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
Charles Leclerc took a flawless victory in the United States Grand Prix, the Monegasque leading Ferrari team mate Carlos Sainz in a one-two after storming through into the lead on the opening lap, while a tense late-race battle between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen saw Norris receive a penalty and drop to fourth behind his title rival.
Pole-sitter Norris initially looked to have held the lead off the line when the lights went out for the 56-lap encounter, but the McLaren went side-by-side with Verstappen into the first corner, which led to the Briton being pushed wide, allowing Leclerc to sneak through and snatch P1.
From there the Monegasque enjoyed an unchallenged drive to victory, while team mate Sainz benefitted from an undercut to put himself into second place ahead of Verstappen following his pit stop, the Spaniard putting in a solid drive to cross the line 8.5s back from Leclerc.
As the race entered into its final stages, Norris overtook Verstappen for P3 following a fiercely close duel between the championship rivals – but the nature of the move prompted discussion over the radio, with Verstappen and Red Bull claiming that Norris had overtaken outside of the track limits.
This ultimately saw Norris receive a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, dropping him down from third to fourth and promoting Verstappen into the final podium position.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/leclerc-leads-dominant-ferrari-one-two-in-austin-as-norris-loses-third-to.3VSTWKOy40Ta1vvtlwHBff
Lewis Hamilton thinks aero problems with new Mercedes upgrades brought to the United States Grand Prix could be to blame for his early race exit.
The seven-time world champion capped a difficult Austin event by becoming the first and only race retirement, after spinning into the gravel trap at Turn 19 on lap three.
With team-mate George Russell having suffered a similar spin in qualifying, and Hamilton himself having had another mystery off in practice, he suspects that bouncing triggered by a new W15 upgrade may be the root cause of all the team’s problems.
Reflecting on his spin in the race, Hamilton told Motorsport.com: “I had a great start, was feeling good and got up to 12th. It was the best start that I’ve had at turn one in a long time.
“I wasn’t even pushing at that point; I was literally just trying to get going and bringing the tyres up to temperature.
“The car started bouncing, the left front started bouncing and the rear end just came round. It was the same as George yesterday.”
“In P1 I had the same thing,” he said. “I had the spin in Turn 3, which is so rare. I have never spun in Turn 3 in all the years I’ve been here.
“I was just saying about George obviously having the same problem yesterday, he has gone back to the old-spec car and is looking good out there, so maybe there is something with the new upgrade.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/hamilton-suspects-mercedes-upgrades-to-blame-for-spinning-out-of-us-gp/10665091/
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says the United States Grand Prix stewards have “interfered in an inappropriate manner” with Lando Norris’ and Max Verstappen’s battle for third, as Norris took a five-second penalty for passing off-track.
Norris had caught Verstappen in their hard-tyre stint and began to exert heavy pressure on his championship rival, although each of his efforts to pass was batted away by the Dutchman’s well-curated defence.
On the 45th lap, Norris drew alongside with DRS as Verstappen held the inside, and both cars ended up going off-track; Norris subsequently moved ahead of Verstappen with McLaren’s pitwall content that both drivers were off the road.
However, Norris could not create a lead over Verstappen large enough to absorb the eventual five-second penalty, crossing the line 4.1 seconds ahead on track.
Stella says that he had “no doubt” that Norris took the correct action as both cars were on the run-off, suggesting that both gained an advantage.
“My view is that the way the stewards interfered in this beautiful piece of motorsport was inappropriate, because both cars went off-track,” Stella told Sky F1.
“So both cars gained an advantage. It’s a shame because it costs us a podium. It costs us a race where we stay patient. After we were pushed off in the first lap, first corner, we accepted it.
“Having said that, very clearly our position – this kind of decision by the stewards cannot be appealed. For us, the chapter is now closed and we move on to the next race.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mclaren-stewards-interference-norris-verstappen/10665123/
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has described decision-making over penalties in the United States Grand Prix as “biased” after George Russell and Lando Norris were punished, while Max Verstappen escaped without issue.
Russell was given a five-second penalty early on for forcing Sauber driver Valtteri Bottas off-track at Turn 12, although shrugged off the hindrance to finish sixth having started from the pitlane.
Yuki Tsunoda was handed the same punishment for pushing Alex Albon wide as the RB and Williams scrapped mid-race, but Verstappen twice escaped penalty for similar incidents.
His Turn 1 lunge on championship rival Norris, which allowed Charles Leclerc through en route to victory, was not looked at by the FIA race stewards, though the more controversial incident came in the closing stages.
As his hard tyres faded and Norris attacked on fresher rubber, the Dutchman braked late into Turn 12 to keep third. With both drivers running wide, the McLaren driver accelerated whilst off-track to take the position, eventually being handed a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
This left Wolff frustrated and, having initially called Russell’s penalty a “total joke” over team radio, he suggested bias when talking to his driver on the cool-down lap.
After Russell inquired whether Verstappen had been penalised for his Turn 1 move, Wolff replied: “He didn’t get a penalty, and at the end, Lando got a penalty for being forced off and overtaking on the outside.
“I guess it is a bit biased decision-making.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/wolff-questions-penalty-bias-verstappen-punishment/10665143/
Max Verstappen expressed his frustration following a tricky United States Grand Prix that saw him settle for a third-place finish after a nail biting late battle with championship rival Lando Norris.
The closing laps of the race were a dramatic affair as the McLaren chased down Verstappen for the final podium spot, eventually passing him at Turn 12 on Lap 52.
The move saw both drivers go wide with Norris passing the Dutchman off track and it wasn’t long before it was under investigation by the stewards.
Following discussions with his race engineer, the papaya team opted not to give the place back and the Briton was dealt a five-second time penalty. Having eked out a 4.1s gap ahead of Verstappen, he was demoted to P4 at the chequered flag.
Touching on the decision, the Red Bull driver said: “I have my opinion but I don’t need to say it here, I’ll let the stewards do their thing. For us again it was a race that we learned a lot and we’ll just analyse that.
“It was quite a difficult race. I never really had the pace to attack so a bit different compared to yesterday. Just understeering a lot, struggling on the braking, so that made also the defending quite difficult because every time if someone wanted to go for a move, I couldn’t really brake that late.
“It was a tough battle – I tried everything I could, of course, to keep him behind. At the end to be on the podium is still for us a great result.”
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/i-have-my-opinion-verstappen-reflects-on-hard-battle-with-norris-as-mclaren.5v47YedjvPfs5JJ0QI4Ye3