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

Max Verstappen has returned to winning ways in the Sprint at the United States Grand Prix, the Dutchman taking an assured win from pole position to add to his points tally as championship rival Lando Norris lost P2 to Carlos Sainz in the final moments.

After Verstappen made a strong launch from P1 on the grid, Norris also impressed by getting ahead of both Ferrari cars and George Russell to put himself into second place. From there the Red Bull was unchallenged in the lead, claiming his fourth Sprint win of the season.

Norris had been running in a solid P2 for much of the event but faced a late challenge from Sainz, the Spaniard getting ahead to take the position after the McLaren locked up. Charles Leclerc followed close behind in fourth, while the Mercedes pair of Russell and Lewis Hamilton and Haas’s Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg completed the points-scorers.

Friday’s Sprint Qualifying session had decided the grid for the 19-lap, 100km dash, in which points would be handed out to the top eight finishers – from a maximum of eight for P1 down to one for P8.

Verstappen left it late in SQ3 to displace Russell at the top and clinch pole, with the likes of both Ferrari cars and Norris having failed to beat the Mercedes. While Norris still claimed fourth on the grid – sandwiched between Leclerc and Sainz – the Briton labelled his lap as “shocking”.

One change had been made to the starting order prior to the Sprint getting under way, with Alex Albon moved to the pit lane after Williams opted to make specification changes to his car, the Thai driver having originally qualified down in P18 on Friday following a spin.

When the cars lined up on the grid and the tyre blankets came off, it was revealed that all 20 cars would be starting on the medium compound, with a mixture of fresh and used rubber on display across the pack.

“Something is clicking when I brake,” Hamilton reported over the radio as the field set off on the formation lap, before being reassured that it wasn’t concerning. Just a few moments later it was time for lights-out and pole-sitter Verstappen made a smooth start, holding the lead into Turn 1.

It was Norris who caught the eye off the line, however, the McLaren driver surging forward from P4 to go side-by-side with the Ferraris before squeezing through into P2. Russell, meanwhile, soon found himself under pressure from a feisty Leclerc, but the Silver Arrows car managed to hold position.

Further back, Hulkenberg had slipped backwards from P6 to P9 in the Haas, while Hamilton had gained a position to go up to P6. Lap 2 saw a thrilling intra-team duel unfold between Leclerc and Sainz as the Spaniard tried to snatch fourth place.

After initially looking to have taken the position into Turn 1, Leclerc then got himself back in front. The fight was good news for those ahead, with Verstappen just under a second ahead of Norris while Russell had found clean air in P3.

The stewards confirmed that they had noted Magnussen for leaving the track and gaining an advantage on Lap 1, the Dane running in P7 for Haas. Elsewhere replays showed Sergio Perez experiencing a lock-up as he tried to make gains in P10 following a disappointing Sprint Qualifying.

By Lap 6 Sainz had finally found a way past Leclerc, having dived down the inside of his team mate into Turn 15. “Let’s go and get them guys,” a confident Sainz commented. Another driver feeling racy was Russell, who was hassling Norris for P2 in a close scrap.

Just as Norris continued his defence against the Mercedes, the McLaren man was told by his engineer that Verstappen looked to be “damaging his rears” more. Further back, Norris’s team mate Oscar Piastri had worked his way up to 12th, having started down in 16th.

“Man, the AlphaTauri is such an idiot,” an annoyed Fernando Alonso said over the radio in reference to the team now known as RB. The Aston Martin was engaged in a fight with Liam Lawson for P16, the New Zealander back in the field after replacing Daniel Ricciardo.

Back up front, Sainz was a man on a mission, the Ferrari storming past Russell to move up to third behind Verstappen and Norris ahead. This left the Mercedes to try to hold off the other Scuderia car of Leclerc – but by Lap 10 the latter had made the overtake, pushing Russell down to fifth.

A little further back, Perez was busy defending against Yuki Tsunoda in a battle for P10. Soon Piastri was joining the fight but it wasn’t all going the Australian’s way, having been hit with a five-second time penalty for earlier forcing Pierre Gasly off the track.

This battle eventually saw Piastri take P10 into Turn 1, while things were getting interesting at the front. Sainz had closed to one second behind Norris and Leclerc was also now on the tail of his team mate following their earlier duels.

As the Sprint headed towards its close, Norris – seemingly struggling with his tyres – locked up, which allowed Sainz through into second place as the crowd cheered, while Leclerc was now pressuring the McLaren. There were no such concerns for Verstappen, however, who took the victory by more than three seconds from Sainz.

Norris managed to hold off Leclerc for third, with Russell and Hamilton claiming fifth and sixth ahead of the Haas cars of Magnussen and Hulkenberg. Perez took ninth ahead of Piastri, while Tsunoda was 11th for RB ahead of Williams’ Franco Colapinto in 12th.

Lance Stroll was P13 for Aston Martin, followed by the Alpines of Gasly and Esteban Ocon, the RB of Lawson, Albon and Alonso, while the Kick Sauber pairing of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas brought up the rear in P19 and P20. The Finn had pulled over at Turn 13 at the end of the Sprint with the brakes of his car seemingly on fire.

Key quote

"It was not too bad, feels a bit like old times!" said Verstappen. "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."

What’s next?

Following the Sprint, the drivers will take a brief pause before qualifying for the Grand Prix takes place later on Saturday, with the session set to begin at 1700 local time. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can follow the action.