Category: Motor Racing

Lando Norris took an important championship moment with pole position at Interlagos as title rival Max Verstappen got caught out by a red flag.

George Russell will start second for this afternoon’s brought-forward race for Mercedes, with Yuki Tsunoda third for RB as Verstappen’s engine-change grid penalty means he will start P17 – behind Lewis Hamilton, who was eliminated in Q1.

In Q3, Norris led with a time of one minute, 25.631 seconds after the first runs on the intermediate tyres, with the cars fuelled to run long as the teams expected the fluctuating rain to intensify again.

Lando improved this to one minute, 24.158 seconds to head Alex Albon and Oscar Piastri, before Fernando Alonso became the second Aston Martin driver of the session to crash out – the double champion losing his car through the plunging Turn 11 left at the end of the middle sector.

The drivers lined up to try again with seven minutes left on the clock and their first efforts back on track did not make any improvements as they built tyre temperature – Russell, Piastri and Tsunoda all having moments, the latter two spinning.

But before any purple sectors could be registered, Albon crashed hard at Turn 1 – appearing to brake on the wet white line while also wondering if he had a brake problem. A spin into the barriers wrecked the rear of his Williams and causing a fifth red flag.

Afterwards, the teams took two different approaches, with the McLarens fuelled to do two laps and improving the pole time with both – first to one minute, 24.092 seconds and then finally to confirm pole with one minute, 23.405 seconds.

Piastri did not improve on his first go and then locked up at Turn 1 and went off on his final lap, which meant the drivers that were kept in the garage for extra time with their inters in the tyre blankets and time for just one run, were able to gain.

First Liam Lawson got up to second before he was shuffled down to fifth by Tsunoda and Norris, while Esteban Ocon – a two-lap runner for the final efforts – sneak into fourth for Alpine.

Charles Leclerc ended up sixth as the lead Ferrari having got to Turn 1 with a yellow flag activated for Piastri’s off on his final lap, with Albon nudged down to seventh but still ahead of Piastri.

The crashed Astons of Alonso and Lance Stroll ended up with the ninth and tenth positions – the latter not taking part in Q3 due to his early incident in Q2.

That was a momentous mini-session for the title contenders, as Norris sat in P11 and on the verge of a shock exit when Carlos Sainz crashing at Turn 1 halting his progress – Norris having also struggled on the full wets used in Q1, before Piastri led the switch to inters in the middle segment.

But Norris was able to gain on his first lap out of the pits on the inters when Q2 resumed and then go even quicker, while Verstappen did not improve and along with his teammate, Sergio Perez, was shuffled down into the drop zone.

Both Red Bull drivers were then caught on the wrong side of a second red flag called with less than a minute less – caused by Stroll crashing at Turn 3.

That also eliminated Valtteri Bottas in P11 – the Sauber driver’s best qualifying result since he was P10 in China – the already out Sainz and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

Verstappen led Q1, where Franco Colapinto crashed halfway through, which meant a tricky end to the session for the rest as the rain increased and the times only really began to improve right at the end.

Norris squeaked through in P15, while Lawson’s late improvement knocked out Hamilton, who was furious with “this damn car”.

Oliver Bearman and Nico Hulkenberg also failed to progress in a session when Bottas had made an unsuccessful switch to inters before the red flag. Valtteri’s teammate Zhou Guanyu had the chance to knock out Norris but the Sauber driver’s final lap was only good enough for last.

So a mixed up grid thanks to the wet weather with five red flags. The championship battle gets interesting with Lando Norris at the top with his rival Max Verstappen at the back. The postponed qualifying has certainly made this exciting and the race is next.

Sao Paulo Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:23.405
2 George Russell Mercedes 1:23.578
3 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:24.111
4 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:24.475
5 Liam Lawson RB 1:24.484
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:24.525
7 Alexander Albon Williams 1:24.657
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:24.686
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:28.998
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin No time
11 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:26.334
12 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:28.158
13 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:29.406
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:29.614
15 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1.31.150
16 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:31.229
17 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:27.771*
18 Franco Colapinto Williams 1:31.270
19 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:31.623
20 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:32.263
*Five-place grid penalty for power unit change

Lando Norris scored valuable championship points by winning the sprint race at Interlagos following team orders from McLaren to switch position with Oscar Piastri.

Piastri was saved from a late race challenge by Max Verstappen by a virtual safety car.

However, the Red Bull driver faces a post-race investigation for his actions as the VSC was ending on the final lap.

