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F1 US GP: Verstappen takes sprint win as Sainz pounces on late Norris mistake

Max Verstappen converted pole into a sprint victory at the United States Grand Prix, having resisted early pressure from Lando Norris to claim an untroubled first win since June's Barcelona race.

Verstappen clinched victory with a 3.9-second margin over Carlos Sainz, who mounted a last-lap pass on Norris at Turn 1 to snatch second place.

Norris had thrown his McLaren down the inside of Charles Leclerc at the first corner and then maintained enough momentum to sit on the outside of George Russell at Turn 3 to assume the inside line for the next corner to move up to second place.

He then stayed in DRS range of Verstappen for the opening laps, closing in on the lengthy back straight but without enough pace to test his championship rival with a move into Turn 12.

But Verstappen stabilised and built a plus-one-second margin to ensure Norris could no longer use DRS, which threw the Briton into the clutches of countryman George Russell.

This set Norris back a further second in defending from the Mercedes driver; Russell's challenge subsided as he struggled with tyre wear, and Norris then attempted to get back into Verstappen's wheel tracks for the second half of the 19-lap race.

Although Norris started to close the now two-second gap and got as close as 1.2s behind, Verstappen was able to dig out more pace from an improved Red Bull and reclaimed his advantage, tacking on a few further tenths to fully ward off a late-race challenge from Norris as the McLaren driver dropped off.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24, the remainder of the field at the start of the Sprint (Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images)

Carlos Sainz then capitalised; the Spaniard had brought himself into play having passed team-mate Leclerc on the fifth lap with a well-judged move at Turn 15 and let the Monegasque run out of road. The ailing Russell was then easy prey for Sainz, who then began to catch Norris.

Having homed into DRS range of Norris, Sainz stayed close in the final sector of the penultimate lap and pounced on the McLaren at the uphill Turn 1, forcing his former team-mate into a lock-up that ensured the Ferrari driver came up for air with second.

Norris held onto third by the skin of his teeth, nearly coming to blows with Leclerc at Turn 15 on the final lap as the Ferrari driver was surprised by his early braking into the tight left-hander. The incident was placed under investigation by the stewards as potential erratic driving.

Russell fell to fifth, eight seconds behind Leclerc, to finish ahead of team-mate Hamilton - who endured a quiet race as the glimmers of Mercedes pace faded away in the heat; the W15 rather chewed up its rear tyres to cost pace in the final stages.

Kevin Magnussen clinched seventh as his Haas team-mate Nico Hulkenberg claimed the final point; Magnussen defied an order to let Yuki Tsunoda repass earlier in the race as he felt the RB driver had pushed him off in an attempt to pass.

Tsunoda then defended hard from Sergio Perez and Oscar Piastri in the latter stages of the race, but ultimately got passed by both drivers despite his stout defence and fell out of the top 10. Piastri held onto 10th despite a five-second penalty for forcing Pierre Gasly off the road.

F1 United States Grand Prix - Sprint race results

   
1
 - 
5
   
   
1
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2
   
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval km/h Pits Points Retirement Chassis Engine
1 Netherlands M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1 19

-

      8   Red Bull Red Bull
2 Spain C. Sainz Ferrari 55 19

+3.882

3.882

3.882     7   Ferrari Ferrari
3 United Kingdom L. Norris McLaren 4 19

+6.240

6.240

2.358     6   McLaren Mercedes
4 Monaco C. Leclerc Ferrari 16 19

+6.956

6.956

0.716     5   Ferrari Ferrari
5 United Kingdom G. Russell Mercedes 63 19

+15.766

15.766

8.810     4   Mercedes Mercedes
6 United Kingdom L. Hamilton Mercedes 44 19

+18.724

18.724

2.958     3   Mercedes Mercedes
7 Denmark K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team 20 19

+25.161

25.161

6.437     2   Haas Ferrari
8 Germany N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team 27 19

+26.588

26.588

1.427     1   Haas Ferrari
9 Mexico S. Perez Red Bull Racing 11 19

+29.950

29.950

3.362         Red Bull Red Bull
10 Australia O. Piastri McLaren 81 19

+37.059

37.059

7.109         McLaren Mercedes
11 Japan Y. Tsunoda RB 22 19

+38.363

38.363

1.304         RB Red Bull
12 Argentina F. Colapinto Williams 43 19

+39.460

39.460

1.097         Williams Mercedes
13 Canada L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18 19

+41.236

41.236

1.776         Aston Martin Mercedes
14 France P. Gasly Alpine 10 19

+41.995

41.995

0.759         Alpine Renault
15 France E. Ocon Alpine 31 19

+42.804

42.804

0.809         Alpine Renault
16 New Zealand L. Lawson RB 30 19

+44.008

44.008

1.204         RB Red Bull
17 Thailand A. Albon Williams 23 19

+44.564

44.564

0.556         Williams Mercedes
18 Spain F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14 19

+46.807

46.807

2.243         Aston Martin Mercedes
19 China Z. Guanyu Sauber 24 19

+52.842

52.842

6.035         Sauber Ferrari
20 Finland V. Bottas Sauber 77 19

+54.476

54.476

1.634         Sauber Ferrari
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