Ferrari team mates Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz pulled off an impressive 1-2 triumph for the Scuderia in the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas on Sunday.
Leclerc took the lead at the start with Sainz picking up second during the pit stops leaving Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in a thrilling battle for third which finally went to the Red Bull.
It was a miserable day for Lewis Hamilton who spun out in the opening laps, although there was better news for his Mercedes team mate George Russell who finished in sixth despite starting from pit lane.
After an unusually long break between Grand Prix races, the championship resumed at the Circuit of the Americas with a front row consisting of the top two title contenders - Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, backed up by an all-Ferrari second row. Entirely missing from the front half of the grid was Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton 17th after problems in qualifying, and team mate George Russell - who had crashed at the end of Q3 - relegated to the pit lane.
When the lights went out to get the race underway, Norris was determined not to yield to Verstappen. Their battle into turn 1 opened the door for Charles Leclerc to pounce and take the lead, with Verstappen keeping second. Carlos Sainz got the better of Norris for third place with Oscar Piastri the best of the onlookers in fifth.
Hamilton had jumped up to 12th while Russell had only managed to get ahead of Esteban Ocon after the Alpine tangled with Alex Albon and spun on the opening lap for which he was handed a penalty. However Hamilton's flying start ultimately proved too ambitious, and on lap 3 he strayed into the gravel and beached the car at turn 19. That triggered a full safety car for the first time in nine races, neutralising the race just as Leclerc was starting to pull away from the Verstappen/Sainz scrap for second
Once the Mercedes was retrieved and stowed, the race resumed on lap 6 with Leclerc putting his foot down. Initially matched by Verstappen, he started to pull away out of DRS range of the Red Bull, leaving Verstappen dicing with Sainz. Norris was safely tucked into fourth but Piastri was struggling to keep up - but able to keep a margin over Pierre Gasly, Kevin Magnussen and Yuki Tsunoda. Sergio Perez was quickly up to ninth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg.
Sainz had been losing time on Verstappen and complaining of the smell of fuel, but Ferrari gave over-air instructions for an update to the SF-24 to get things back in order. Red Bull also confirmed an unspecified issue on Verstappen's car that they would attend to during the pit stops. There were no such problems for Leclerc, whose lead was up to 3.5s by lap 11, and by another half a second on lap 12.
Perez picked off Tsunoda on lap 18 and was handed another place when Magnussen pitted on lap 18 followed by Gasly and Tsunoda next time by. It dropped them some way outside the top ten, although the undercut was looking effective. Sainz was the first of the leaders to come in for a set of hards on lap 22, coming back out in fifth ahead of Perez. With Leclerc's lead over Verstappen now more than ten seconds, the leaders were clearly eyeing single stop strategies
Sure enough, Verstappen duly pitted on lap 26 just before half distance having complained that his tyres were "really bad now." Ferrari responded with a call to Leclerc on the next lap, which put Norris and Piastri at the front but still to stop. Perez and Hulkenberg were next in, but both McLaren's extended their stint. Leclerc soon caught and cruised past Piastri on lap 32, prompting Norris to come in for a rapid tyre change in response. Piastri did likewise on the next lap, albeit for a slightly less clean service.
Leclerc was now back in the lead by over seven seconds from Sainz with Verstappen third followed by Norris and Piastri. Russell was up to sixth ahead of RB's Liam Lawson, but neither of them had stopped yet (and Russell still had a five second penalty to serve when he did). Norris put his fresher rubber to good use, promptly taking a second off the 6.4s gap to Verstappen in a single lap. "These tyres are just no good, I can't brake, I can't attack anything," wailed the Dutchman as he lost another second to Norris, who was soon within DRS range.
Tsunoda dropped back to P14 after spinning at turn 1. Russell was the final driver to pit on lap 41, coming back out in ninth behind Hulkenberg but on much quicker tyres allowing him to dispatch the Haas on lap 46, leaving him just six seconds behind Perez. Williams' Franco Colapinto had also left his pit stop very late and now had the speed to pick off Gasly for P10 on lap 47, and promptly set a fastest lap although that was subsequently pipped by Ocon, without earning a bonus point.
With Leclerc and Sainz looking set to claim a 1-2 for Ferrari, Verstappen spent the closing laps furiously fighting off Norris for third place in a thrilling battle. Norris finally pulled off the move around the outside of turn 12 on lap 52 and quickly scampered out of DRS range, but Verstappen was crying foul about the McLaren exceeding track limits in the process. The stewards agreed and handed Norris a five second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
That put Leclerc, Sainz and Verstappen on the podium with Norris, Piastri and Russell next in line, after the Mercedes which had got ahead of Perez in the final moments. Hulkenberg, Lawson and Colapinto rounded out the top ten with Magnussen, Gasly and Alonso just missing out. Tsunoda was unable to recover from 14th, finishing ahead of Lance Stroll, Alex Albon and Valtteri Bottas. Esteban Ocon and Zhou Guanyu brought up the rear.
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