Max Verstappen wasn't phased by being chased by Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages of the United States Grand Prix, stating that he's "been in that position before". The Red Bull driver came in for his second pit-stop eight laps earlier than his championship rival. This resulted in Hamilton, on fresher tyres, closing the gap and putting pressure on Verstappen with each passing lap. In the end, Verstappen did enough to hold onto his lead and take his eighth win of the season. Having been in similar positions in the past, Verstappen says his focus was solely on doing the best job possible. "I think I've been in this position before, where you're in the lead with older tyres, or the other way around, where you are hunting," Verstappen told RacingNews365.com and other members of the media. "I just tried to do the best I could, trying to be consistent and trying to find the grip within the tyre without damaging too much "It wasn't easy, but it made it, in the end, really exciting." Although Verstappen led the way following the first round of pit-stops, Hamilton got the better of him off the line. Hamilton slipped down the inside into Turn 1, but Verstappen says he remained calm despite finding himself behind his championship rival. "Yeah, I mean, what can you do? We tried to stay close, and it seemed like on the Medium tyre we had really good pace, because I could stay in the DRS [zone]," Verstappen added. "As soon as we went to the Hard tyre, it seemed like that pace wasn't there as much, which was a bit surprising. "But nevertheless, we managed to hang on. Of course, that first stop was very early on, but luckily it worked out."
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