Max Verstappen converted pole into victory in the sprint race at Circuit of the Americas to keep his perfect record of sprint wins in 2024 alive.
The championship leader gained two points back over Lando Norris in the drivers’ standings by taking the chequered flag first ahead of Carlos Sainz Jnr in second, while Norris completed the podium in third.All 20 drivers chose medium compound tyres for the 19-lap race, with several of those at the front of the field choosing to start on used tyres. When the lights went out, Verstappen successfully turned his pole position into the lead of the race at the first corner, while fourth-placed Norris leapt passed Charles Leclerc and George Russell to take second place.
Verstappen led from Norris and Russell while the two Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz were fourth and fifth. After a multi-lap battle between the two team mates saw the Ferraris swap positions many times, the pair began to attack Russell instead, eventually picking off the Mercedes at the mid point of the race.
Norris kept Verstappen within reach for most of the race but began to struggle with his well-used mediums as the race progressed, allowing Verstappen to increase his lead. Eventually, in the closing laps, Norris came under pressure from the two Ferraris.
On the final lap, Norris locked up under braking for the first corner, allowing Sainz to sneak through into second place. Leclerc fought hard to try and take third place off the McLaren driver, with the two almost colliding under braking for turn 15 which saw Leclerc have to take avoiding action.
Verstappen won by just under four seconds with Sainz and Norris completing the podium. Leclerc missed out on the podium in fourth, with the two Mercedes of Russell and Lewis Hamilton eight seconds adrift of Leclerc in fifth and sixth. The two Haas drivers, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg, took the final points in seventh and eighth ahead of Sergio Perez and Oscar Piastri.
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2024 United States Grand Prix
- McLaren insist stewards made ‘provable error’ after losing bid for review of Norris’ penalty
- Why McLaren’s focus on Verstappen’s driving failed to overturn Norris’ penalty
- Stewards reject McLaren’s request to review Norris’ United States GP penalty
- McLaren know Norris’ penalty is likely to stand – so what do they hope to gain?
- McLaren request review of Norris’ penalty for off-track pass on Verstappen
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
19th October 2024, 19:53
Well, I enjoyed that (for a sprint). The race could be interesting if the Ferrari’s are the ones with the pace (kinda wish they’d worked together from the start).
Jere (@jerejj)
19th October 2024, 19:55
A costly error by Norris, which caused his championship points deficit to increase by two rather than one, although he did nothing wrong against Leclerc. A perfectly normal turning line into T15.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th October 2024, 20:35
What annoyed me is that crofty said it could’ve been the end of their races if they crashed (leclerc and norris), really? At 15 sec to the end of the race? Even if you lose a rear wing you can get there in time, they had 10 sec margin on the next car.
PMccarthy_is_a_legend (@pmccarthy_is_a_legend)
19th October 2024, 22:05
This current version of Norris is not championship material, thats for sure.
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
19th October 2024, 22:36
I agree.
I’m a McLaren fan but he should be outperforming the car. At the moment, he’s doing the opposite.
Illusive (@illusive)
19th October 2024, 19:58
Ferrari is definitely the fastest car out there. Great race from Max. Sainz was unbelievable, inducing Lando to make a mistake and mugging him.
Edvaldo
19th October 2024, 20:02
Well, unless Mclaren finds out why they were so slow, it’s unlikely they’re chipping the gap this weekend.
A bit of a spoiler, this Sprint was. Ferrari may be the main threat to Max.
Jere (@jerejj)
19th October 2024, 20:14
Admittedly, although standard qualifying & the race can still be a different matter.
Nick T.
19th October 2024, 21:43
They don’t have Max in their car. That’s the biggest reason.
Edvaldo
19th October 2024, 23:51
I don’t think a driver can win a race by 20 seconds and then struggle to beat a slower car right after.
McLaren is very obviously not looking that hot this weekend.
ludewig
19th October 2024, 20:14
Is it me, or was Sting not very happy to be there?
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
19th October 2024, 20:19
I actually thought it was Adrian Newey for a second.
