Max Verstappen drove a masterclass race at the Circuit of the Americas, scoring maximum points in the main event following on from the sprint at the United States Grand Prix.
Lando Norris was able to gained the upper hand on Charles Leclerc by passing his rival twice at Turn 12. The McLaren driver had to settle for P2 while the Ferrari scored a podium.
At the Circuit of the Americas Verstappen led the field from pole, while Leclerc passed second-place start Norris around the outside of Turn 1, the Ferrari driver getting a better getaway on soft tyres compared to mediums for the rest of the frontrunners.
Lando’s bid to challenge Max was effectively ruined by falling behind Charles as he was then unable to overtake the soft-tyre Ferrari for the majority of the opening stint.
There was a brief virtual safety car on lap 7 for contact between Carlos Sainz and Andrea Kimi Antonelli in Turn 15, triggered by the Williams driver, which saw him knocked out of the race and also dumped Antonelli out of the top ten.
After that incident was cleared up, Norris remained stuck behind Leclerc until he finally got close enough to the back of the Ferrari on lap 21, and passed him on the inside of Turn 12.
That was the sign for Leclerc to pit for mediums, but the damage was already done for Norris as Verstappen’s gap had steadily increased to 11 seconds. To make matters worse, Norris had received a black and white flag for three track limits violations while hunting down Leclerc, which was stressful for the remainder of the 56-lap contest.
The second Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton followed three seconds behind Norris, with the championship leader Oscar Piastri in fifth position. Piastri managed to pick off George Russell at the start but soon started struggling for grip, as he continued what had been a low-key weekend.
Piastri made his only pitstop on lap 31 to protect against potential undercut from Russell, with Hamilton, Norris and then Verstappen also heading to the pits on subsequent laps.
By that time Norris had made up two seconds on Verstappen, but his pitstop then put the Briton behind Leclerc once more, despite this time on the faster tyres.
Keen to make the move on Leclerc much faster than in round one before he lost the edge of his soft tyres, Norris pushed for a move, but soon reported his tyres were past their best.
Norris then took his time, cooled his tyres and relaunched his attack in the closing laps, briefly getting the move made into Turn 1 on lap 51. Leclerc initially restored his position with a switchback, but was then powerless to hold Norris at bay on the main DRS straight, with Norris securing second on the run into Turn 12.
Hamilton dropped back from the Norris-Leclerc fight to finish a distant fourth, just ahead of Piastri in fifth and Russell in sixth.
In an otherwise uneventful race, Yuki Tsunoda survived a fraught fight with Oliver Bearman to claim seventh in the Red Bull, with Bearman’s spin also costing him eighth to Nico Hulkenberg.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso held off Liam Lawson and hard-charging teammate Lance Stroll to secure the final point.
It all means Piastri holds a 14-point lead over second-placed Norris in the championship, while Verstappen is third and 40 off top with five rounds remaining. The Mexican Grand Prix is next up and will be fascinating if Max can score more big points.
United States Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:34:00.161
2 Lando Norris McLaren +7.959s
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +15.373s
4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +28.536s
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren +29.678s
6 George Russell Mercedes +33.456s
7 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull +52.714s
8 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +57.249s
9 Oliver Bearman Haas +64.722s
10 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +70.001s
11 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +73.209s
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +74.778s
13 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +75.746
14 Alexander Albon Williams +80.000s
15 Esteban Ocon Haas +83.043s
16 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +92.807s
17 Franco Colapinto Alpine +1 lap
18 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber +1 lap
19 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1 lap
Carlos Sainz Williams DNF
Max Verstappen has claimed a dominant victory at the United States Grand Prix, the Red Bull driver converting pole position into a commanding win while Lando Norris beat Charles Leclerc to second place in a thrilling duel between the pair.
It had been a strong start to the race for Verstappen, the Dutchman holding the lead from pole position while the rest of the field got through Turn 1 much more cleanly than during Saturday’s action-packed Sprint.
Though questions remained in the early stages over strategy choices, all of the field opted for a one-stop plan – and this worked smoothly for Verstappen, who remained in P1 after his stop. And while he had to nurse his soft tyres home in the latter stages, the reigning World Champion crossed the line with a margin of 7.959s to seal his fifth Grand Prix triumph of the season.
