Basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal was one of the most prominent American celebrities to visit the US Grand Prix this weekend, as F1 returned after a year-long hiatus.
Despite the abundance of celebrities at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), The former Lakers star took the whole event by a laughing storm. The 49-year-old O’Neal entered the grandstand in an EPIC longhorn car. O’Neal was holding the Grand Prix winner trophy, which he was supposed to hand over to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who won the race after a tiresome 56 laps long tussle.
However, the show wasn’t limited till here. The Lakers legend then stood alongside the three drivers on the podium, giving a rather funny sight to the fans.
Despite Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez standing on the podium, they were still smaller than O’Neal in height, leaving fans in hysteria, and obviously, social media erupted. O’Neal was also spotted at the start of the race chatting with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, and it took only a few moments for fans to circulate photos on Twitter. However, over here also for the fans, the height comparison between the two was their major talking point.
In the major show of the day, Max Verstappen held off a late charge from Lewis Hamilton to take a big win in the United States GP and increase his world championship lead to 12 points with five races to go. In yet another captivating duel between the title contenders that went all the way to the race's 56th and final lap, Verstappen withstood the pressure of a charging Mercedes on fresher tyres to claim his first win in the USA at a significant time in the season.
Hamilton had brilliantly overtaken his pole-sitting rival into the race's first corner, but Red Bull gained track position by pitting Verstappen first at the opening stops - and then again at the second when he was in the lead. Mercedes kept Hamilton out longer to ensure significantly fresher tyres for the closing laps and he rejoined from his second stop eight seconds behind Verstappen. He quickly reeled him in but, crucially, Verstappen could just about stay out of DRS range and keep his tyres in check to ensure Hamilton never got close enough to attempt a pass.
"Big for us to beat Mercedes here. I really didn't think he was going to pull that off," said a jubilant yet relieved Red Bull boss Christian Horner, who also saw Sergio Perez finish third in the sister car to ensure they cut the reigning champions' lead in the constructors' chase to 23 points.
Charles Leclerc drove a fabulous race to take home fourth for Ferrari, finishing closer to Perez's Red Bull (10s) than fifth-placed Daniel Ricciardo (24s) from constructors' championship rivals McLaren. With Carlos Sainz seventh, Ferrari moved to within three-and-a-half points of McLaren in the fight between the sport's former titans for third in the teams' standings.
Valtteri Bottas, who had started ninth after an engine change penalty, overtook Sainz on the final lap for sixth after a tricky race in the second Mercedes.
United States GP: Top 10 finishers
1) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
2) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
3) Sergio Perez, Red Bull
4) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
5) Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren
6) Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
7) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
8) Lando Norris, McLaren
9) Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri
10) Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin