Verstappen wins the sprint race following double DNF for McLaren

Max Verstappen took victory in a chaotic sprint race at the Circuit of the Americas as the McLarens made heavy contact at Turn 1 meaning a non-finish for both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, the main championship contenders.

Scoring eight points with this sprint result is a significant moment for the four-time world champion as Max is on a mission to win this season’s championship from the papayas. As for Lando and Oscar, it was a racing incident and yet no big points were lost as this is only a sprint event.

One race on from their contact in the Singapore Grand Prix, which did not have sporting consequences but Lando Norris was held responsible for, McLaren’s title contenders tangled again on the opening lap of Austin’s 19-lap sprint.

Behind polesitter Verstappen, Norris held off Piastri on the inside of COTA’s steep Turn 1, with Piastri cutting back towards the inside.

At that very moment Sauber’s surprise fourth-place qualifier Nico Hulkenberg moved up the inside of Piastri, with the pair making contact as Hulkenberg was sandwiched between the McLaren and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

The contact flicked Piastri into teammate Lando Norris, who was spun around as both McLaren’s suffered terminal damage. Alonso was also tagged by Hulkenberg and retired, while the Sauber driver was forced to pit for a new front wing.

In the chaos behind the incident, Alonso’s teammate Lance Stroll also made contact with Alpine driver Franco Colapinto, forcing the pair to pit.

With so much debris and stricken cars across the length of the first sector, this brought out the safety car, which neutralised the first five laps.

With both McLarens neatly out of the way, Verstappen controlled the lap 6 restart from George Russell. Carlos Sainz benefitted from the carnage to move up to third in the Williams ahead of Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.

The second Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda was the biggest mover, spectacularly leaping from P18 on the grid to P7, despite dragging along Hulkenberg’s front wing for several corners.

Verstappen’s pace up front, meanwhile, was not particularly fast as he struggled to shake off Russell. On lap 8 Russell attempted a very late lunge down the inside of Turn 12, forcing Verstappen to take avoiding action while keeping his lead.

Russell’s challenge then faded, although Verstappen still voiced his displeasure with the rear suspension settings on his Red Bull, which will likely be revisited ahead of qualifying on COTA’s bumpy layout.

Hamilton passed teammate Leclerc for fourth on lap 9, the only other position change in the top eight during a routine green flag spell of the 19-lap contest.

On lap 16 Stroll took out Esteban Ocon with a desperately late lunge into Turn 1, taking both drivers out of the race, with the ensuing safety car further freezing positions.

Verstappen cruised across the line ahead of Russell and Sainz, followed by Hamilton and Leclerc. Alex Albon completed a successful morning for Willians in sixth ahead of Tsunoda.

Oliver Bearman crossed the line ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli for the final point in eighth, but the Haas driver went off the track to do so in an earlier incident and was handed a ten-second penalty to drop him to the rear of the order.

Verstappen now moves to 55 points off Piastri and 33 points behind Norris, with still six grands prix and two sprints to go.

So a dramatic and chaotic sprint race with both McLarens taking out and getting a double retirement. Max Verstappen will be hoping for a repeat in the main race in a bid to reduce the points gap for the sake of the championship.

United States Grand Prix, sprint race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 37:58.229
2 George Russell Mercedes +0.395s
3 Carlos Sainz Williams +0.791s
4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +1.224s
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +1.825s
6 Alexander Albon Williams +2.576s
7 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull +2.976s
8 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +4.147s
9 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +4.804s
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine +5.126s
11 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber +5.649s
12 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +6.228s
13 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +6.624s
14 Franco Colapinto Alpine +8.006s
15 Oliver Bearman Haas +13.576s
Esteban Ocon Haas DNF
Lance Stroll Aston Martin DNF
Oscar Piastri McLaren DNF
Lando Norris McLaren DNF
Fernando Alonso Aston Martin DNF

4 thoughts to “Verstappen wins the sprint race following double DNF for McLaren”

  1. Max Verstappen has taken victory in a dramatic Sprint at the United States Grand Prix that saw both McLaren drivers retire on the opening lap after being caught up in a Turn 1 melee.

    While Verstappen led cleanly away from pole position, the McLaren of Oscar Piastri was tagged by Nico Hulkenberg’s Kick Sauber into the first corner, which then sent the Australian into team mate Lando Norris.

    This put both of the papaya squad’s cars out of the running, while Hulkenberg dropped down the order after sustaining damage. But there was no such trouble for Verstappen, who handled a challenge from Mercedes’ George Russell – and two Safety Car phases – to win the Sprint.

    View all standings

    In an event that ended under one of those Safety Car appearances – following a late collision between Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon – Russell had to settle for P2 behind Verstappen, while Williams’ Carlos Sainz took P3 ahead of the Ferrari pair of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc in P4 and P5 respectively.

    The other Williams of Alex Albon followed in sixth, with Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda taking seventh. Haas’ Ollie Bearman, meanwhile, crossed the line in eighth but was dropped to the back of the field owing to a 10-second time penalty, promoting Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli into the last points-paying place.

    After just one hour of practice earlier in the day, Friday’s Sprint Qualifying had decided the starting order for the 100 kilometre dash, a format in which the top eight finishers score points from a maximum of eight for P1 down to one for P8.