Behind him, a close fight played out between Norris and Leclerc, a scrap that firstly unfolded in the early stages after Leclerc got ahead of the McLaren at the start. With the two going head-to-head again in the final laps, Norris eventually made a move stick to take a valuable P2, leaving Leclerc to round out the podium in third.
Lewis Hamilton added to Ferrari’s points haul in fourth place – a position he just held onto despite seemingly suffering a puncture on the final lap – while championship leader Oscar Piastri brought a tough weekend to an end by taking fifth.
Mercedes’ George Russell followed in sixth, ahead of Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda and the Kick Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg. Ollie Bearman scored points on Haas’ home soil in P9, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso completing the top 10.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/verstappen-surges-to-commanding-victory-in-us-gp-ahead-of-norris-and-leclerc.2JcVVmPiQJsn7Js9LpOJJ
Carlos Sainz is out of the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of The Americas after crashing into Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
After starting from ninth on the grid, the Spanish driver collided with the Mercedes rookie at Turn 15 on the seventh lap of the race. While Antonelli was able to continue his race with minor damage, Sainz came to a halt on the side of the track before the pitlane, calling for a virtual safety car.
“Stewards will decide that is predominantly Carlos Sainz’s fault,” Martin Brundle stated on the Sky Sports F1 broadcast. The incident has been noted by race control and Sainz is due to meet with the stewards after the race.
This comes after the Williams driver finished third in the sprint race in Austin, earning him six points. After qualifying in ninth, he reflected on the strong Saturday with the media: “Yes, I think we had a really solid day today with a very strong qualifying sprint and a very good qualifying session, honestly. There’s not much in that lap.
“Obviously, then you see half a tenth with the top seven or top six and you wonder where that half a tenth can be. But honestly, my lap was very clean and I felt that from Q1 onwards, we were struggling to improve because the wind picked up. Our car, as always, when the wind picks up, is very difficult.”
When asked if he was happier with the car now, he added: “I’ve been happy all year, really. I’ve been fast all year. It’s just that in three races in a row, nothing has gone our way.
“We had a good qualifying session and a good race. And as I always say, in the life of an athlete, there are simply good runs of races and bad runs when things go against you. Or there are moments when things go your way. I had a very bad streak at the beginning of the year. But as soon as the bad streak ended, I got back to where I know I can be.”
Sainz is clearly a favourite amongst the local fans as he was met with cheering crowds after his third-place finish in the sprint race.
“That’s probably the biggest thing for me today. Just seeing how everyone in the crowd seems to be behind us, behind me, behind Williams. It seems like people have really bought into the underdog story and the team on the rise.
“And obviously, my move and my move to this team. Everyone has come with me and supported me on my journey. As an athlete and as a driver, it feels really special when you get such great support from the crowd. So from here, a big thank you, because I really felt it.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/carlos-sainz-crashes-out-of-united-states-gp-after-kimi-antonelli-clash/10769401/
After weeks of dismissing any notion of a Formula 1 world title bid, even Max Verstappen couldn’t play down the truth any longer after winning the United States Grand Prix that a fifth consecutive world championship is there for the taking.
Red Bull’s resurgence over the past two months, while McLaren’s performance has stalled and its drivers got caught up in various incidents, has seen Verstappen become the dominant force once more, clawing another 25 points out of Piastri’s lead in at the US GP – just like he did in Baku.
The net result is that Verstappen heads into the final five race weekends just 40 points off the lead in what is now F1’s quickest car. Second-placed Lando Norris has closed to 14 points of Piastri after an off-kilter weekend for the Australian, setting up a tantalising three-way title run-in.
After vowing to take things race by race for several weekends, Verstappen – for the first time this year – acknowledged he is a strong contender after an up and down campaign for Red Bull.
“Yeah, for sure. The chance is there,” he said after crossing the line at the Circuit of the Americas seven seconds ahead of Norris, with Piastri only managing fifth. “We just need to try and deliver this kind of weekends now till the end.
“We will just try whatever we can. I think it is exciting, and I’m just very excited to the end. It was an unbelievable weekend for us.”