SteveP
19th October 2024, 20:41
Maybe his British bias was showing because he wanted to hand the trophy to one of the British drivers?
kcrossle (@kcrossle)
19th October 2024, 21:33
He always looks like that.
kcrossle (@kcrossle)
19th October 2024, 21:45
With apologies to RACEFANS I am so tired of comments about so-called “British bias” in F1 pages (I thought that racefans was rather immune, but not, it seems).
There are 195 countries according to the UN. Would those who are dissatisfied by the service they receive from British sources please access one of the other 194 countries’ telecasts, videos, blogs, websites, podcasts, etc.
Thanks, from (a different) Keith in the USA.
(and if this isn’t approved, I understand)
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
19th October 2024, 22:43
Well said, Keith.
I don’t think there’s any pro-British bias on this site, it’s just that articles are often written from a British perspective. Not really a surprise as they’re predominantly written by Brits for what is a UK F1 site.
If I was reading a US F1 site (LOL) I’d expect to see articles from a US perspective.
If you’re from outside of the UK and you don’t like RaceFans, create your own site with a focus on your country’s F1 talent. I’d happily read it and probably find your slant on the sport interesting.
Grapmg
20th October 2024, 0:40
Isn’t that an euphemism for British bias? Still nothing wrong with that but just call it for what it is. I like most of the articles here but some are a bit to much British perspective for me.
HUHHII (@huhhii)
19th October 2024, 23:31
I think F1Fanatic is doing things decently but it’s the F1’s own international feeds which are an issue. Alex Jacques is alright but say according to Palmer British driver is never at fault and Crofty & Brundle are just well-known jokes at this point.
Nick T.
20th October 2024, 5:16
I’d say Palmer is the most neutral one of them. I haven’t listened to Brundle in a long time, but he was the only member of the Sky crew not on the Lando/Lewis/George flag waving committee. Jacques is fairly neutral too. However, it’s clear that its world revolves around Britain:
-Unless, something massive is happening like Newey getting signed or some controversial incident on the track, 75% of all pre-race and post-race shows is usually taken up by discussion of Mercedes and its drivers (this typically consists on one or a mix of the following a. how exciting Mercedes and its drivers look this weekend b. why Mercedes isn’t providing a better car c. why one teammate is way ahead of the other d. Lewis being demotivated, super motivated or struggling to be motivated e. That cheeky thing Russell said or did f. New aero developments g. And so on)
-During qualifying, if it’s not a McLaren, Merc, RBR or Ferrari, you’re lucky to get any coverage of their lap or often even sector times even when the big four have already done their laps. It’s clear how little attention they pay to them due to the fact that they so frequently say erroneous things about why non-big 4 driver finished where they did
-If a non-British driver does something questionable or illegal that negatively affects L, L or G, the coverage will be relentless. If it’s the other way around, it will typically be far less intense and more placating in tone
-Much of the above is mirrored on the biggest F1 media sites
And, as many have said, it’s understandable why it’s the case, but the unfortunate aspect of this is that for the majority of the global audience, F1TV/Sky is the only coverage option and so the ideas they communicate tend to shape the narrative.
I find it ironic that about 50% of the noise on the topic is people saying “I’m sick of the talk of British bias!” Crossle is a great example. I can’t count how many times he’s posted about being sick of talk about British bias. Me thinks the man doth protest too much.
Nick T.
20th October 2024, 5:41
PS – to be clear, there are some who make delusional accusations of bias, but on the opposite end of the spectrum are those who either can’t see or refuse to concede that even the most minor bias exists. As with most things, the truth exists somewhere in the middle.
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
19th October 2024, 23:26
Looks like mclaren is 4th fastest car here.
Nick T.
20th October 2024, 5:21
Interesting take. So, the Mercedes was faster than the McLaren too? Seemed pretty obvious the only reason George was able to pressure Norris at all was because he literally used up everything his tires had to offer to try to stay with Norris and why he then fell 10+ seconds behind him and only finished ahead of Lewis. Ferrari was the only car that looked like a clearly better package.
Nick T.
20th October 2024, 5:43
This was supposed to be a reply to @come-on-kubica / Yes.