F1 – Verstappen back to winning ways with Sprint victory in Austin ahead of Sainz and Norris

F1 – Verstappen back to winning ways with Sprint victory in Austin ahead of Sainz and Norris

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen took his fourth Sprint win of the season with a controlled drive from pole to victory at the Circuit of the Americas as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz passed Lando Norris on the final lap to steal second place from the McLaren driver.

At the start of the 19-lap race Verstappen got away well from the front of the grid to take the lead. Norris, starting from fourth place, took a tight line into Turn and as front-row starter George Russell moved wide to defend against the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, the McLaren driver was able to slip past both Leclerc and Russell to claim P2.

In the opening phase of the race, Norris was able to stay within DRS range of Verstappen, but when the Red Bull driver managed to break the one-second barrier on lap 5, Norris began to fall back towards Russell who was pushing hard to make ground.

However, the Mercedes driver was taking too much out of his Medium-compound Pirelli tyres in the pursuit and after complaining that his front right was “toast” he fell back towards both Ferrari drivers.

Initially it was Leclerc who was in pursuit but after close battle, he lost out to team-mate Sainz who got past in Turn 15 on lap five. Sainz then closed in on the faltering Russell and passed the Mercedes. The Sopanish driver then began to close on Norris, setting up a grandstand finish.

At the front, Verstappen was in control, creating a three-second gap to Norris and then allowing Norris to get to within 1.5s as he saved tyres before stretching away again.

Norris, though, was stressing his front tyres too much and in the closing stages Sainz attacked on way to Turn 1. Norris locked up and Sainz eased past to take P2.

Norris then came under pressure from Leclerc but just managed held onto third ahead of the Ferrari driver. Russell finished fifth, with Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton in P6 ahead of Haas pair Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg.

Pos Driver Car
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari
3 Lando Norris McLaren
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari
5 George Russell Mercedes
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
7 Kevin Magnussen Haas
8 Nico Hulkenberg Haas
9 Sergio Perez Red Bull
10 Oscar Piastri McLaren
11 Yuki Tsunoda RB
12 Franco Colapinto Williams
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine
15 Esteban Ocon Alpine
16 Liam Lawson RB
17 Alexander Albon Williams
18 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin
19 Zhou Guanyu Kick Sauber
20 Valtteri Bottas Kick Sauber

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