At the start, polesitter Oscar moved across to cut off Lando’s run to the inside at Turn 1, where the McLarens held their positions and Verstappen locked up unsuccessfully attacking Charles Leclerc’s third position.

The McLaren duo moved slightly clear in the early laps, before Leclerc – who was unmoved by an early look from Verstappen into Turn 4 at the end of the track’s second straight – and the world champion closed back up.

Norris suggested he thought Piastri should have let him by in the opening quarter of the 24-lap sprint, but the only order in the first half was for the leader to give his teammate DRS after the second McLaren had fallen slightly away as the first ten laps ended.

Leclerc perused the McLarens closely through the next stage before a moment at the Senna S on lap 13 meant he had to defend against Verstappen to Turn 4 and the McLarens finally snapped the DRS threat from behind.

But, just as McLaren was telling Norris it expected to swap positions late in the race, Leclerc’s pace dipping meant Verstappen was finally able to fight by at Turn 4 with DRS on the outside line on lap 18.

Max quickly gained on Lando’s lead ahead, as he continued to lap regularly within a second of his team-mate.

The McLaren pair in the pulled a two-second gap to Verstappen as lap 20 kicked off, before the Red Bull then closed in by a few tenths.

Then when Nico Hulkenberg pulled off at Turn 8 in his Haas, McLaren suddenly had to urgently swap the lead in fear of the VSC that eventually came.

On lap 22, Piastri obeyed the instruction to let Norris by, with Verstappen suddenly all over the now second McLaren and threatening massively in third.

But just before the penultimate lap kicked off, the VSC was activated and the race neutralised.

There was to be one last moment of action when the VSC ended as Norris made it to Turn 4 on the final lap, with Verstappen pulling out from behind Piastri’s slipstream as if to attack with the neutralisation still active.

When it went green, Norris powered clear easily to win by 0.5 seconds, while Verstappen did not get to make his move as by this stage he and Piastri and reached Turn 4.

Soon after the race ended, it was announced that Verstappen’s actions are being investigated for a possible infringement. Post sprint, the stewards added a five-second time penalty for not obeying the VSC and getting too close to Piastri on the restart. This drops Max to fourth and promoting Charles to P3.

Ferrari’s expected race pace advantage never materialised, as Leclerc dropped back towards teammate Carlos Sainz by the end – the Mexico race winner having been dropped quickly in the early laps.

George Russell was the lead Mercedes in sixth, with Pierre Gasly an impressive seventh for Alpine, while Sergio Perez fought his way up from SQ2 exit to finish eighth and claim the final point.

Lewis Hamilton recovered a few spots from losing badly at the start, while in the other Haas Oliver Bearman also dropped back from running at the end of the top 10 early on.

So a tense race from McLaren due to the radio messages to switch positions. In the end, the places was swapped and Lando Norris scored the maximum points which is valuable in terms of the championship.

Sao Paulo Grand Prix, sprint race results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren 29:46.045
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.593s
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +5.656s
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull +6.497s*
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +7.224s
6 George Russell Mercedes +12.475s
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine +18.161s
8 Sergio Perez Red Bull +18.717s
9 Liam Lawson RB +20.773s
10 Alexander Albon Williams +24.606s
11 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +29.764s
12 Franco Colapinto Williams +33.233s
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine +34.128s
14 Oliver Bearman Haas +35.507s
15 Yuki Tsunoda RB +41.374s
16 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +43.231s
17 Zhou Guanyu Sauber +54.139s
18 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +56.537s
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +57.983s
Nico Hulkenberg Haas DNF
*Five-second time penalty

Oscar Piastri beat his McLaren teammate Lando Norris to take pole position for the sprint race at Interlagos, with Charles Leclerc third for Ferrari ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.

The McLaren drivers dominated sprint qualifying and took very different approaches to SQ3 compared to their rivals.

Elsewhere, there was a shock SQ2 exit for Lewis Hamilton, while Sergio Perez could only take the changed chassis on his Red Bull RB20 to P13 and Oliver Bearman again impressing for Haas.

In SQ3, the McLarens came out very early once on the softs they had all run for the opening two sessions, with rain clouds steadily building up and track temperatures dropping.

But with softer softs for the 2024 event here, the McLarens had no trouble firing them up, nor keeping the alive on the resurfaced track.

Norris went to the top with a lap time of one minute, 08.928 seconds with his first run, with Piastri trailing him before they quickly returned to the pits before having another attempt on the same set of softs.

Piastri used his second attempt to head Norris by 0.029 seconds with a lap time of one minute, 08.899 seconds, with Norris abandoning his second go after producing a poor middle sector compared to his first attempt.

