F1 United States GP live commentary and updates - race
Follow along for lap-by-lap updates from the United States GP at the Circuit of the Americas
Live Standings
Live Text
Lap 24/56
Verstappen breaks the 11-second barrier as Norris took out a lot from his tyres to pass Leclerc.
Hamilton, Piastri, and Russell continue in the top five; Piastri is struggling a bit, but is catching Hamilton as the Ferrari driver is starting to struggle now.
Lap 23/56
Norris continues to sit just within 11s of Verstappen. Hamilton did a fastest lap not long ago, but those tyres look like they're not giving him a lot back.
Antonelli dives past Colapinto at Turn 12 and gets 14th as he continues his recovery drive.
Lap 22/56
Hamilton might have a stab at passing Leclerc here - Leclerc defends in a way you wouldn't expect him to do with his team-mate. Regardless, the Monegasque pits - Hamilton moves up to third.
Leclerc returns to the circuit in ninth, ahead of Alonso. That might force McLaren's hand.
Lap 21/56
Norris is a lot closer this time, and gets ahead into Turn 12 this time! Very cautious exit line there as he ensures he's not going to irritate the track limits observers.
Now he's 10s behind Verstappen, so he'll have to give it his all to get there.
Lap 20/56
Antonelli's back on the charge, and gets past Ocon - he's up to 15th.
Norris is on his final warning with track limits.
Lap 19/56
Norris has his best opportunity so far, but persists with the outside line and tries to go around the outside of Leclerc into Turn 13. But that doesn't really work - Leclerc shuts the door.
Lap 18/56
Verstappen is now 7.2s up the road, which is huge - and continues to grow as Norris doesn't look like he's going to make a move any time soon.
Russell has dropped off a bit from Piastri, although he's not looking he'll come under much pressure from Tsunoda behind.
Lap 17/56
Another lap, and Leclerc continues to show Norris how it's done. Even though the McLaren remains close, the Ferrari driver's defence is looking very stout indeed.
Lap 16/56
Norris isn't as close this time, and he's got a couple of track limits warnings - so he's going to have to be very careful here. Hamilton is still keeping a watching vigil.
Lap 15/56
Norris has a good chance this time around, just over half a second behind at the DRS zone.
But he opts for the outside again as Leclerc covers the inside, which puts Norris on the back foot through the following switchback corners. It's as you were.
Lap 14/56
Verstappen is 4.1s clear of Leclerc now, who has Norris sitting in his mirrors again. He might be a bit too far behind to challenge this time - indeed, a Turn 12 move isn't quite on.
A slightly dark band on Norris' front left, so the tyre is opening up a little bit there.
Lap 13/56
Norris is now sitting around DRS range of Leclerc, and aiming to stay there for the middle of the next lap.
"Piastri seems slow," Russell reports, as the McLaren has dropped off by 3.5s to Hamilton. Time to strike?
Lap 12/56
Still, the softs seem to be doing okay at the moment - Stroll passes Colapinto for 14th. A pass at Turn 1 - and without contact.
Leclerc is falling back, however; he's 3.8s behind Verstappen, and 1.1s ahead of Norris.
Lap 11/56
I think there's two things that will get you a one-stopper in this race: 1) running the hard tyre, even though it's a very slow tyre, or 2) being Max Verstappen.
Norris is slowly closing back up to Leclerc now, as he aims to pounce when the Ferrari's soft tyres run out.
Lap 10/56
Our top 10 so far: Verstappen, Leclerc, Norris, Hamilton, Piastri, Russell, Tsunoda, Bearman, Hulkenberg, Alonso.
"I'm concerned about the front left, it doesn't look or feel right," Piastri reports on the radio. Norris is told it looks more like "Plan B" as we brace for a two-stop afternoon.
Lap 9/56
The VSC ends, and Norris has dropped quite a way behind Leclerc - perhaps overconservative on his delta?
Leclerc is 2.6s behind Verstappen now as we get going again.
Thanks to the Sainz/Antonelli clash, Hulkenberg and Alonso (who had a bit of a slow start) are into the top 10.
