difficult for himself right from qualifying on Friday. But in the end, the result was the same as it had been in the 14 of the 19 grands prix held prior to Austin: Max Verstappen was on the top step of the podium and the score is now 15 out of 20.  The three-time world champion equalled his own record from last year for the number of wins in one season, and there are still four races in 2023 left to go. Austin also marked Verstappen's 50^th career win, which on paper at least puts him on course to beat every record in the sport. Max has only just turned 26, and without going to the extreme of Fernando Alonso – who is still hungry for more at 41 – it's easy to imagine the Dutchman carrying on for at least another decade in Formula 1. Time is firmly on his side.

Lance Stroll hadn't scored points since Belgium, and then suffered a brutal series of setbacks – such as the accident that stopped him from racing in the Singapore Grand Prix – which even led to rumours about his possible retirement from Formula 1. But at Austin, Lance proved that he hasn't given up. The Canadian brought home a fighting ninth place finish (which became seventh after Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were disqualified) despite starting from the pit lane together with his team mate Fernando Alonso and the Haas duo. It showed a good strength of character, particularly during a weekend in which Aston Martin were relying on him to test a new floor in a back-to-back comparison with the previous version, run by Alonso.

It took 30 years for another American to score points in a World Championship Formula 1 race.

Logan Sargeant already came close at Silverstone, when he was classified 11th: one place higher than his initial result at Austin. So there wasn't a huge amount to celebrate immediately after the flag dropped, with his team mate Alex Albon – just ahead of him – also failing to score. Then came the bombshell of Hamilton and Leclerc's disqualifications, and suddenly both Williams were in the points for the first time since the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix.

The last American to score points in Formula 1 was Michael Andretti, who managed an excellent third in the 1993 Italian Grand Prix. That was also his last race – but now the Andretti name seems set to return to Formula 1, this time as a team. And that's a whole other story.

Yuki Tsunoda didn't have to profit from the misfortunes of others to celebrate at Austin. Not only did AlphaTauri's Japanese driver score a point for 10th place at the chequered flag, but he also doubled that total by claiming another point for fastest lap. An inspired stop on the penultimate lap for new soft tyres meant that he beat the 1m39.366s benchmark previously laid down by his team mate Daniel Ricciardo: although the Australian wasn't eligible for the extra championship point as he was 15th and last. So it came as something of a shock to Yuki when he was called into the pits – as he frankly admitted in his post-race interview – but he followed instructions to the letter and accomplished his mission, laying down a marker of 1m38.139s. Tsunoda therefore became the third Japanese driver in F1 history to record a fastest race lap after Kamui Kobayashi (in China 2012) and Satoru Nakajima (Australia 1989) – although the rules didn't reward them with an extra point at the time. Tsunoda's two points subsequently became five after the disqualifications of Hamilton and Leclerc: an unexpected gift for AlphaTauri, which now stands a chance of getting off the bottom rung of the championship ladder. Just two points separate them from Haas in ninth, and six points from Alfa Romeo in eighth.