Formula 1 returns from its mini-break with a trip to the Circuit of the Americas, kick-starting the next triple-header.
Lando Norris dominated the Singapore Grand Prix last time out but still faces an uphill battle to overcome Max Verstappen in the race for the drivers’ title, even with McLaren now ahead of Red Bull in the constructors’ standings.
With off-track headlines again dominating ahead of the weekend, it was Verstappen who took pole for the Sprint. Will he hang on to win and extend his championship lead with Norris starting fourth?
The Sprint gets under way at 7pm BST.
By:
Haydn Cobb
With that, we’ll take a quick breather ahead of US GP full-fat qualifying which starts at 11pm BST. Live text coverage of that will be here. Until then, go well!
Here’s the full report on Verstappen’s win in the US GP sprint race.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24, the rest of the field at the start of the Sprint
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Well then, Norris is now under investigation with the FIA stewards for the “driving erratically” incident with Leclerc on the final lap. If found guilty he could get a post-race penalty that would drop him down the order.
Sting presents Verstappen and co with the sprint race, er, plaques. Hopefully they are not too Fragile…
Verstappen on his sprint win, making it his 11th out of a total of 16 sprint races in F1 history: “It was not too bad, it feels a bit like old times! I am very happy with today, if you look at the whole race Ferrari was also very quick but for us finally we were racing again. Normally in the race we are always looking back but now we could do our own race. We had good pace.”
Norris has been noted by race control for his last-lap Turn 15 near-miss with Leclerc for “driving erratically”.
Norris on third place: “It was a good race, I am pretty happy with how things ended up. It was a tough one, I thought I could hold on to second, but Carlos did a good job. My front tyres were completely finished so there was not a lot I could do if I stayed straight for defended or not, I’m sure I would have lost out to Carlos. Disappointed at the end but I am happy with my race and the points.”
So, Verstappen extends his championship lead to 54 points over Norris. Still plenty of racing to come but that was a statement drive by the defending world champion.
Outside of the points is Perez in ninth, Piastri 10th, Tsunoda 11th, Colapinto 12th, Stroll 13th, Gasly 14th, Ocon 15th, Lawson 16th, Albon 17th, Alonso 18th, Zhou 19th, Bottas 20th.
Russell takes fifth ahead of Hamilton, as both Haas drivers round out the sprint race points places with Magnussen seventh and Hulkenberg eighth. That pushes Haas above RB and into sixth in the constructors’ standings.
Verstappen wins the US GP sprint race! He takes the chequered flag by 3.8s from Sainz, with Norris holding on to third ahead of Leclerc.
At Turn 12 Norris locks up again, under pressure from Leclerc, and then the pair almost clash at Turn 14! Leclerc had to take avoiding action!
Final lap time! Norris locks up into Turn 1 and that gives Sainz the gift of second place.
Verstappen has this sprint race tied up as he pushes his lead to 2.9s, while Sainz has sneaked into Norris’s DRS again.
Both Mercedes drivers are told to keep it cleanas they prepare to engage in a fight for fifth place with two laps to go.
Gasly has been shown the black and white flag for track limits, meaning he’ll get a penalty if he goes off again in this race.
Piastri gets by Tsunoda for 10th, up the inside at Turn 1, but it all might be for nothing given his 5s penalty.
Four laps to go and Verstappen leads by 2.3s over Norris, while it is an all-Ferrari fight for third place. Both Mercedes have dropped off the pace in a distant fifth and sixth as their rear tyres overheat.
Piastri and Tsunoda spend an entire lap squabbling over 10th place, all triggered by another hard move by the Aussie into Turn 12. But it is as you were for now.
On lap 14 Verstappen is matching Norris for lap times now, with the gap stablised at 2.3s. Both Ferraris are quicker than the front two but are not catching by enough to get them before the finish.
Further back Piastri passes Colapinto up the inside at Turn 12 but this time doesn’t force his rival off the track, a la Gasly, to take 11th place.
Perez dives up the inside of Tsunoda at Turn 12 to take ninth place… until the Japanese driver strikes back at Turn 15 which then sees the pair go side-by-side through the next corner. Perez comes out ahead when the come up for air out of Turn 19.
