Austin (AFP) – Max Verstappen claimed a comfortable victory for Red Bull ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and title rival Lando Norris of McLaren in a frantic sprint race on Saturday at the United States Grand Prix. The three-time world champion and series leader came home 3.8 seconds clear of Sainz, who drove with great determination and speed, and Norris, who was second until a last lap lock-up saw him drop to third.
“That’s not too bad,” said Verstappen, having claimed his first win since the sprint at the Austrian Grand Prix at the end of June to enlarge his title race lead by two points to 54 ahead of Norris. “It’s a bit like the old times and is a good way to start things. As usual, it was all a bit frantic.” It was Verstappen’s 11th win from 16 sprint races, a format he claims he dislikes. He has won three sprints in Austin as well as three Grands Prix and on Sunday will seek to secure his first Grand Prix victory in nine races since the Spanish Grand Prix.
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Sainz said: “That was a good race with some very good battles and it had a lot going on! I was struggling with my tyres, but I saw Lando was too. And I made it stick. It was fun.” Norris said he was satisfied to collect six points. “A good race, pretty happy,” he said. “I had so much tyre wear and Carlos did a great job.”
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished fourth ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, with Kevin Magnussen taking seventh for Haas ahead of team-mate Nico Hulkenberg. Sergio Perez and Oscar Piastri of Red Bull and McLaren were outside the points in ninth and 10th places.
Verstappen made a clean start to lead as Norris swept from fourth to second, passing both Leclerc and Russell. All the cars were on mediums and it was a close contest among the top six, notably as Sainz fought Leclerc for fourth, with Hamilton, sixth, in close attention while, at the front, Russell battled to stay in touch with the two title rivals.
By lap five, Verstappen was 1.3 seconds clear and out of Drag Reduction System (DRS) range of Norris while Russell closed to within six-tenths, and finally, Sainz muscled his way past Leclerc. The Dutchman pulled clear by 2.1 seconds by lap eight, but with Norris closing again after resisting Russell, that advantage was trimmed again to 1.3 before Sainz, in boisterous mood, seized third by passing inside Russell at Turn 15.
Hamilton, sixth, appeared to struggle to stay with the top five and was 4.5 seconds adrift, while his Mercedes team-mate, who started second, descended to fifth on lap 11 when Leclerc repeated Sainz’s move. Further back, Piastri, who started 16th, progressed to 11th and a scrap with RB’s Yuki Tsunoda for 10th behind Perez, the trio chasing Hulkenberg in the final point-scoring place.
Tsunoda ran off on lap 15 and was accused of gaining an advantage before the Australian finally passed him on lap 16 to take 10th, albeit with a five-second penalty for an early incident with Pierre Gasly’s Alpine. Sainz, who leaves Ferrari at the end of the year, continued to show his venom by closing within DRS range of Norris on the penultimate lap as Verstappen cruised clear. The Spaniard took advantage when Norris locked up at Turn One on his final lap.
Sainz accepted the gift to take second, with Leclerc almost hitting Norris on the final lap before Verstappen took the flag for a morale-boosting win.
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