Max Verstappen built a seven-second lead ahead of a fierce battle between Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc to win the United States Grand Prix on Oct. 19, closing the gap to the McLarens ahead of him in the driver championship.
Verstappen was first on the grid, making it his second pole position of the weekend after the Sprint on Saturday, Oct. 18. Next to him in second place was Norris, then Leclerc in third and George Russell in fourth.
At the start of the race, Turn 1 upended that order, with Leclerc using the grip of his soft tire to pull ahead of Norris on the outside line to gain second place. Oscar Piastri gave way to Lewis Hamilton, who pulled into fourth, Piastri now in fifth and Russell falling to sixth.
Overtakes were rare, but those occurring fueled a long battle between Norris and Leclerc. Their fight began at the first turn when Leclerc overtook Norris and continued throughout the race. Leclerc defended his lead over Norris, pulling away from him on Lap 6.
The next three laps until Lap 9 were under a yellow flag, because Carlos Sainz Jr. went too far down the inside on Turn 15 and crashed into Andrea “Kimi” Antonelli, causing him to be out of the race. Antonelli managed to continue the race with minimal damage.
Norris attempted multiple overtakes throughout the race, with Leclerc defending his spot until Lap 21, when Norris charged down the outside ahead of him into second.
On Lap 35, a close call occurred between Oliver Bearman and Yuki Tsunoda. Tsunoda narrowly avoided Bearman lunging too far down the inside, and while Bearman had spun out, both were able to resume their race.
The rest of the order remained unchanged as the drivers pitted, with Leclerc 10 laps ahead of the rest.
Leclerc’s early pit stop allowed him to work his way back up to second until Lap 38, when Norris came back into drag reduction system range of Leclerc on new softs.
He managed to fend off Norris until Lap 51, when Norris charged down the inside again, finally overtaking Leclerc to move up to P2.
However, his time spent battling Leclerc allowed Verstappen to maintain his seven-second lead and cruise to a comfortable victory, with Hamilton and Piastri remaining fourth and fifth, respectively.
Verstappen had taken somewhat of a backseat to title contender McLaren’s Piastri and Norris this year. Still, his win at the US Grand Prix cut the point gap between him and the current Driver’s Championship leader down to 40 from 63, effectively putting him back in contention for a championship win this year. If he does manage to win, this would be his fifth consecutive title.