The best of the single-effort runners in SQ3 was Leclerc, with Verstappen slotting in behind in fourth and Mexico Grand Prix winner Carlos Sainz fifth.

Then came George Russell in the remaining Mercedes runner in SQ3, as Pierre Gasly, Liam Lawson, Alex Albon and Bearman rounded out the top ten.

Bearman might have done better had he not had a big moment in the Senna S and gone so wide in Turn 2 that he had his time deleted for track limits, before staying on a lap that would not count despite having time to back off and go again, plus with the soft tyres apparently capable of doing multiple laps here.

At the end of SQ2 Norris was looking in dominant form at this stage, Bearman and Lawson got through with just a single flying lap in the middle segment compared to most of the rest, while Nico Hulkenberg only had one shot too and he failed to progress.

Hulkenberg was knocked out around the big fallers in Hamilton and Perez, with Franco Colapinto and Valtteri Bottas also eliminated for Williams and Sauber respectively.

Perez’s exit came after he failed to complete his final outlap in time and so was ordered to park his car in the pits by Red Bull.

In SQ1, which Norris also topped, Colapinto’s last-attempt improvement knocked out Alonso, who had previously jumped from the drop zone with his second and final run on the mediums.

He was joined in exiting at the first hurdle by Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll, who all set personal bests on their final fliers before being shuffled back, plus Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu.

So a surprising pole for Oscar Piastri to jump his McLaren teammate to take the top spot in sprint qualifying. The sprint race is going to be fascinating as the two title contenders are in the top four.

Sao Paulo Grand Prix, sprint qualifying results:
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:08.899
2 Lando Norris McLaren 1:08.928
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:09.153
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:09.219
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:09.257
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:09.443
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:09.622
8 Liam Lawson RB 1:09.941
9 Alexander Albon Williams 1.10.078
10 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:09.629
11 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:09.941
12 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:09.964
13 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:10.024
14 Franco Colapinto Williams 1:10.275
15 Valtteri Bottas Haas 1:10.595
16 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:10.978
17 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:11.052
18 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:11.121
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:11.280
20 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:12.978

Carlos Sainz achieved his second victory of the season with a dominant drive at the Mexico City Grand Prix for Scuderia Ferrari. Lando Norris took second position after surviving a tense battle with Max Verstappen – with the championship leader receiving two penalties. Last weekend’s race winner Charles Leclerc finished in third.

The Ferrari driver reclaimed the lead after he had lost it heading into the opening corner and never conceded it thereafter; Carlos built an unassailable lead which soaked up the potential of any threat from Norris in the closing stages once the McLaren driver cleared Charles Leclerc.

Sainz kept the lead through the pitstop phases and, despite occasional attempts from Leclerc to eat into an ever-growing lead, the Williams-bound driver returned the favour to continue his break-building efforts out in front.

Sainz had lost the lead to Verstappen off the line as the Red Bull driver arrived at Turn 1 first, and forced the Ferrari driver to take to the grass with his preservation of the racing line.

But the racing action was halted after a first-corner clash between Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda bringing out the safety car; Albon was squeezed between Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly, and the former two ended up in the braking zone for Turn 1.

Tsunoda ended up going straight into the wall, while Albon also pulled over to retire with front-left tyre damage.

On the restart, Sainz spent two laps sat in Verstappen’s wheel-tracks before gathering enough pace to mount an overtake into Turn 1 with DRS and then covered off a potential switchback into the following corners.

This put Max in Lando’s clutches, and the McLaren’s bid to pass around the outside into Turn 4 was once again met with Verstappen taking him off the track.

Like Austin, Norris had laid claim to the position, but Verstappen then lunged down the inside at Turn 7 and took both drivers off once more – and got ahead of Norris off the circuit. Both incidents resulted in 10-second penalties for Verstappen, which sent him further down the order and took him out of the lead fight. Leclerc capitalised on the skirmish between the two championship leaders, bursting into second place.

This moment between the two title contenders was certainly outrageous and over the top in terms of racing. Max was very aggressive in defending and preventing Lando from getting by. This penalty is justified for his driving behaviour.

Leclerc couldn’t challenge his teammate, however, and after the pit phase Sainz’s lead had grown to over eight seconds. Charles attempted to cut this down, although both Ferraris were employing lift and coast tactics in an aid to cool down the car.

