'I have my opinion' – Verstappen reflects on ‘hard' battle with Norris as McLaren driver penalised in Austin

Max Verstappen expressed his frustration following a tricky United States Grand Prix that saw him settle for a third-place finish after a nail biting late battle with championship rival Lando Norris.

The closing laps of the race were a dramatic affair as the McLaren chased down Verstappen for the final podium spot, eventually passing him at Turn 12 on Lap 52.

READ MORE: Leclerc leads dominant Ferrari one-two in Austin as Norris loses third to Verstappen after penalty

The move saw both drivers go wide with Norris passing the Dutchman off track and it wasn't long before it was under investigation by the stewards.

Following discussions with his race engineer, the papaya team opted not to give the place back and the Briton was dealt a five-second time penalty. Having eked out a 4.1s gap ahead of Verstappen, he was demoted to P4 at the chequered flag.

Touching on the decision, the Red Bull driver said: “I have my opinion but I don’t need to say it here, I’ll let the stewards do their thing. For us again it was a race that we learned a lot and we’ll just analyse that.

HIGHLIGHTS: Leclerc takes United States GP win as Ferrari seal glorious one-two finish ahead of Verstappen

“It was quite a difficult race. I never really had the pace to attack so a bit different compared to yesterday. Just understeering a lot, struggling on the braking, so that made also the defending quite difficult because every time if someone wanted to go for a move, I couldn’t really brake that late.

“It was a tough battle – I tried everything I could, of course, to keep him behind. At the end to be on the podium is still for us a great result.”

He later added that there were “some good battles with Lando out there, hard battles but fair, and it definitely was a lot of fun”.

WATCH: Hamilton brings out the Safety Car after spinning and beaching his car in the Austin gravel

With a Sprint victory and a further podium finish in his pocket as the paddock leaves Austin, the 27-year-old has extended his lead in the championship to 57 points, leaving him in a strong position with five races remaining.

“That was definitely a positive weekend of course, but there’s still quite a few points that we need to collect,” he summarised. “Very happy to at least extend it now, for once, compared to the last few weekends.”