Lap 8/56
Albon pits while we're still under this VSC and puts on the medium. That's likely not going to be a one-stopper for much longer.
Replay on his incident earlier; he was passing Stroll, but got clipped by Bortoleto at Turn 12. No further action on that.
Lap 7/56
That's Sainz! The Spaniard and Antonelli collided, and the Williams is now sat at the side of the road at Turn 19.
Sainz went down the inside, and Antonelli went across him - he seemed to be alongside enough, but it's borderline...
VSC then, so the marshals can clear his car.
Lap 6/56
Norris seems to have dropped back on this lap, perhaps electing to cool tyres and recoup energy -
Hadjar's been shown the black-and-white flag already.
Antonelli's come to a stop at Turn 15, but he's on the move again. He falls to the back of the order.
Lap 5/56
Verstappen sets a fastest lap, while Norris is still pushing Leclerc along. Perhaps there was a chance there in Turn 12, but he was a bit too far back.
Piastri's sitting back from this fight, having fended off Russell. Antonelli's now in DRS range of his team-mate.
Lap 4/56
Verstappen is already 3s ahead of Leclerc, who's holding up a lot of cars. Norris finds Leclerc defending again at Turn 12, but still can't force the issue.
Hamilton's waiting in the wings here.
Lap 3/56
Tsunoda opens the lap and gets past Bearman to claim ninth - good start from the Japanese driver.
Norris is within DRS range of Leclerc, and needs to do something about him quickly to put pressure on Verstappen. He tries to switch back out of Turn 12, but can't get past the Ferrari.
Lap 2/56
Verstappen continues to lead from Leclerc, and clears the one-second DRS range. Norris sits third and is oping to reclaim second before Verstappen gets away.
Antonelli fights off Bearman; Sainz is now challenging the Haas and gets past at Turn 12, while Tsunoda got up to 10th.
The 2025 US Grand Prix is go!
Much cleaner getaway - but indeed, Leclerc gets a really good start and gets up to second on those soft tyres! Russell drops a couple of places, lifting Hamilton and Piastri up to fifth and sixth. Antonelli has Bearman for company.
Yellow flag at Turn 12, but it's cleared up - it seems like Albon had some kind of contretemps...indeed, he hit Bortoleto.
Verstappen, Norris, and Leclerc are quickly back onto the start-finish straight - might be a bit of a wait for the backmarkers to come around...
Interesting opening gambit from Leclerc, starting on softs - Ferrari going for it at the start of this race.
There's a mix in the bottom five as well, as Ocon/Albon/Hadjar look like they're locked in to one-stoppers - if, however, this is a conventional race.
Tyre watch
Softs: Leclerc, Bortoleto, Stroll
Hards: Ocon, Albon, Hadjar
Mediums: Everyone else
Five minutes to go!
Are you ready? We'll kick off very soon as the 20 drivers make their way up the hill and through the rollercoaster esses in the first sector.
It's funny, I never really used to like this circuit - but it's grown on me in the past couple of years. Let's hope COTA proves me right...
Turn 1: Scene of an accident?
Because of the way Turn 1 is designed, it seems to be a bit of an accident funnel - of course, we saw that at the start of the sprint, then later on when Stroll speared into Ocon.
Will the field be more cautious this time around, or will there be further drama? And will anyone get a Tsunoda-style start from the lower-midfield and fire their car into the top 10?
I'm looking forward to finding out.
Laurent Mekies tells Sky that Red Bull "took quite a few risks" with Verstappen's set-up before qualifying, after not feeling "super happy" with the car after the sprint.
Let's see if that translates into the race - if he gets through Turn 1 with the lead, it'll all be about degradation and whether Red Bull's improvements of late can match up to - or even surpass - the McLaren of Norris.
30 minutes until race start
And it's shaping up to be an interesting one. Max Verstappen and Lando Norris start on the front row, with Charles Leclerc and George Russell behind them.
Oscar Piastri starts sixth, behind Lewis Hamilton - he's got ground to make up if he's going to limit the damage to his title lead.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Circuit of the Americas extends F1 US GP contract
Organisers of Austin's United States Grand Prix have agreed an eight-year contract extension with Formula 1 to host the race until the 2034 season.