Sainz stabilised at over five seconds, but Leclerc’s tyres then started to run out of life and he started to fall into Lando’s range – when the McLaren driver closed into DRS range at the end of lap 62, Leclerc subsequently drifted wide out of the Peraltada and almost hit the wall.

Leclerc saved the snap of oversteer, but couldn’t stop Norris from breaking past. Norris subsequently started to catch Sainz, but could only get to within 4.7 seconds at the flag.

So a fantastic victory for Carlos Sainz. His fourth win for Ferrari before leaving to join Williams next year so this result is a feel good story for Carlos.

Next week is the Brazilian Grand Prix and yet another sprint race. The championship battle between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen is getting very tense so will be fascinating how the racing will play out after two successive race events with hard wheel to wheel battle.

Mexico City Grand Prix, race results:
1 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:40:55.800
2 Lando Norris McLaren +4.705s
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +34.387s
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +44.780s
5 George Russell Mercedes +48.536s
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull +59.558s
7 Kevin Magnussen Haas +63.642s
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren +64.928s
9 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +1 lap
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1 lap
11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1 lap
12 Franco Colapinto Williams +1 lap
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine +1 lap
14 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +1 lap
15 Zhou Guanyu Sauber +1 lap
16 Liam Lawson RB +1 lap
17 Sergio Perez Red Bull +1 lap
Fernando Alonso Aston Martin DNF
Alexander Albon Williams DNF
Yuki Tsunoda RB DNF

Carlos Sainz took a fantastic pole position for Scuderia Ferrari at the Mexico City Grand Prix, edging out championship leader Max Verstappen by 0.225-second margin.

Sainz was in impressive form throughout the qualifying session and found two lap times good enough for pole – opening his Q3 run with one minute, 16.055 seconds and improving on his final run with one minute, 15.946 seconds to line up at the front of Sunday’s grid.

Verstappen rescued a front-row start after losing his first Q3 lap to track limits having cut corners in the Turn 2/3 chicane, and set a time of one minute, 16.171 seconds on his final attempt to qualify ahead of his title rival Lando Norris.

Lando’s first lap was poor and was only fifth at the end of the opening runs, but found improvement on his final lap to head the second row alongside Charles Leclerc.

The United States Grand Prix winner saved a snap through the high-speed corners and managed to collect fourth, although it was three tenths down on his teammate.

The Mercedes drivers occupied the third row, as George Russell outqualified Lewis Hamilton as George improved more on the final lap. They were ahead of an impressive Kevin Magnussen, who slotted his car seventh on the grid over Pierre Gasly.

Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg were ninth and tenth, the Haas driver having overcooked it on the exit of Turn 12 on his last lap to lose a chance at moving further up the grid.

Yuki Tsunoda was the master of his own Q2 elimination after putting his RB in the wall ahead the Foro Sol section while on a flying lap, causing a red flag with a crash at Turn 12.

This also denied his teammate Liam Lawson the chance to progress, as the two looked set to improve and challenge Gasly.

Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were both starting their final flying laps before the session was stopped and were subsequently eliminated, while Valtteri Bottas was also denied the chance to break out of Q2 following the incident.

Oscar Piastri and Sergio Perez were the big hitters taken in Q1; the McLaren driver unable to reclaim his FP3-topping form and failed to progress into the second stage of qualifying – making his life more difficult by losing a lap for track limits.

Oscar reckoned that had he not gone beyond the Turn 12 kerb and lost a second in the process, he would have made it through.

Home fans favourite Perez was dropped out at the first stage of qualifying for his home race having struggled with braking in the low-speed corners throughout the session. Checo only got up to P15 on his final lap of the opening stage but was shuffled down the order by Charles Leclerc’s escape from the drop zone.

Esteban Ocon and Zhou Guanyu will be at the back of the grid, as Ocon’s late effort to overturn Lance Stroll didn’t work out in the final sector.

So congratulations to Carlos Sainz in taking pole position. This is a solid chance to end his Ferrari career with a win as next year, the Smooth Operator will drive for Williams so winning before parting ways will be a nice result.

As for Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, the two title contenders are next to each other and it will be fascinating what will happen at the start thanks to the long run down to Turn 1. Bring on the race!

Mexico City Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:15.946
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:16.171
3 Lando Norris McLaren 1:16.260
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:16.265
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:16.356
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:16.651
7 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:16.886
8 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:16.892
9 Alexander Albon Williams 1:17.065
10 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:17.365
11 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:17.129
12 Liam Lawson RB 1:17.162
13 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:17.168
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:17.294
15 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:17.817
16 Franco Colapinto Williams 1:17.558
17 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:17.597
18 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:17.611
19 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:17.617
20 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:18.072

Charles Leclerc achieved his third win of the 2024 season at the Circuit of the Americas, finishing ahead of Carlos Sainz giving Scuderia Ferrari a double podium. Lando Norris lost out on third position following a five-second penalty in a tense battle with Max Verstappen.

