Max Verstappen won the fourth Formula 1 Sprint race in 2024 while title rival Lando Norris cracked under Ferrari pressure to finish third.
Verstappen has finally returned to his winning ways since June when he won the Spanish Grand Prix, and while while it was a Sprint this time, it means that Red Bull have finally been able to sort out the issues with their RB20 that marred them since the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Thus Verstappen's reign on Sprints in 2024 continued as he managed to increase his lead in the F1 drivers' championship over Norris by two points.
Norris had a below par Sprint qualifying in Friday and started the US Grand Prix Sprint from fourth but a great start saw him climb up to second on Lap 1.
However, the Briton could not challenged Verstappen despite being within DRS distance for some time and was soon looking over his shoulder as the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz closed in.
Sainz, whos started the race from fifth and went on the attack passing teammate Charles Leclerc and then George Russell who started from second but dropped like a stone suffering from high tyre degradation.
After a mistake from Norris on the final lap, Sainz managed to pass him while the McLaren driver had to settle for third.
Leclerc tried to attack Norris on the final lap and came too close to crashing into the rear of the #4 McLaren and the Monegasque had to settle for fourth.
Norris' defense against Leclerc meant he was under investigation by the stewards. He was later cleared of any wrongdoing.
Russell took the chequered flag fifth with Lewis Hamilton chasing in sixth while Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg were seventh and eighth respectively.
What the top three finishers said
Verstappen said after the US Grand Prix Sprint: "It feels a bit like old times! I'm very happy with today. If you look at the whole race, Ferrari was also very quick.
"For us, finally we are racing again. Normally we are always looking back but now we can just do our own race, so we had good pace."
"It's always a hectic weekend to get the car in the right window, so there is more pressure on delivering," the Dutchman pointed out.
"Not too bad I am very happy with today. Ferrari was very quick. We could do our own race with good pace," the triple F1 champion concluded.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner commented: "A real energy boost for the whole team. There's a huge amount of work going into these cars.
"It's our first win since June, so it gives everyone a lift. The performance of the car was very strong and Max managed the race beautifully throughout.
"Ferrari looked very competitive even though they were pushing each other hard," Horner added. "They will be strong in the race tomorrow for sure but if you look at Max's last lap, he managed those tyres well and still had quite a bit of performance in them."
Second-placed Sainz claimed he enjoyed his battles and commented: "A good Sprint. If the Sprints are like this you always enjoy them, that little bit of extra action.
"We had a lot of battles, especially the first five laps. A lot going on. Towards the end I started struggling with the tyres, but I saw Lando also struggling, and I thought if I could get into DRS I would have chance of finishing in P2.
"We made it stick into Turn 1 and it was a fun one," he said of his pass on Norris. "It's encouraging to maybe see for tomorrow we have a good chance.
"For qualifying our car is not in the best place but we'll try to qualify as far ahead as possible," the Spaniard noted.
As for Norris and despite a mistake costing him second place added: "It was a good race. I'm pretty happy with how things ended up.
"It was a tough one. I thought I could hang onto second but Carlos did a good job. My front tyres were completely finished, so there wasn't a lot I could do.
"Disappointing end but I'm happy with the race result and a good amount of points," Norris maintained. "I did the most I could. I don't think we have the pace of Max or the Ferraris, there I'm happy to finish third."
Andrea Stella, McLaren team principal, commented: "We have always, at least internally, looked at Singapore, Zandvoort and Hungary, races we were dominant, as exceptions.
"The reality of F1 is it's a very tight competition. Not always you can enjoy this kind of advantage," he added. "Today was a more realistic picture of what we have seen across the entire year with four different cars in the fight for the podiums.
"That's what we have to face. But it's encouraging we are up there. There are a few things we have learned in terms of the usage of the tyres and in terms of set-up, we will try and use this information in preparation for qualifying and the race."
As to Ferrari who pressured Norris towards the end, Stella said: "I definitely think Ferrari looks like one of the fastest on new tyres.
