Verstappen surges to commanding victory in US GP ahead of Norris and Leclerc

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.

Liam Lawson just missed out on points for Racing Bulls in 11th, as did the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll in 12th. Kimi Antonelli embarked on a recovery drive to 13th, the Mercedes driver having dropped backwards early on in the race following a collision with Williams’ Carlos Sainz.

The other Williams of Alex Albon claimed P14, followed by Haas’ Esteban Ocon (P15) and Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar (P16). Franco Colapinto took P17 for Alpine – after ignoring a team order to hold position behind team mate Pierre Gasly – while Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto was sandwiched between them in P18.

Sainz was the only retiree of the day, having pulled off track following his aforementioned clash with Antonelli. And in terms of the standings after the race in Austin, Verstappen is now just 40 points away from Piastri in the Drivers’ Championship, while Norris is only 14 points adrift of his team mate.

AS IT HAPPENED

After two exciting days of action at the Circuit of The Americas – featuring a highly eventful Sprint followed by a busy Qualifying later on Saturday – it was time for the paddock to shift their attentions to Sunday’s United States Grand Prix.

That aforementioned Qualifying saw Verstappen clinch a 47th career pole position, with Norris proving his closest competitor in second, while championship leader Piastri had a trickier day after ending the session in P6.

With that dramatic Turn 1 from Saturday’s Sprint still fresh in everybody’s minds, questions remained over how the pack would tackle the first corner this time around as Sunday’s start time neared. One thing for certain is that the drivers would again be racing in warm conditions, with a track temperature in the range of 44 degrees Celsius.

One small change to the starting order prior to the race getting underway saw Stroll demoted to P19 after serving a five-place grid penalty – handed out following a collision with Ocon in the Sprint – while Hadjar would line up at the very back, having not set a time due to crashing out of Q1 in Qualifying.

Once all 20 cars had assembled on the grid and the tyre blankets were removed, it was revealed that most of the field would start on the medium tyre for the 56-lap event. The exceptions, however, were Leclerc, Bortoleto and Stroll on the soft compound, while Ocon, Albon and Hadjar had opted for the hard.

With the formation lap completed, the five lights went out to get the United States Grand Prix underway – and while Verstappen launched away cleanly to hold the lead, Norris lost out to Leclerc after the Monegasque took a wide line through Turn 1.

Behind them, Piastri defended hard against Russell into that first corner, the Australian managing to get himself up into P5 – dropping Russell to sixth – while Hamilton had also gained a position in P4. Further back, the yellow flags were thrown as Albon went off at the rear of the pack after seemingly colliding with Bortoleto, before rejoining in last place.

Tsunoda was the biggest winner at the start, the Red Bull driver moving up four places to run in P9, while Sainz had climbed up to P8 after overtaking the Haas of Bearman. Meanwhile Verstappen had already started to extend his lead, the Dutchman running three seconds clear of Leclerc by Lap 5.

As those opening five laps played out, Leclerc not only dropped back from Verstappen but increasingly found himself under pressure from Norris, with the McLaren driver just 0.5s behind. Elsewhere, Norris’ team mate Piastri was also trying to chase down a Ferrari in the form of Hamilton.

On Lap 7, Sainz attempted a move on Antonelli into Turn 15 – but contact occurred between the pair, sending the latter into a spin while Sainz pulled off the track, his Williams seemingly too damaged to continue on. This resulted in the deployment of the Virtual Safety Car, with Albon taking the opportunity to pit while Antonelli had dropped down to P18.

As the VSC came to an end on Lap 9, Verstappen continued to lead by more than two seconds from Leclerc, while Norris had dropped back slightly from the Ferrari. Hamilton and Piastri remained in fourth and fifth, with the latter radioing in that he was “concerned about the front left” tyre.

Norris went on to voice the same issue, leading to questions over whether McLaren could opt for a two-stop strategy. Elsewhere, the Antonelli and Sainz incident – which will be investigated after the race – had promoted Hulkenberg and Alonso up into the top 10.

With 14 laps gone, Verstappen was now four seconds clear of Leclerc, but Norris had again got himself on the tail of the Ferrari. “Track limits for Norris,” Leclerc reported as the McLaren closed to just half a second behind.

Just one tour later, Norris went side-by-side with Leclerc through several corners – and while there was hard but fair racing between the pair, the Briton was unable to make the move stick. All of this had allowed Verstappen to break away further, extending his lead to 6.7s.

After briefly dropping back, Norris had once again closed in on Leclerc by Lap 19. Another attempt to get past followed – only for Leclerc to again close the door. Further back, Antonelli was trying to climb back through the field, the Mercedes driver chasing down Ocon in a battle for P15.

Amid the ongoing Norris and Leclerc scrap, Norris was told to pit to overtake – but the call seemed to be a bluff, with the McLaren staying out on track. In less welcome news for the papaya squad, the British driver was shown a black and white flag for exceeding track limits.