The Ferrari driver made a perfect start to jump on the battling front-row duo of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, cutting back down the inside of Turn 1 and escaping through the sweeping corners with the lead.

He immediately gathered a 1.6-second lead at the end of the first lap to hold off the threat of Verstappen with DRS, as the Red Bull driver had benefitted from a conservative approach from Norris into the first corner to pick up second.

Leclerc then had to defend from Verstappen after a safety car brought out midway through the third lap, caused by Lewis Hamilton spinning off at Turn 18 and beaching his Mercedes in the gravel to end a nightmare weekend.

Although Verstappen stuck with Leclerc on the restart, the Ferrari driver covered off the Red Bull through the Turn 2-8 complex of corners to ensure there was no threat from behind.

Having gone long into the race on a one-stop, which proved to be the most popular strategy, Leclerc emerged from the pits after his lap 26 stop behind the long-running McLarens as Norris and Oscar Piastri sought to gather a tyre offset into the final stages of the race.

Leclerc resumed the lead once the McLarens stopped, but this was now over teammate Carlos Sainz; the Ferrari had successfully batted away an earlier power issue to stay with Verstappen and then undercut the Red Bull with a stop four laps sooner.

Sainz occasionally ate into Leclerc’s lead, cutting a seven-second advantage down to under six seconds, but Leclerc had the legs over Sainz in the final laps and cemented his victory from fourth on the grid.

But the box-office action emerged in the battle for third, where Max’s struggles on the hard tyre and Lando’s pace on a six-lap younger set of white-walled Pirellis pitted the two into a dramatic battle for the final step on the podium.

Norris cut down a six-second advantage and got within DRS range of Verstappen by lap 45, setting up a series of attempted overtakes as their championship battle became a pure joy to watch.

Verstappen’s defence was excellent and he kept Norris contained; Norris struggled to get within the half-second needed to make a real attempt to pass on the back straight and into Turn 12.

The moment became critical on lap 52, where Norris tried to make a move on Verstappen down the outside – but both drivers went wide and Norris passed off-track to be ahead. Hoping to cover off the threat of a five-second penalty, Norris tried to drop Verstappen but only built up an advantage of 4.1 seconds.

The race stewards gave Norris the five seconds for passing off-track, ensuring Verstappen made it onto the podium by just 0.9 seconds.

Piastri was a further 1.5 seconds behind Norris in the final race times to collect fifth, 34 seconds clear of George Russell – who converted a pitlane start in the wake of his qualifying crash into sixth, thanks to a late pass on Sergio Perez.

Nico Hulkenberg took eighth to ensure Haas could put two points between it and RB in the fight for sixth in the constructors’ championship, although Liam Lawson celebrated his return to Formula 1 with ninth place with the contra-strategy of starting on hards.

Franco Colapinto collected the final point having also benefitted from starting on the hard tyre, eight seconds ahead of Magnussen – whose impressive race was undone by having to stop twice.

So a fantastic result for Ferrari with this 1-2 at the United States Grand Prix and it was a perfect drive to win for Charles Leclerc. And yet all talking points is the battle between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris and, with the former extending his points as the latter received a post-race penalty for gaining a track advantage.

United States Grand Prix, race results:
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:35:09.639
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +8.562s
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull +19.412s
4 Lando Norris McLaren +20.354s
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren +21.921s
6 George Russell Mercedes +56.295s
7 Sergio Perez Red Bull +59.072s
8 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +62.957s
9 Liam Lawson RB +70.563s
10 Franco Colapinto Williams +71.782s
11 Kevin Magnussen Haas +79.782s
12 Pierre Gasly Alpine +90.558s
13 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +1 lap
14 Yuki Tsunoda RB +1 lap
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1 lap
16 Alexander Albon Williams +1 lap
17 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +1 lap
18 Esteban Ocon Alpine +1 lap
19 Zhou Guanyu Sauber +1 lap
20 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes DNF

Lando Norris delivered a quality lap to take pole position at the Circuit of the Americas, beating Max Verstappen to the top grid position as George Russell’s crash prevented the sprint winner in challenging for P1.

The session was already a shocker for Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton having been eliminated in Q1.

