Verstappen completes US GP sweep with dominant victory

Verstappen led the race from pole and was never challenged, controlling all 56 laps at the Circuit of the Americas to claim his 68th career victory and move within 40 points of championship leader Oscar Piastri.

Lando Norris finished 7.9 seconds behind Verstappen but spent most of the race battling Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari for second rather than challenging the Dutchman for the lead.

Piastri, meanwhile, could only gain one position, finishing fifth and seeing his championship lead shrink as Norris moved to just 14 points behind with five races remaining.

Verstappen has now scored 119 of a possible 133 points in the last four races, winning three of the last four grands prix, and his latest triumph moves him level with Sebastian Vettel on F1’s all-time winners list.

“It was an unbelievable weekend for us,” he said.

“I knew the race wasn’t going to be super straightforward. I think in the first stint it was going to make a difference and I was able to eek it out.

He acknowledged that a fifth consecutive drivers’ championship was still within his sights.

“The chance is there we just need to keep delivering this kind of weekends till the end.”

Norris lost track position to Leclerc off the start and took 21 laps to overtake the Ferrari, a position he then lost again during the pit-stop phase.

Despite complaining that his car was “slow” on the final stint on soft tyres, he was able to gain enough time on Leclerc in the closing laps to retake second on lap 51, earning three crucial points in the championship.

“It was a good battle with Charles, he fought hard,” Norris said.

“It was tough. We did everything we could. It was good fun. Good battles.

“We had to take second. There’s not a lot more we could’ve done today.”

Leclerc held on to third, giving Ferrari their first podium since the Belgian Grand Prix, and admitted he had been concerned about his tyre strategy.

“I was a little worried I was the only car on softs at the beginning but it was a bit of a risky move,” he said.

“We at least gained a position and that helped us for the rest of the race.

“I’m happy as it’s been a tough second half of the year. To be on the podium here…I’m happy.”

For Piastri, fifth added to a difficult weekend, in which he was never able to get ahead of his teammate or mount a challenge for the win.

The 24-year-old started well, moving up from sixth on the grid, but could not close on Lewis Hamilton ahead of him, despite a late push.

This marks the fourth consecutive race where Piastri has been outscored by both Norris and Verstappen since his Dutch Grand Prix win in August.

Hamilton finished fourth, helping Ferrari close the gap to Mercedes in the constructors’ championship to just seven points. Mercedes only had one car in the points, with George Russell sixth.

Kimi Antonelli had earlier been fighting for seventh with Carlos Sainz but was clipped from behind by the Williams driver, spinning to the back of the grid. Sainz retired, prompting a brief virtual safety car period — the only interruption of the race.

Yuki Tsunoda benefitted from the incident, finishing seventh to back up his Sprint result on Saturday.

The Japanese driver also battled with Haas driver Oliver Bearman, who went off track and narrowly avoided hitting the Red Bull at Turn 15 on lap 35. Bearman still scored points in ninth behind Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber, which marked his first points since his breakthrough podium at the British Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso rounded out the top ten, holding off Liam Lawson, teammate Lance Stroll, and a recovering Antonelli for the final championship point.

With the championship now shaping into a three-way fight, the battle will resume next weekend at the Mexican Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.