Verstappen and Norris proved closely matched on race pace in Austin, but Norris’ bid to challenge the Dutchman faltered after being passed by Charles Leclerc at the start, and then being stuck behind the Ferrari in both stints.
“If you look at the whole race, the pace between me and Lando was really close,” Verstappen explained.
“The first stint is what we made the difference. I could eke out a little bit of a gap, and that’s basically what we kept till the end. It wasn’t easy to manage, but we kept it in the lead and I’m just incredibly proud of everyone to deliver a weekend like this.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/max-verstappen-admits-f1-title-bid-austin-win/10769427/
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies claimed “we are witnessing something quite extraordinary” as Max Verstappen delivered a perfect weekend at the United States Grand Prix.
The Dutchman secured pole position for both the sprint race and grand prix and went on to convert both poles into victories, taking home a total of 33 points.
After a string of strong performances following the summer break, including wins at the Italian and Azerbaijan grands prix, Verstappen is now back in the fight for the drivers’ championship.
While Oscar Piastri still leads the championship, a fifth-place finish at the Circuit of The Americas in the grand prix and a DNF in the sprint mean that Verstappen is now just 40 points adrift of the Australian driver.
Lando Norris, who currently sits second in the standings, finished the race in second, closing the gap to his McLaren team-mate to 14 points.
“Max has been driving at an incredible level. We have to probably admit we are witnessing something quite extraordinary and, all together [with the team], it has produced that turnaround,” Mekies told Sky Sports F1 after the United States Grand Prix.
“They know what to do. It’s a team that loves racing. We go racing taking risks, they have always gone racing taking risks, and the focus and intensity is still on this weekend. On learning whatever we can still learn from this weekend and putting the best car down to Mexico.
“The rest will just be the consequence.”
With just five race weekends left in the season, Verstappen is keen to keep the momentum going. “Well done mate, unbelievable weekend. Really good. Thank you everyone and have a good flight back mate,” the Red Bull driver said to race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase after the race.
“Well done Max. That was proper domination. What you said, you got everything this weekend,” Mekies added over the team radio, to which Verstappen added: “Really happy with that. Let’s try and keep this momentum up!”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/laurent-mekies-witnessing-something-extraordinary-as-max-verstappen-claws-back-championship/10769440/
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown claimed he was “glad to have the weekend behind us” after the United States Grand Prix ended with a P2 and P5 for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, respectively.
According to the American, Piastri “never really felt comfortable” in the car this weekend and lacked confidence in it.
“Glad to have the weekend behind us, but a good result,” Brown told Sky Sports Germany. “Lando, I think, had the pace of Max, but with [Ferrari’s] tyre strategy, starting on the soft, obviously got a good run into Turn 1, and it took a while to get past Leclerc. He was strong.
“Oscar struggled a bit all weekend, this wasn’t a great weekend for him. Not a bad result.
“Congratulations to Max, he was fast as always, but here we come in Mexico. Yeah, Leclerc started on the soft, so he obviously had a good launch and a good first lap, and it just took us too long to get by him.”
When asked to clarify what Piastri was struggling with, Brown added: “He just never really felt comfortable or he had the car underneath him that he wanted, so just a little bit off all weekend. It wasn’t his favourite track last year, so just a little bit off, just never felt he was really comfortable.”
Race winner Max Verstappen closed the gap to the championship leader Piastri to just 40 points. Piastri’s team-mate Norris also closed the gap to him in the standings, with 14 points now separating the two McLaren drivers.
“Great racing team, I think you saw the turnaround we had in ’24 and how competitive we got pretty quickly,” Brown said of Red Bull’s recent momentum.
“So I think the sport is unbelievably competitive, it just shows that these teams never sit still, they’ve had some great developments. Max is an awesome driver and next thing you know they’ve got a lot of momentum, we need to break that momentum now.”
He added: “[We have to] just keep doing what we’re doing, I think we had a very fast race car today, I think we could have won today. Obviously we didn’t, so it’s a good could have, should have, would have, but it’s going to be very close, the championship is far from over.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/zak-brown-glad-to-have-the-weekend-behind-us-as-he-explains-oscar-piastri-struggles/10769458/