Daniel plays defence for a fighting fifth in Texas

A brilliant first lap and a flawless drive for the next 55 gave Daniel 10 precious world championship points as F1 returned to the United States after two years away. 

Can one moment make a race weekend? Not always, but it can set the scene for a strong result, which was the case in Daniel's fifth-place finish at the Circuit of the Americas as Formula One returned to the US after missing out in 2020.

Daniel's weekend started well (because it was in the US), got better from there (more on that later) and improved even further after he qualified seventh on Saturday, gaining one place on the starting grid for Sunday's 56-lap race after Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas dropped five places for an engine penalty. 

The promotion pitched Daniel onto the dirty side of the starting grid, but it mattered little as he was on the attack from outset, fighting with McLaren teammate Lando Norris and – crucially for McLaren's constructors' championship fight with Ferrari – Carlos Sainz on the opening lap. Daniel won that protracted battle, ended lap one in fifth place, and then got his elbows out. 

On a hot day and with the Circuit of the Americas' track surface baking in the autumnal sun, Daniel pitted twice (on lap 11 and lap 30 respectively) for hard tyres, and both times needed to repel Sainz as the Ferrari driver came at him in what was a quicker car, Sainz's teammate Charles Leclerc showing just how quick as he sauntered away from Daniel in fourth. 

Daniel eventually crossed the line 3.4secs ahead of Bottas after the Finn passed Sainz on the penultimate lap, and allowed McLaren to protect its slim advantage over Ferrari for third in the teams' race, McLaren now 3.5 points ahead with five Grands Prix remaining.

In all, Daniel spent 48 of the 56 laps in fifth place, and while Leclerc finished 24 seconds up the road, Daniel was hot, mentally drained but satisfied after 94 minutes of watching what was going on behind him as much as he was focusing forwards. 

"It was definitely one of the tougher races this year because defending like that, it can be pretty exhausting as there's more pressure on you, you're looking in your mirrors a bit more and you're more highly-strung at times," he says. 

"I was on my toes for most of the race but I enjoyed it, it was nice to be in some battles." 

Ferrari has pegged back McLaren's early-season lead the longer the year has gone, and Daniel says that, for now, the red team has the upper hand on pace, making results like Sunday's all the more important. 

"I hope it's more track-specific with Ferrari, but they do seem to have made a step the last few weekends," he says. 

"They definitely had more pace than us and Charles went off into the distance pretty quickly so to beat one of them, I took some satisfaction in that." 

Daniel retained eighth place in the championship with 105 points, and Austin was his third top-five result in the past four races. 

"Get rid of Turkey, and it's been a pretty awesome second half of the season so far – definitely relative to the first half," he says. 

"There's definitely still things that I know I'm not on top of … I think I drove well on the weekend but there's definitely still places where I'm like 'oh, I've left some tenths on the table here and there'. I'm still chipping away at it, but I'm feeling better with the car and I guess that's me driving more subconsciously, which means I'll drive better." 

Fifth was the culmination of a fun weekend for Daniel at one of his favourite stops on the F1 world tour, a stop that was even more memorable this year as he got to drive Dale Earnhardt's 1984 Chevrolet NASCAR owned by McLaren team boss Zak Brown. 

Daniel cut laps of the COTA layout in the stock car on Saturday, and admits it was a true "pinch-me" moment he'll never forget.

"I knew it was coming so I was pretty relaxed, but once I sat in the car and buckled up and the engine started, I was just … 'wow'," he grins. 

"I'm pretty stoked I wore an open-face helmet because people could see how happy I was! It was just so, so cool. 

"Because it was in Texas too, for Zak to have brought the car over here to the 'States made it so much more fitting. If we'd done it at a track in England somewhere near where the car normally lives, it wouldn't have had the same effect. So, that made it even more special." 

F1 stays in the Americas for the next two races, with Mexico returning to the calendar on November 7.

"Mexico, the atmosphere is going to rival Austin – and Austin was insane!," he says. 

"If we can get another good result there, I'll be happy. I scored that pole there in 2018 – it's a track I probably thought I'd never get a pole on but I did, so I ended up liking it. 

"Hopefully Mexico we can be a bit closer to Ferrari and we think it could suit us a bit better, but let's see."