Max Verstappen took a comfortable victory in the United States Grand Prix sprint ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
The Red Bull stalwart got a good launch to take the racing line into the first turn, though Leclerc, starting from the often-favorable second spot on the grid, had a look down the Dutchman’s inside before backing out of the move.
Leclerc checking up allowed Lewis Hamilton to sweep around the Ferrari’s outside, though he completed the move running wide over the curbs on exit. The stewards considered it fair game in the melee of the first lap, and the Briton was allowed to keep the place.
Verstappen bided his time before putting his foot down, the Dutchman reporting a drivability problem, but by lap five he stretched his advantage to more than a second, breaking free of Hamilton’s DRS before powering away to a dominant 9.4s victory.
“We could do our own race, control the pace a bit,” he said. “Then I had a bit of fun at the end, pushing a bit more. Once I cleared the DRS, we all settled in our own rhythm. I think the pace of the car was very good today.”
Hamilton was more than a second ahead of Leclerc by the end of the first lap, ensuring the Ferrari couldn’t use the Mercedes’s slipstream to follow him up the road. It translated to an easy second place 8.5s ahead of Leclerc after a lonely 19 laps.
“That was a fun race,” he said. “A good start down to Turn 1 and good battle with Charles. I was trying early on to get closer to Max, but their pace is just unbelievable at the moment.”
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Leclerc benefitted from teammate Carlos Sainz rising from sixth to fourth on the first lap thanks to the Spaniard’s unique decision to start on softs.
The red-marked rubber didn’t last the distance, but Sainz was quick enough to keep Lando Norris behind him for half the race. It forced the Briton to overwork his tires just to barge past, and by the time he’d brought them back into working range, he was out of laps to try a move on Leclerc, who beat him by just 0.8s.
“[Mercedes] were a bit stronger today in race pace,” Leclerc said. “We need to work to try and understand what to do better to be a step ahead tomorrow.”
Sergio Perez finished fifth, up two places from his starting place, ahead of the fading Sainz, whose last defensive stand was to hold off George Russell by 0.9s.
Russell, however, served a 5s post-race penalty for barging past Oscar Piastri off track, handing seventh position to Pierre Gasly and dropping himself to eighth.
Alex Albon finished ninth ahead of Piastri, who lost five places on his starting position over 19 laps.
Piastri’s race started with first-lap contact from Sainz, who chopped across his bow in the early fracas, and slipped only backwards from there.
The Australian defended gamely against Perez and then Russell, but he only tumbled down the order once both pushed past, leaving him without points.
Esteban Ocon finished 11th ahead of the returning Daniel Ricciardo. Fernando Alonso was the sole Aston Martin finisher in 13th ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, Nico Hulkenberg, Alfa Romeo teammates Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargeant.
Lance Stroll was the only retiree, the Canadian pulling into the pits with reported brake problems.
