‘Finally we’re racing again’ – Verstappen buoyed by Sprint victory at Circuit of The Americas

Max Verstappen took his first victory in any format since the Spanish Grand Prix way back in June after winning the Sprint at the Circuit of The Americas – giving the Dutchman hope that Red Bull have returned to competitiveness.

Red Bull arrived in Austin for the United States Grand Prix weekend with an upgrade package for the RB20, with Verstappen using it to good effect to claim Sprint Qualifying pole on Friday evening.

READ MORE: Verstappen seals assured Sprint victory in Austin thriller ahead of Sainz and Norris

But he followed that up with a controlled display in the Sprint itself, withstanding early pressure from title rival Lando Norris to take the win – as Norris was passed on the final lap by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, meaning Verstappen extended his gap to the Briton to 54 points.

“It was not too bad, feels a bit like old times!” said Verstappen, who’s now won 11 of the 16 Sprints held.

“I’m very happy with today. I think of course if you look at the whole race, Ferrari was also very quick, but I think for us finally we were racing again.

“Normally in the race we’re always looking back behind us, but now we could just do our own race and we had good pace.”

After failing to make it out of the second segment of Sprint Qualifying on Friday, meanwhile, Verstappen’s team mate Sergio Perez enjoyed a punchy recovery drive, battling hard with the RB of Yuki Tsunoda to rise from his P11 grid slot to P9, just outside of the points and behind the two Haas cars of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg.

SPRINT START: Watch the opening lap from the Sprint in Austin as Verstappen defends the lead while Norris leaps up to second

“I was expecting, to be honest, more pace,” said Perez. ”It was quite hard to get, in the beginning, by Yuki, and once that happened, the race was too far away from the Haases.”

Perez added that he would be taking advantage of the rules that allow cars to come out of parc ferme between the end of the Sprint and qualifying for the Grand Prix, saying: “We’ve got to be doing some changes this afternoon to put us in a better window for qualifying.”

AS IT HAPPENED: Follow all the action from the F1 Sprint in the United States

Meanwhile, Red Bull’s eight points in the Sprint to McLaren’s six – with Oscar Piastri, like Perez, finishing out of the points in P10 after starting P16 – means they closed the gap to constructors’ leaders McLaren to 39 points.