While Norris was not happy to hear about that, he had something to smile about on Lap 21 after finally overtaking Leclerc at Turn 12. Leclerc then faced pressure from team mate Hamilton, the Ferrari pair very nearly making contact as they fought for P3 – only for Leclerc to then pit, swapping his soft tyres for the medium compound.

As Leclerc returned to the track in ninth place, Verstappen was now 11 seconds ahead of Norris, who was followed by Hamilton, Piastri, Russell, Tsunoda, Bearman, Hulkenberg, Leclerc and Alonso. With the halfway mark of the race edging closer – and most of the frontrunners having yet to pit – there was still plenty of action to come at COTA.

“Tyres are becoming tricky,” Verstappen told his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase on Lap 27, with the response being that the conditions were starting to change. Elsewhere, Leclerc had climbed to P7 after overtaking Hulkenberg and Bearman, while Antonelli – the fastest man on track – was up to P13.

Much speculation remained over strategies, with many teams seemingly keen to extend the first stint for as long as possible before switching to the soft tyre on a one-stop call. Tsunoda, pitted on Lap 30 for the soft rubber, while Piastri did the same one lap later, returning to the track in seventh.

Next to stop was Hamilton, the seven-time World Champion emerging ahead of Piastri in sixth. Verstappen, meanwhile, had seen his lead marginally cut into – before Norris dived into the pits on Lap 33, rejoining in third on the soft tyres behind Russell after a slightly slow stop.

Verstappen made his all-important visit to the pits one tour later – emerging back in the lead – while Russell soon followed, returning to the track in P6. With everybody now having pitted, the order at the front had shaken out as Verstappen, Leclerc, Norris, Hamilton, Piastri and Russell.

Just behind those lead six cars, Bearman dropped to P9 after a lunge on Tsunoda triggered contact between the pair, sending the Haas into a spin and briefly bringing out the yellow flags. Hulkenberg was sandwiched between them, while Alonso completed the top 10.

Up ahead, it looked like a second round of Norris vs Leclerc was coming up, with the Briton closing to within 0.7s of the Ferrari by Lap 38. Meanwhile two more drivers had been shown the black and white flag for track limits, that being Bortoleto in P19 and Albon in P16.

Within a few laps, Norris had dropped back from Leclerc – and promptly radioed in that he was struggling with his tyres, news that would undoubtedly please the Scuderia. But Verstappen also looked to be nursing his own tyres, meaning that his lead was not extending but holding steady at 6.8s.

As the final 10 laps approached, Norris was told that he still had “really strong” pace despite his tyre struggles, while team mate Piastri’s difficult weekend at COTA seemed to be continuing, the Australian not making ground in P5 as he remained some seven seconds back from Hamilton.

Further back, Antonelli – another driver to have been shown the black and white flag – had made another overtake on Ocon for P13, while the fight for the final points-paying position was heating up, with Lawson and Stroll both chasing down Alonso.

While only a few tours were left, several potential battles started to pick up again. Norris was back on the tail of Leclerc as he tried to grab P2, and Russell had brought his gap from Piastri down to 2.9s.

After making an attempt into Turn 1, Norris bided his time through the lap before finally making it past Leclerc into Turn 12. “Keep the pressure on, he has three strikes,” Leclerc was encouraged by his race engineer, referencing Norris’ earlier track limits warning.

Despite this, Leclerc soon dropped back from the McLaren, the Monegasque seemingly struggling for grip, while Russell’s challenge on Piastri looked to have fallen away. Meanwhile Colapinto was asked to hold position behind Alpine team mate Gasly at the rear of the pack – an order that the Argentinian ignored to move up into P17.

There were no such dramas for Verstappen, however, who took the chequered flag with a margin of 7.959s from Norris, while Leclerc had to settle for third at a track where he claimed victory back in 2024.

Hamilton faced a tense moment on the final lap, with the Ferrari driver appearing to have picked up a puncture – allowing Piastri to start closing in. The Briton just did enough to hold on to P4, however, with Piastri one second back as he crossed the line in P5.

Russell ended a relatively quiet day in sixth, while Tsunoda, Hulkenberg, Bearman and Alonso completed the top 10. Lawson’s challenge for the final point on offer fell away, the New Zealander ultimately taking P11 ahead of Stroll in P12.

Antonelli’s drive back through the field saw him take 13th place, the Mercedes driver followed by Albon, Ocon, Hadjar, Colapinto, Bortoleto and Gasly. Sainz, meanwhile, was the only driver to record a DNF in Austin.

Key quote

“It was an unbelievable weekend for us," said Verstappen. "I knew that the race was not going to be super forward. If you look at the whole race, the pace between myself and Lando was really close. Just in that first stint was where we made the difference and I could eke out a bit of a gap, which is basically what we kept to the end.

“It wasn’t easy to manage the tyres for most of the stints, but we kept it in the lead and I’m just incredibly proud of everyone to be able to deliver a weekend like this.”

What's next

In a double header sequence, F1 moves from Austin to Mexico City for the Mexico City Grand Prix, which takes place on the weekend of October 24-26. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can follow the action.