Norris and McLaren will head the grid at Austin in a stunning turnaround from the sprint race, where Verstappen and the Ferrari drivers seemed to have a clear edge.

After the first runs in Q3, Norris lead Verstappen by 0.031 seconds – staying ahead despite a massive snap through the penultimate corner largely thanks to a strong middle sector.

On the second attempt on new softs late in the final segment, Verstappen ran ahead of his title rival, having only just avoided a pitlane collision with Pierre Gasly exiting his Alpine garage.

But Verstappen’s attempt to challenge Norris was halted when Russell crashed at the penultimate corner – the Mercedes heading the pack for the final laps.

Russell lost the rear of his W15 through the rapid, plunging left-hander at Turn 19 and spun off through the gravel trap on the outside to hit the barriers hard, with the resulting double yellow flags meaning no drivers were able to complete their laps.

Verstappen and Norris had finished the first sector of their final lap and the world champion had edged a near 0.2 seconds advantage – without getting to the sector where the McLaren had been faster on the first Q3 runs.

The order behind was preserved with Carlos Sainz third for Ferrari, ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri in the other McLaren and Russell.

Gasly, who faces a post-qualifying investigation for the pitlane incident with Verstappen, took seventh ahead of Fernando Alonso and Kevin Magnussen, while Sergio Perez was only P10 after losing his first time for running too wide out of Turn 9.

In Q2, Yuki Tsunoda could not progress even with the heavily penalty Liam Lawson giving him a tow down the main straight on both his runs.

Lawson, who was third-fastest in Q1, was never going to compete in the middle segment given his grid penalty for another change on the car Daniel Ricciardo had previously been racing.

The other fallers were Nico Hulkenberg in P12 after a Turn 1 lock-up and exit oversteer snap, plus Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll, who could not match Alonso’s jump from the drop zone and into Q3 on their final Q2 fliers for Aston Martin.

In Q1, Hamilton made a shock exit – not gaining time as Russell, who progressed in fourth, did when Mercedes went with the rest of the frontrunners and switched from used to new softs.

Hamilton ended up being shuffled down to P19, with his main time loss coming in an oversteer snap exiting Turn 12, and shipping 0.5 seconds compared to Russell.

Magnussen and Stroll jumped from the drop zone with their final laps right at Q1’s end, which shuffled down Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto for Williams, while the Sauber pair also exited despite personal bests on their final laps – Valtteri Bottas taking P18 ahead of his former teammate and Zhou Guanyu P20.

So the two title contenders are starting on the front row. It will make the United States Grand Prix an exciting race so may the best driver wins on Sunday. Game on!

United States Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:32.330
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:32.361
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:32.652
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:32.740
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:32.950
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:32.974
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:33.018
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:33.309
9 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:33.481
10 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:33.020
11 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:33.506
12 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:33.544
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:33.597
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:33.759
15 Liam Lawson RB 1:33.339
16 Alexander Albon Williams 1:34.051
17 Franco Colapinto Williams 1:34.062
18 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:34.152
19 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:34.154
20 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:34.228

Max Verstappen maintains his perfect sprint record this season by winning after leading from the start and building a gap over his rivals to take success at Circuit of the Americas.

The Red Bull driver clinched victory with a 3.9-second margin over Carlos Sainz, who made a last-lap pass on Lando Norris at Turn 1 to snatch second position.

Norris had thrown his McLaren down the inside of Charles Leclerc at the first corner, and then maintained enough momentum to sit on the outside of George Russell at Turn 3 to assume the inside line for the next corner to move up to second place.

He then stayed in DRS range of Verstappen for the opening laps, closing in on the lengthy back straight but without enough pace to test his championship rival with a move into Turn 12.

But Verstappen stabilised and built a plus-one-second margin to ensure Norris could no longer use DRS, which threw the McLaren driver into the clutches of George Russell.

This set Norris back a further second in defending from the Mercedes driver; Russell’s challenge subsided as he struggled with tyre wear, and Norris then attempted to get back into Verstappen’s wheel tracks for the second half of the 19-lap race.

Although Norris started to close the now two-second gap and got as close as 1.2 seconds behind, Verstappen was able to add more pace from an improved Red Bull and reclaimed his advantage, tacking on a few further tenths to fully ward off a late-race challenge from Norris as the McLaren driver dropped off.

Carlos Sainz then capitalised; the Ferrari driver had brought himself into play having passed teammate Leclerc on the fifth lap with a well-judged move at Turn 15 and let Charles run out of road. The ailing Russell was then easy prey for Sainz, who then began to catch Norris.

