Charles Leclerc secured Ferrari’s first victory at the United States Grand Prix since 2018 with a strong performance on Sunday. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen from Red Bull increased his lead in the F1 season championship, finishing third after Lando Norris from McLaren received a late five-second penalty.
Norris had passed Verstappen in the closing laps, but this move was deemed illegal because he went off the track. The two had been battling closely for the last podium spot, with Verstappen refusing to give way.
After the race, Verstappen voiced his frustration about Norris’s pass, while Norris argued that Verstappen had also left the track.
“It was a tough battle. I tried to do everything I could to keep him behind. To be on the podium is a good result,” Verstappen said. “I have my opinion (on the penalty). I’ll let the stewards do their thing.”
This penalty could have significant consequences for Norris in the title race. Verstappen’s points lead over Norris increased from 54 to 57 with five races and two sprint events remaining.
Leclerc celebrated his third win of the season, and Ferrari achieved a 1-2 finish with Carlos Sainz coming in second. The last Ferrari driver to win at the Circuit of the Americas was Kimi Raikkonen in 2018.
“We couldn’t have dreamed for better,” Leclerc said. “It was a bit of a lonely race, but a good kind of lonely.”
The main competition was happening behind them, where Verstappen and Norris clashed from the start and fought hard over the final laps.
Verstappen hasn’t won a grand prix since June, and Norris has been steadily reducing his points lead as the Red Bull car has lost some speed. However, Verstappen still managed to increase his lead by five points this weekend by winning Saturday’s sprint race.
Norris left Austin feeling he missed a big chance to close the gap, especially since he started from pole position in Sunday’s race.
Verstappen started right next to him, and the tension between the two drivers began at the first turn. Both cars went wide, which allowed Leclerc to take advantage and jump from fourth place into the lead, quickly driving away to win.
Norris claimed that Verstappen pushed him off the track. This was just the beginning of their battle, which resumed later in the race.
Verstappen mentioned he “enjoyed the battle today” and had little sympathy for Norris losing his podium spot. He pointed out that he was denied a podium finish in Austin in 2017 for an illegal pass.
“I just tried to remain calm and bring the car to the end,” Verstappen said. This was crucial because Norris had enough speed late in the race to give the position back to Verstappen and try to pass him again.
Instead, Norris decided to try to increase the gap ahead of Verstappen to more than five seconds to cancel out the penalty. He only managed to get it to 4.1 seconds.
“He defends by going off-track, he overtakes by going off-track. But I’m not going to complain. Max drove well and he defended well; we had a good race together. But the rules are the rules,” Norris told Sky Sport F1.
McLaren team principal Andre Stella said that race officials “interfered with a beautiful piece of motorsport.”
“Both cars went off track, so both cars gained an advantage,” Stella said. “It’s a shame because it cost us a podium.”