Verstappen is faster than Norris each time in sector three – that’s what’s keeping him ahead at this stage, as he can’t gain enough without DRS in sector two and they’re essentially matched in sector one.
On to lap 12 and Verstappen has pushed the gap back up to 2s with a lap half a second faster than Norris last time around.
Piastri has been given a five-second penalty for forcing Gasly off the track.
“My front left is toast,” Russell says, as he overtaken by Leclerc in an identical move to what Sainz pulled off a lap earlier. Leclerc is up to fourth.
At the start of lap 10 Verstappen leads by 1.4s over Norris, with the McLaren driver slowly but surely gaining on the Red Bull driver.
Sainz is on the move again! He goes up the inside of Russell at Turn 15 to take third place.
Piastri and Gasly are under investigation after the Australian appeared to move the French driver off the track in an overtake at Turn 12 a few laps ago.
Norris fights back on the last lap as he cuts Verstappen’s lead to 1.9s, while Russell has dropped out of his DRS range in third.
Indeed, Verstappen is 2.1s clear on lap seven, as Norris keeps check of Russell after that earlier fight. Further back, Piastri gets by Stroll to move into 12th.
Norris lost 0.5s in sector three before he lost DRS – just when he’d gained 0.3s in sector two. The net was a loss that could mean the lead fight is over.
Russell, with DRS, looks for a way on the outside of Norris into Turn 12 but gets show the edge of the track. The pair continue to fight up to Turn 15 but Norris just about holds on to second place.
It is elbows out between the Ferrari pair – Sainz muscles up the inside of Leclerc at Turn 15 to take fourth place, with Leclerc going off the track. Meanwhile Russell is looking for a way by Norris.
Verstappen has pulled 1.2s clear of Norris to move out of DRS range, while Russell is still keeping hold of the McLaren’s rear wing.
Replays of the start show just how much the track opened up for Norris, as he hugged the inside line at Turn 1 while the others battled on the outside, so he swept through by Leclerc and Russell and into second.
Verstappen sets a fastest lap but he cannot shake Norris out of his DRS range, so it is as you were at the start of lap four.
Further back Hamilton has cleared Magnussen for sixth, while Tsunoda is up to eighth ahead of Hulkenberg.
Verstappen’s lead is down to 0.8s at the end of lap two, while Russell sets the fastest lap to keep pace with the top two.
It is Leclerc’s turn to defend through the final sector as he comes under attack from Sainz for fourth, but once again he can use the switchback to keep his team-mate behind.
With that, we’ll take a quick breather ahead of US GP full-fat qualifying which starts at 11pm BST. Live text coverage of that will be here. Until then, go well!
Here’s the full report on Verstappen’s win in the US GP sprint race.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24, the rest of the field at the start of the Sprint
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Well then, Norris is now under investigation with the FIA stewards for the “driving erratically” incident with Leclerc on the final lap. If found guilty he could get a post-race penalty that would drop him down the order.
Sting presents Verstappen and co with the sprint race, er, plaques. Hopefully they are not too Fragile…
Verstappen on his sprint win, making it his 11th out of a total of 16 sprint races in F1 history: “It was not too bad, it feels a bit like old times! I am very happy with today, if you look at the whole race Ferrari was also very quick but for us finally we were racing again. Normally in the race we are always looking back but now we could do our own race. We had good pace.”
Norris has been noted by race control for his last-lap Turn 15 near-miss with Leclerc for “driving erratically”.
Norris on third place: “It was a good race, I am pretty happy with how things ended up. It was a tough one, I thought I could hold on to second, but Carlos did a good job. My front tyres were completely finished so there was not a lot I could do if I stayed straight for defended or not, I’m sure I would have lost out to Carlos. Disappointed at the end but I am happy with my race and the points.”
So, Verstappen extends his championship lead to 54 points over Norris. Still plenty of racing to come but that was a statement drive by the defending world champion.
Outside of the points is Perez in ninth, Piastri 10th, Tsunoda 11th, Colapinto 12th, Stroll 13th, Gasly 14th, Ocon 15th, Lawson 16th, Albon 17th, Alonso 18th, Zhou 19th, Bottas 20th.
Russell takes fifth ahead of Hamilton, as both Haas drivers round out the sprint race points places with Magnussen seventh and Hulkenberg eighth. That pushes Haas above RB and into sixth in the constructors’ standings.