Having homed into DRS range of Norris, Sainz stayed close in the final sector of the penultimate lap and pounced on Norris at the uphill Turn 1, forcing his former teammate into a lock-up that ensured the Ferrari driver came up for air with second.

Norris held onto third just, nearly coming to blows with Leclerc at Turn 15 on the final lap as the Ferrari driver was surprised by his early braking into the tight left-hander.

Russell fell to fifth, eight seconds behind Leclerc, to finish ahead of teammate Hamilton – who endured a quiet race in the Mercedes as his pace faded away in the heat; the W15 rather eating up its rear tyres to cost pace in the final stages.

Kevin Magnussen clinched seventh as his Haas teammate Nico Hulkenberg claimed the final point; Magnussen defied an order to let Yuki Tsunoda repass earlier in the race as he felt the RB driver had pushed him off in an attempt to pass.

Tsunoda then defended hard from Sergio Perez and Oscar Piastri in the latter stages of the race, but ultimately got passed by both drivers despite his stout defence and fell out of the top ten. Piastri held onto P10 despite a five-second penalty for forcing Pierre Gasly off the road.

So a frantic 19-lap sprint race and yet the defending world champion achieved a well deserved win. Been a while since Max Verstappen last won a race so this result is important in terms of the championship.

United States Grand Prix, sprint race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 31:06.146
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +3.882s
3 Lando Norris McLaren +6.240s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +6.956s
5 George Russell Mercedes +15.766s
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +18.724s
7 Kevin Magnussen Haas +25.161s
8 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +26.588s
9 Sergio Perez Red Bull +29.950s
10 Oscar Piastri McLaren +37.059s
11 Yuki Tsunoda RB +38.363s
12 Franco Colapinto Williams +39.460s
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +41.236s
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine +41.995s
15 Esteban Ocon Alpine +42.804s
16 Liam Lawson RB +44.008s
17 Alexander Albon Williams +44.564s
18 Fernando Alonso Aston Marin +46.807
19 Zhou Guanyu Sauber +52.842
20 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +54.476s

Max Verstappen takes pole position for the sprint race at the Circuit of the Americas n his Red Bull, edging ahead of George Russell in the Mercedes. Charles Leclerc will start P3 while Verstappen’s title challenger Lando Norris is P4.

On a tricky day for Red Bull given the controversy over its front bib ride height adjuster, the defending champion scored his first pole (sprint or Grand Prix) since the Austria round back in June.

But it was mixed fortunes for Red Bull, as Sergio Perez was knocked out in SQ2, while it was a similar story for McLaren, as Oscar Piastri failed to make it through the other session where the drivers were obliged to run medium tyres.

On softs in SQ3, Russell had looked the favourite to come out on top as Mercedes ran early in the final segment and he found 0.7 seconds over his personal best in SQ2, while Lewis Hamilton struggled.

Russell’s lap time of one minute, 32.845 seconds was good enough to see of Leclerc, Norris and Carlos Sainz when they ran with the majority of the other SQ3 runners near the session’s end, before Verstappen surged to the top.

Verstappen did not set a purple sector in any of the Austin track’s segments, but his lap time of one minute, 32.833 seconds moves him to top the field as the Red Bull driver looks to extend his run of winning every sprint race so far in 2024.

Nico Hulkenberg beat Hamilton to sixth, with Kevin Magnussen eighth on what was a very good day for Haas.

Yuki Tsunoda took ninth, while Franco Colapinto did superbly to make SQ3, but then spun at Turn 12 at the end of the track’s main straight when he was running with the Mercedes cars early in the final segment, so ended up P10 for Williams.

Perez was the biggest faller in SQ2, with his final lap coming well ahead of the chequered flag but only good enough for P10 at that stage, after which he was knocked out by Tsunoda’s late improvement.

Fernando Alonso looked to have been eliminated in P12, but he and his teammate Lance Stroll lost their only times – set late in SQ2 – for going too wide out of the penultimate corner.

Liam Lawson was also hit with a track limits violation on his only lap, with the RB driver running too wide out of Turn 1.

He therefore dropped behind Stroll and Alonso as they ended up finishing P13, P14 and P15, which boosted Pierre Gasly to P12.

SQ1 had a dramatic and controversial end, as Alex Albon put his Williams into a dramatic 360-degree spin exiting the penultimate corner on his final flier and was eliminated in P18, while Piastri lost his best time to a track limits infringement at the same corner.

His previous personal best was only good enough to be P16 and so he was eliminated ahead of Esteban Ocon, Albon and the Sauber duo Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.

