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Formula 1
United States GP
F1 United States GP Live Commentary and Updates – Race
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2023 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix
Max Verstappen controlled the US GP sprint race on Saturday, but takes on a trickier challenge in the grand prix as he starts from sixth place with Charles Leclerc on pole.
While the Red Bull driver remains favourite, having wrapped up the F1 world drivers’ title last time out in Qatar, his rivals will be looking to spring an upset at the Circuit of the Americas.
The US GP starts at 8pm BST.
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In conversation with McLaren, Norris agrees to switch to Plan B - which is likely to be a one-stopper - as they target fighting Verstappen for the win.
Alonso passes Zhou to move into the points.
Mercedes made Hamilton go longer on his first stint to try to give him a tyre life advantage later in the race, but it has cost him about seven seconds to Norris and Verstappen ahead.
Ricciardo stops, coming out 15th.
Meanwhile, Alex Albon has had two track limits warnings in as many laps. Proceed with caution.
Gasly and Russell fighting for eighth there after the Mercedes stopped. Bit of robust defending needed to hold off the Frenchman!
Pit stop
Norris duly darts by Russell on the back straight and Mercedes call him in at the end of the lap. Russell takes on fresh hards and comes out in eighth.
Leclerc leads from Russell but neither driver has stopped yet, then comes Norris, Verstappen, Hamilton and Sainz.
Pit stop
Hamilton pits at the end of lap 20, swapping his mediums for hards, and comes out in fifth behind Verstappen. That hasn't worked out for the Mercedes driver.
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Hamilton is told Verstappen's in his pit window and he replies: "Yeah, no s*** man!"
Hamilton locks up and goes wide at Turn 11 so loses a chunk of time. Meanwhile, Verstappen is three seconds per lap faster than Hamilton right now and is closing in on Norris.
Sainz makes it past a yet-to-stop Ricciardo for sixth, as Alonso pits from eighth and comes out 16th.
Mercedes has asked Hamilton and Russell to go for another five laps on each of their planned first stint of the race. Hamilton says it'll be a tall order while Russell is confident. It looks like they will try to make his race into a one-stopper.
Gasly exits the pits into 12th, behind Hulkenberg.
Gasly pits from a promoted fifth to push Verstappen up a place.
Norris has kept ahead of Verstappen, running fourth and sixth respectively, while Hamilton keeps on going in the lead.
Sainz is eighth, having stopped, with Perez 11th.
Pit stop
Norris responds to Verstappen's stop as he pits at the end of the next lap, sliding into the pit entry as he comes in, and takes on fresh hards.
The world champion is now between the two AlphaTauris of Tsunoda and Ricciardo.
Verstappen comes out in ninth on the medium tyres - will this trigger more pitstops?
Pit stop
At the end of lap 16 Verstappen is the first of the frontrunners to pit, taking on new mediums, meaning he is committed to a two-stopper.
McLaren's response to Norris is to be careful on the kerbs as it might also be a wind issue.
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"I don't know what's going on at Turns 8 and 9, but I'm struggling a lot with the balance," Norris reports over team radio.
There will be no further investigation on the Leclerc vs Verstappen Turn 12 incident, which is the right outcome. On we go.
At the start of lap 15, Norris has his lead cut to 1.9s by Hamilton, while behind them Verstappen is two-tenths faster than Hamilton. The fight is on.
Piastri had damage to his radiator and a water leak, which led to his retirement.
The Leclerc vs Verstappen Turn 12 exchange has been noted by race control.
Stopwatch
So, Verstappen is up to third and hunting down a pair of Brits. Norris still leads but Hamilton has set a new fastest lap to cut the gap to 2.6s.
Verstappen spots this and makes his move, up the inside at Turn 12 and pushes Leclerc wide. The Ferrari driver comes back on the track ahead but has to yield around Turns 13 and 14 having gained the place off the track.
Norris is keeping his lead stable at 3s over Hamilton with Leclerc starting to drop back again.
Albon, Bottas and Magnussen follow Zhou's lead and stop for fresh tyres.
Norris is told by McLaren the team is thinking of Plan A for his race strategy. So, medium, hard, medium?
Another retirement on the way - this time it's Piastri. Something is overheating on his McLaren and he's heading back to the pits.
Verstappen is still stalking Leclerc but hasn't looked to make a move yet, which is allowing Sainz to close up to both of them.
First car into the pits! Zhou stops from 11th.
Verstappen is within DRS range of Leclerc in the fight for third. Ahead of them Norris and Hamilton are matching each other's pace.
Perez says Russell is "going off a lot." Will we have more track limits issues here today?
At the end of lap seven Norris leads by 3.1s from Hamilton with Leclerc in third another 1.2s back. They will all be keeping an eye on Verstappen in fourth who appears to be pacing himself.
Ocon's day is over, marking his third DNF in the last five races.
Hamilton, with DRS on the back straight, goes to the outside of Leclerc into Turn 12 and gets ahead before the corner apex to move up to second.
By: Autosport Staff
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