Leclerc dominates US GP, Verstappen beats sanctioned Norris

Leclerc started from only fourth on the grid at the Circuit of the Americas but grabbed the lead on the opening lap of the race and was never challenged throughout as he managed a one-stop strategy.

Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz used the undercut to power through to second, marking Ferrari’s second 1-2 of the season, while Max Verstappen took third after a contentious battle with a penalized Lando Norris.

Leclerc made a strong start but was a beneficiary of Norris and Verstappen scrapping into Turn 1.

Norris tried to defend the inside line but Verstappen kept coming, and the pair drifted wide, with Leclerc sneaking through into the lead, while Verstappen passed Norris, who also dropped behind Sainz.

Norris protested on the radio, claiming Verstappen had “no intent to make the corner,” but the incident was not even noted by Race Control.

Once in the lead Leclerc cruised clear of the opposition and extended his advantage to 10 seconds by the time of the pit stop cycle, with the front-runners stopping just once.

Sainz stopped earlier than his rivals and profited by leaping a struggling Verstappen, who had to turn his attention to defending against Norris.

Norris ran a longer first stint, giving him fresher tires for the remainder of the race, and eventually caught Verstappen.

For several laps Verstappen put in a strong defensive job, keeping Norris at bay, before the McLaren driver finally made a move around the outside of Turn 12 on lap 52.

Verstappen aggressively hugged the inside line and drifted wide, in the process ensuring Norris had to take to the run-off, and the McLaren driver emerged ahead in third spot.

Verstappen immediately protested and the move was investigated, with stewards deeming that Norris had left the track and gained an advantage.

Norris was consequently issued a five-second time penalty and while he crossed the line in third, the following Verstappen was close enough to move into the final podium spot once the sanction was applied.

As a result Verstappen extends his championship advantage to 57 points with five rounds remaining.

Oscar Piastri ran a lonely race to fifth place, having reeled in the squabbling Verstappen and Norris in the closing stages, but he was never close enough to challenge the duo.

George Russell ran a long first stint from the pit lane and passed Sergio Perez late on to finish sixth.

Nico Hulkenberg bagged more crucial points for Haas in eighth place, while Liam Lawson put in a standout display to equal his highest result of ninth on his return to Formula 1.

Lawson started from the back of the field but stayed out of trouble and ran the alternate Hard/Medium strategy to emerge on the cusp of the top 10, before working his way up to ninth.

Franco Colapinto adopted a similar strategy to add another point to his tally, rounding out the top 10, while Kevin Magnussen was the first of the two-stoppers, dropping to 11^th after a promising start.

Gasly’s encouraging opening stint was squandered by a slow pit stop and time penalty, as he dropped to 12h, while Aston Martin lacked pace, restricting Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll to 13^th and 15^th respectively.

They sandwiched Yuki Tsunoda, who radioed his frustration at being overcut by Lawson, before spinning the RB at Turn 1.

Alex Albon and Esteban Ocon made contact on the opening lap, pitching the Alpine into a spin, and took 16^th and 18^th respectively.

Valtteri Bottas was 17^th for Sauber, with Zhou Guanyu the last of the 19 classified runners, as he wrecked a promising start by spinning at Turn 1.

Lewis Hamilton’s miserable US Grand Prix weekend came to a premature end as the Mercedes driver spun off into the gravel at Turn 19.

Hamilton had made up five spots from his grid position of 17^th across the opening lap but lost the rear end of the W15 as he navigated Turn 19 and beached the car in the gravel.

That caused a brief Safety Car period – the first appearance of the machine since the Canadian GP.