2024 Pirelli United States Grand Prix race summary

Max Verstappen extended his lead over title rival Lando Norris by two points after securing victory in the US Grand Prix sprint race on Saturday, with the McLaren driver finishing third.

Victory in the 19-lap race, which serves as a preview of Sunday's full Grand Prix, marked Verstappen's first victory in an F1 race since the Spanish Grand Prix in June, albeit with a reward of just eight championship points due to the shortened format.

Verstappen said afterwards: “It wasn’t that bad, it feels a bit like old times. I'm very happy with today, with the whole race – Ferrari was very fast, but for us we're finally back in the race – normally we always are.” Looking back, we had a good pace.”

After starting fourth on the grid, Norris was in second place at Turn 2, but lost a place to Carlos Sainz on the final lap as the Ferrari driver stormed through the field from fifth on the grid.

Norris said afterwards: “I am happy with the race result and a good score. There were a few races where the starts were bad and today it was good with a good first corner. I did my best, that's what I did.” “I don't think I had the pace against Max or the Ferraris.”

ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

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The gap between Verstappen and Norris in the standings is now 54 points, with the possibility of a much bigger points swing at Sunday's US Grand Prix, giving full points to the top 10 finishers.

After the US Grand Prix this weekend, there are five more races on the program for 2024.

Verstappen finished the sprint race 3.8 seconds ahead of Sainz in second place and his lead never seemed to be in danger from the lights to the flag.

The two Ferraris kept up with his pace for most of the race, but after a duel for fourth place in the early laps, they lost crucial time to compete with the Red Bull.

Sainz overtook teammate Charles Leclerc on lap 5 and then overtook George Russell on lap 9 before taking second place from Norris on the final lap.

Sainz said of his late jump to second place: “Towards the end I started to struggle with the tires, but I saw that Lando was also having problems. I saw that I had a chance of finishing second if I could get into DRS. And we did it.” I got stuck in Turn 1 and the end was fun.

Leclerc also almost overtook Norris to take third, but the McLaren's defensive positioning in the final sector of the final lap of the race kept the second Ferrari at bay.

Russell finished the race in fifth place ahead of his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton and the two Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg, who secured the final points.