"They had a couple of issues yesterday and today in the Sprint they looked the most convincing car. So I think they are the favorites for tomorrow's race," he concluded.
How the Sprint unraveled
Clear conditions prevailed over the Circuit of the Americas as the 24 F1 cars lined up on the grid for the 19-lap Sprint race, the fourth this season.
The track temperature was at 45 degrees Celsius while the ambient temperature was at 27 degrees and all drivers opted for the Medium tyre.
Still on the formation lap and Hamilton radioed: "Something is clicking when I brake, front right wheel". The team informed him there is nothing to worry about.
Lap 1/19: Verstappen had a great start and led into Turn 1 while Norris had an even better start to go up to second while Russell dropped to third with Leclerc and Sainz fourth and fifth. Hamilton climbed to sixth.
Leclerc tried to take third from Russell who just managed to keep his position.
Lap2/19: Sainz made a move on Leclerc at Turn 12, but the latter managed to keep fourth.
Lap 3/19: Sainz tried another time to pass his teammate but fails to do so. Up front, Verstappen remained in the lead but the gap to Norris was less than a second.
Leclerc was not happy with Sainz fighting him, he radioed: "We've got to try and come back on the others if possible."
Lap 4/19: Verstappen took the fastest lap but could not break away from Norris' DRS.
Lap 5/19: Verstappen finally increased the gap to Norris to over one second while Russell was less that a second behind the McLaren as the Ferrari's continued to fight.
This time, Sainz made a move up to fourth and made it stick.
Lap 6/19: Leclerc started his retaliation as Verstappen remained out of DRS threat from Norris who had Russell filling his mirrors and on the attack.
Lap 7/19: The gap between Verstappen and Norris is almost two second while Russell dropped back out of DRS on Norris.
Oscar Piastri who had a horrible Sprint qualifying was up to 12th.
Lap 8/19: No changes on the order as the gaps between the top three started to increase while the Ferraris kept fighting. Hamilton was further down in sixth unable to close down on the Red Cars.
Fernando Alonso in the meantime was fighting with Liam Lawson and not impressed with the Kiwi's tactics.
"The AlphaTauri is an idiot," the Spaniard radioed.
Lap 9/19: Russell dropped further back away from Norris who closed in bit on Verstappen. Sainz then passed Russell for third at Turn 15 and set on chasing Norris.
Lap 10/19: Leclerc passed Russell who radioed that his front left tyre is "toast.
Lap 11/19: The gap between Verstappen and Norris is 1.5s while Sainz was over two second behind in third.
Piastri received a five-second penalty for forcing Pierre Gasly off the track.
Lap 12/19: Verstappen increases his lead to over two seconds while Sainz closed in a bit on Norris.
Lap 13/19: Sergio Perez is fighting with Yuki Tsunoda for ninth and makes the move in Turn 15 but the Japanese driver came back at him but failed to retake the position and then had to defend from Piastri.
Lap 14/19: The top three remain the same, while Piastri continued to fight with Tsunoda, a very heated fight!
Lap 15/19: Leclerc started to close down on Sainz while Piastri was still stuck behind Piastri.
Lap 16/19: Piastri finally passed Tsunoda to rake tenth and stared chasing down Perez who was quite a bit down on eighth-placed Hulkenberg.
Lap 17/19: Sainz entered DRS behind Norris briefly but then falls out while Leclerc continued to chase. Hamilton closed the gap to Russell who was struggling with his tyres.
Mercedes ask them to race cleanly.
Lap 18/19: The fight between Norris - Sainz - Leclerc continued as the three created a DRS train while Verstappen raced unchallenged in the lead.
Final Lap: Norris locked up heavily at Turn 1 and lost a place to Sainz while Leclerc continued to push the McLaren driver.
Hamilton dropped out of DRS from Russell.
Norris made another mistake and Leclerc got too close and almost crashed into the back of him but just managed to remain in control of his Ferrari.
Verstappen took the chequered flag to win the fourth Sprint this season.
US Grand Prix Sprint Classification
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