So welcome back to the sharp end of the grid for Max Verstappen. This grid is only for the sprint but its a significant as the defending champion is several positions ahead of his title rival Lando Norris. Roll on the sprint race.

United States Grand Prix, sprint qualifying results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:32.833
2 George Russell Mercedes 1:32.845
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:33.059
4 Lando Norris McLaren 1:33.083
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:33.089
6 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:33.183
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:33.378
8 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:33.398
9 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:33.802
10 Franco Colapinto Williams 1:34.406
11 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:34.244
12 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:34.363
13 Lanco Stroll Aston Martin 1:34.324
14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:34.436
15 Liam Lawson RB 1:34.617
16 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:34.881
17 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:34.917
18 Alexander Albon Williams 1:35.054
19 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:35.148
20 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:36.472

Lando Norris survived a brush against the wall to take victory at the Singapore Grand Prix, beating Max Verstappen by nearly 21 seconds to reduce the drivers’ championship to 52 points.

The McLaren driver glanced the wall twice during a crushing victory, first knocking his front wing at Turn 14 after a lock-up ahead of his single pitstop, but escaped without needing to change it during the switch to hard tyres.

During his hard-tyre stint, Norris later knocked the wall with his rear right at Turn 10, at the same point that he and George Russell knocked it in the closing laps of last year’s Marina Bay race.

Neither incident appeared to cause much of an issue, although the former had cut a 25-second lead over Verstappen to 21 seconds in the overlap between stops.

Norris had been able to keep the lead into the first corner over Verstappen, and quickly built a one-second lead to ensure the Red Bull driver could not mount an attack with DRS in the opening laps.

Instructed to build a lead of five seconds “in the mid-teens” on the lap count, Norris completed that request early to build up that margin by lap 11, and then started to put more than a second per lap over his championship rival.

After his minor contact with the wall, Norris settled in during the latter phases and his lead tickled the 30-second mark before being told to “bring the car home”.

After turning the pace down and dealing with traffic, Norris crossed the line to clinch his third win of the year – although his fastest lap effort was denied at the end by Daniel Ricciardo’s lap on soft tyres.

Verstappen crossed the line 20.9 seconds behind, while Oscar Piastri ensured both McLarens made it onto the podium with third.

Piastri had gone long on his medium tyres having been stuck behind the Mercedes duo in the early stages, which was enough of a tyre advantage to dispatch Lewis Hamilton and Russell successively.

Although the aim was to catch Verstappen at the end, the Red Bull driver’s pace was too great to overcome for a McLaren 1-2.

Russell finished fourth position after batting away a rapidly catching Charles Leclerc at the end, having become the lead Mercedes with an overcut over the soft-starting Hamilton.

Leclerc had also gone long on his tyres and, although was undercut by the out-of-position Carlos Sainz following the pitstops, the two were asked to swap places and this allowed the Ferrari driver to chase after the Mercedes duo.

Hamilton was managing his hard tyres around the race for 45 laps, nonetheless four short of the very early stopping Sainz as the Ferrari driver lost positions at the start.

Fernando Alonso claimed eighth position, the first of the drivers to be a lap down, while Nico Hulkenberg spent his entire hard-tyre stint keeping Sergio Perez at bay to ensure Haas claimed a valuable two points. Franco Colapinto was just 1.7 seconds behind Perez at the flag, having earlier run ahead of Checo.

Kevin Magnussen and Alex Albon were the sole retirees, the Haas driver suffering lasting effects from his earlier puncture following a brush with the wall, while Albon was out early with an overheating power unit in the Williams.

So not the most thrilling Singapore Grand Prix and yet in terms of the championship Lando Norris winning has reduced the points gap to title contender Max Verstappen to 52. With a triple header coming up in America, Mexico and Brazil – plus two spirits in COTA and Interlagos – this winning momentum is looking good for McLaren.

Singapore Grand Prix, race results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:40:52.571
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull +20.945s
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren +41.823s
4 George Russell Mercedes +61.040s
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +62.430s
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +85.248s
7 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +96.039s
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +1 lap
9 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +1 lap
10 Sergio Perez Red Bull +1 lap
11 Franco Colapinto Williams +1 lap
12 Yuki Tsunoda RB +1 lap
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine +1 lap
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1 lap
15 Zhou Guanyu Sauber +1 lap
16 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +1 lap
17 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1 lap
18 Daniel Ricciardo RB +1 lap
Kevin Magnussen Haas DNF
Alexander Albon Williams DNF