The Circuit of the Americas revived the US Grand Prix in 2012 after a four-year hiatus and the challenging 5.5km road course proved an instant hit with drivers.
Strategy corner: Tactical uncertainty means F1 US GP is wide open
A variety of strategies are available to the teams and drivers at Austin, meaning the outcome of the race might be harder to predict than it looks.
Pirelli brought a different hard tyre compound to Austin this year, with its selection C1-C3-C4 instead of C2-C3-C4.
This means there is a larger gap between the hard and the medium. Pirelli expected the hard to be some two seconds slower; high track temperatures mean it is just 1.5s off the next compound.
Here's a look at the strategic options in the US GP.
Russell's theory on Red Bull qualifying pace
Saturday in Austin turned out to be an even better day than expected for Max Verstappen's championship hopes. The Dutchman saw both McLarens drop out of the sprint, scored eight points himself, and later that day secured pole position for the grand prix.
Mercedes driver George Russell points to certain factor in Red Bull’s Austin pace. In his view, the gap between Red Bull’s qualifying speed and its sprint race performance at the Circuit of the Americas mainly stems from the car’s characteristics instead of set-up.
Saturday's analysis - what does it mean for today's race?
United States GP - starting grid
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| Cla | Driver | # | Chassis | Engine | Time | Tyres | km/h | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 |  M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing |
1 |  |
Red Bull | Red Bull |
1'32.510 |
214.536 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 |  L. Norris McLaren |
4 |  |
McLaren | Mercedes |
+0.291 1'32.801 |
213.864 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 |  C. Leclerc Ferrari |
16 |  |
Ferrari | Ferrari |
+0.297 1'32.807 |
213.850 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | G. Russell Mercedes |
63 |  |
Mercedes | Mercedes |
+0.316 1'32.826 |
213.806 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | L. Hamilton Ferrari |
44 |  |
Ferrari | Ferrari |
+0.402 1'32.912 |
213.608 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 |  O. Piastri McLaren |
81 |  |
McLaren | Mercedes |
+0.574 1'33.084 |
213.213 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 |  A. Antonelli Mercedes |
12 |  |
Mercedes | Mercedes |
+0.604 1'33.114 |
213.145 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | O. Bearman Haas F1 Team |
87 |  |
Haas | Ferrari |
+0.629 1'33.139 |
213.087 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9 |  C. Sainz Williams |
55 |  |
Williams | Mercedes |
+0.640 1'33.150 |
213.062 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10 | F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing |
14 |  |
Aston Martin | Mercedes |
+0.650 1'33.160 |
213.039 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 11 |  N. Hulkenberg Sauber |
27 |  |
Sauber | Ferrari |
+0.824 1'33.334 |
212.642 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12 |  L. Lawson RB |
30 |  |
RB | Honda |
+0.850 1'33.360 |
212.583 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 13 |  Y. Tsunoda Red Bull Racing |
22 |  |
Red Bull | Red Bull |
+0.956 1'33.466 |
212.342 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 14 |  P. Gasly Alpine |
10 |  |
Alpine | Renault |
+1.141 1'33.651 |
211.922 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 15 |  F. Colapinto Alpine |
43 |  |
Alpine | Renault |
+1.534 1'34.044 |
211.037 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 16 |  G. Bortoleto Sauber |
5 |  |
Sauber | Ferrari |
+1.615 1'34.125 |
210.855 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 17 | E. Ocon Haas F1 Team |
31 |  |
Haas | Ferrari |
+1.626 1'34.136 |
210.831 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 18 |  A. Albon Williams |
23 |  |
Williams | Mercedes |
+2.180 1'34.690 |
209.597 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 19 |  L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing |
18 |  |
Aston Martin | Mercedes |
+2.030 1'34.540 |
209.930 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 20 | I. Hadjar RB |
6 |  |
RB | Honda |
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F1 United States GP coming soon!
Hello everyone, and thanks for joining us. Here's your live feed of updates, which we'll be running lap-by-lap throughout the US GP at Austin's Circuit of the Americas.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images
