Race report

F1 US GP: Verstappen takes sprint win as Sainz pounces on late Norris mistake

Verstappen stretched his championship lead with a comfortable win

Max Verstappen converted pole into a sprint victory at the United States Grand Prix, having resisted early pressure from Lando Norris to claim an untroubled first win since June's Barcelona race.

Verstappen clinched victory with a 3.9-second margin over Carlos Sainz, who mounted a last-lap pass on Norris at Turn 1 to snatch second place.

Norris had thrown his McLaren down the inside of Charles Leclerc at the first corner and then maintained enough momentum to sit on the outside of George Russell at Turn 3 to assume the inside line for the next corner to move up to second place.

He then stayed in DRS range of Verstappen for the opening laps, closing in on the lengthy back straight but without enough pace to test his championship rival with a move into Turn 12.

But Verstappen stabilised and built a plus-one-second margin to ensure Norris could no longer use DRS, which threw the Briton into the clutches of countryman George Russell.

This set Norris back a further second in defending from the Mercedes driver; Russell's challenge subsided as he struggled with tyre wear, and Norris then attempted to get back into Verstappen's wheel tracks for the second half of the 19-lap race.

Although Norris started to close the now two-second gap and got as close as 1.2s behind, Verstappen was able to dig out more pace from an improved Red Bull and reclaimed his advantage, tacking on a few further tenths to fully ward off a late-race challenge from Norris as the McLaren driver dropped off.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24, the remainder of the field at the start of the Sprint

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Carlos Sainz then capitalised; the Spaniard had brought himself into play having passed team-mate Leclerc on the fifth lap with a well-judged move at Turn 15 and let the Monegasque run out of road. The ailing Russell was then easy prey for Sainz, who then began to catch Norris.

Having homed into DRS range of Norris, Sainz stayed close in the final sector of the penultimate lap and pounced on the McLaren at the uphill Turn 1, forcing his former team-mate into a lock-up that ensured the Ferrari driver came up for air with second.

Norris held onto third by the skin of his teeth, nearly coming to blows with Leclerc at Turn 15 on the final lap as the Ferrari driver was surprised by his early braking into the tight left-hander. The incident was placed under investigation by the stewards as potential erratic driving.

Russell fell to fifth, eight seconds behind Leclerc, to finish ahead of team-mate Hamilton - who endured a quiet race as the glimmers of Mercedes pace faded away in the heat; the W15 rather chewed up its rear tyres to cost pace in the final stages.

Kevin Magnussen clinched seventh as his Haas team-mate Nico Hulkenberg claimed the final point; Magnussen defied an order to let Yuki Tsunoda repass earlier in the race as he felt the RB driver had pushed him off in an attempt to pass.

Tsunoda then defended hard from Sergio Perez and Oscar Piastri in the latter stages of the race, but ultimately got passed by both drivers despite his stout defence and fell out of the top 10. Piastri held onto 10th despite a five-second penalty for forcing Pierre Gasly off the road.

F1 United States Grand Prix - Sprint race results

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Chassis	Engine
1	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	19	-				8		Red Bull	Red Bull
2	C. Sainz Ferrari	55	19	+3.882 3.882	3.882			7		Ferrari	Ferrari
3	L. Norris McLaren	4	19	+6.240 6.240	2.358			6		McLaren	Mercedes
4	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	19	+6.956 6.956	0.716			5		Ferrari	Ferrari
5	G. Russell Mercedes	63	19	+15.766 15.766	8.810			4		Mercedes	Mercedes
6	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44	19	+18.724 18.724	2.958			3		Mercedes	Mercedes
7	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20	19	+25.161 25.161	6.437			2		Haas	Ferrari
8	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27	19	+26.588 26.588	1.427			1		Haas	Ferrari
9	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11	19	+29.950 29.950	3.362					Red Bull	Red Bull
10	O. Piastri McLaren	81	19	+37.059 37.059	7.109					McLaren	Mercedes
11	Y. Tsunoda RB	22	19	+38.363 38.363	1.304					RB	Red Bull
12	F. Colapinto Williams	43	19	+39.460 39.460	1.097					Williams	Mercedes
13	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	19	+41.236 41.236	1.776					Aston Martin	Mercedes
14	P. Gasly Alpine	10	19	+41.995 41.995	0.759					Alpine	Renault
15	E. Ocon Alpine	31	19	+42.804 42.804	0.809					Alpine	Renault
16	L. Lawson RB	30	19	+44.008 44.008	1.204					RB	Red Bull
17	A. Albon Williams	23	19	+44.564 44.564	0.556					Williams	Mercedes
18	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	19	+46.807 46.807	2.243					Aston Martin	Mercedes
19	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24	19	+52.842 52.842	6.035					Sauber	Ferrari
20	V. Bottas Sauber	77	19	+54.476 54.476	1.634					Sauber	Ferrari
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