    While Norris had set the pace throughout SQ1 and SQ2, it was the Red Bull of Verstappen that ultimately swept through to take pole position in the final moments of SQ3, marking the Dutchman’s 10th Sprint pole.

    https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/verstappen-wins-dramatic-austin-sprint-as-both-mclarens-retire-in-lap-1.2cOAGwv5tyMmpmiGlzZiUW

  2. McLaren boss Zak Brown slammed the “amateur” racing at the start of the United States Grand Prix sprint race, after both of his Formula 1 drivers retired on lap one in Austin.

    Title contenders Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who started second and third respectively, didn’t make it past the opening sector after being hit at Turn 1 causing terminal damage.

    It came after Piastri attempted to overtake Norris on the inside of Turn 1’s exit, but his rear left tyre was hit by Nico Hulkenberg, who was sandwiched between the McLaren and Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin at the apex.

    Piastri was subsequently knocked into Norris, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen eventually winning from pole ahead of Mercedes driver George Russell and Carlos Sainz for Williams.

    “That was terrible,” Brown told Sky Sports F1. “Neither of our drivers to blame there. Some amateur hour driving. Some drivers up there at the front whacked our two guys.”

    When asked if Hulkenberg wasn’t only to blame, Brown said: “I want to see the replay again, but clearly Nico drove into Oscar and he had no business being where he was.”

    Brown added “the damage is relatively easy to fix” meaning the McLaren cars should be okay for grand prix qualifying later on Saturday.

    It all means Piastri is still leading the championship, 22 points ahead of Norris in second but third-placed Verstappen is now 55 off the top, with race wins in three of the last four weekends.

    When asked if anything could have been done differently at Turn 1, Norris told Sky Sports: “No idea, I just got hit, like what else was I meant to do? No, I need to look at it a bit more. I just got hit, I got taken out, so not a lot I could have done.”

    Piastri was then asked the same question, to which he replied: “I’ve not seen the incident from the TV cameras, but obviously I had a pretty good start and we both went pretty deep into Turn 1.

    “I tried to cut back and got a hit. So yeah, obviously not a great way to start the day, but I need to have another look.”

    https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/brown-slams-amateur-driving-in-f1-us-gp-sprint-taking-mclaren-drivers-out/10768891/

  3. The 2025 Unites States Grand Prix sprint race opened with immediate drama as both McLaren drivers were caught in contact at the very first corner of the race.

    Max Verstappen started from pole with a strong launch, defending the inside of Turn 1 as the cars accelerated up the hill from the startline. But as the cars clumped under braking, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris made contact at the apex after Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg hit the championship leader.

    “Someone just wiped me out, I’m out,” Norris said, unaware that it was his own team-mate who hit him.

    “Piastri tried to tuck underneath Norris but goes up on two wheels after hitting Hulkenberg,” Martin Brundle said during the Sky Sports F1 broadcast. “It’s a first corner drama.”

    McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown was quickly asked to comment, with him swiftly diverting any blame away from his drivers.

    “That was terrible. Neither of our drivers to blame there,” he told Sky Sports F1.

    “That’s some amateur-hour driving by some drivers up there at the front, (they) whacked out two guys.

    “I want to see the replay again but clearly Nico Hulkenberg drove into Oscar and he had no business being where he was, he went into his left-rear tyre.

    “It looks like it was just limited to suspension damage, so hopefully it’s relatively easy to fix.”

    https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/both-mclaren-drivers-involved-in-united-states-gp-crash-amid-dramatic-start-to-austin-sprint/10768868/

  4. George Russell reckons his risky attempted overtake on Max Verstappen during the United States Grand Prix sprint was “last chance” saloon for the Mercedes Formula 1 driver to win the contest.

    Russell finished second in the Saturday race at Circuit of the Americas and crossed the line 0.395s behind Red Bull’s Verstappen, with Williams racer Carlos Sainz completing the podium.

    There was little wheel-to-wheel racing between Verstappen and Russell, but the Mercedes driver did make one attempt on lap eight by lunging down the inside of Turn 12.

    But Russell failed to make it stick and Verstappen was sent into avoiding action by going off at the exit, who subsequently voiced his displeasure despite keeping the lead.

    “Had half a chance,” said Russell, who started fifth but was up there thanks to both title battling McLaren drivers retiring on the opening lap.

    “I knew that would probably be my last chance. So I sent it. Obviously, just couldn’t quite make the corner.

    “But yeah, P2, it was decent. It was OK. But if the McLarens were there, I think they’d have been probably ahead of us.”

    In the prior laps Verstappen’s pace was unconvincing, hence Russell having half the opportunity, but after it happened the four-time world champion was left unchallenged.

    “I saw Max was struggling a little bit and I was just, yeah, giving it absolutely everything,” added Russell.

    “I knew that I would probably dig a little bit more, whereas when you’re in the lead, you’re probably trying to manage the tyres a bit better and he had a bit of a snap out of the previous corner.

    “So I just thought, ‘you know what, this is my only chance’. There was a nice headwind in that corner, so I thought I could make it stick.

    “But I was too far back. But I’m glad I tried it as opposed to just sitting there and still finishing in the same place.”

    https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/russell-explains-last-chance-overtake-on-verstappen-in-f1-us-gp-sprint/10768929/

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