Verstappen wins the US GP sprint race! He takes the chequered flag by 3.8s from Sainz, with Norris holding on to third ahead of Leclerc.
At Turn 12 Norris locks up again, under pressure from Leclerc, and then the pair almost clash at Turn 14! Leclerc had to take avoiding action!
Final lap time! Norris locks up into Turn 1 and that gives Sainz the gift of second place.
Verstappen has this sprint race tied up as he pushes his lead to 2.9s, while Sainz has sneaked into Norris’s DRS again.
Both Mercedes drivers are told to keep it cleanas they prepare to engage in a fight for fifth place with two laps to go.
Gasly has been shown the black and white flag for track limits, meaning he’ll get a penalty if he goes off again in this race.
Piastri gets by Tsunoda for 10th, up the inside at Turn 1, but it all might be for nothing given his 5s penalty.
Four laps to go and Verstappen leads by 2.3s over Norris, while it is an all-Ferrari fight for third place. Both Mercedes have dropped off the pace in a distant fifth and sixth as their rear tyres overheat.
Piastri and Tsunoda spend an entire lap squabbling over 10th place, all triggered by another hard move by the Aussie into Turn 12. But it is as you were for now.
On lap 14 Verstappen is matching Norris for lap times now, with the gap stablised at 2.3s. Both Ferraris are quicker than the front two but are not catching by enough to get them before the finish.
Further back Piastri passes Colapinto up the inside at Turn 12 but this time doesn’t force his rival off the track, a la Gasly, to take 11th place.
Perez dives up the inside of Tsunoda at Turn 12 to take ninth place… until the Japanese driver strikes back at Turn 15 which then sees the pair go side-by-side through the next corner. Perez comes out ahead when the come up for air out of Turn 19.
Verstappen is faster than Norris each time in sector three – that’s what’s keeping him ahead at this stage, as he can’t gain enough without DRS in sector two and they’re essentially matched in sector one.
On to lap 12 and Verstappen has pushed the gap back up to 2s with a lap half a second faster than Norris last time around.
Piastri has been given a five-second penalty for forcing Gasly off the track.
“My front left is toast,” Russell says, as he overtaken by Leclerc in an identical move to what Sainz pulled off a lap earlier. Leclerc is up to fourth.
At the start of lap 10 Verstappen leads by 1.4s over Norris, with the McLaren driver slowly but surely gaining on the Red Bull driver.
Sainz is on the move again! He goes up the inside of Russell at Turn 15 to take third place.
Piastri and Gasly are under investigation after the Australian appeared to move the French driver off the track in an overtake at Turn 12 a few laps ago.
Norris fights back on the last lap as he cuts Verstappen’s lead to 1.9s, while Russell has dropped out of his DRS range in third.
Indeed, Verstappen is 2.1s clear on lap seven, as Norris keeps check of Russell after that earlier fight. Further back, Piastri gets by Stroll to move into 12th.
Norris lost 0.5s in sector three before he lost DRS – just when he’d gained 0.3s in sector two. The net was a loss that could mean the lead fight is over.
Russell, with DRS, looks for a way on the outside of Norris into Turn 12 but gets show the edge of the track. The pair continue to fight up to Turn 15 but Norris just about holds on to second place.
It is elbows out between the Ferrari pair – Sainz muscles up the inside of Leclerc at Turn 15 to take fourth place, with Leclerc going off the track. Meanwhile Russell is looking for a way by Norris.
Verstappen has pulled 1.2s clear of Norris to move out of DRS range, while Russell is still keeping hold of the McLaren’s rear wing.
Replays of the start show just how much the track opened up for Norris, as he hugged the inside line at Turn 1 while the others battled on the outside, so he swept through by Leclerc and Russell and into second.
Verstappen sets a fastest lap but he cannot shake Norris out of his DRS range, so it is as you were at the start of lap four.
Further back Hamilton has cleared Magnussen for sixth, while Tsunoda is up to eighth ahead of Hulkenberg.
Verstappen’s lead is down to 0.8s at the end of lap two, while Russell sets the fastest lap to keep pace with the top two.
It is Leclerc’s turn to defend through the final sector as he comes under attack from Sainz for fourth, but once again he can use the switchback to keep his team-mate behind.
