Ferrari stuns resurgent Red Bull amid fireworks between Norris and Verstappen

Charles Leclerc led a dominant Ferrari one-two in Austin, while Max Verstappen reached the podium after FIA intervention.

Ferrari were in a class of their own while Lando Norris thought he had completed the podium, but the race stewards gave him five seconds for running Verstappen off the track, meaning Verstappen secured third place.

Ferrari flies, Verstappen against Norris fireworks

Verstappen declared after his comfortable sprint victory that it was “like old times” but now it was time for the main event. After starting the sprint from pole, Verstappen had to make do with a front row start at the US Grand Prix, with title rival Lando Norris on pole.

The medium tires were the preferred starting compound for most of the starters, while Lance Stroll, Franco Colapinto, Liam Lawson, Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate George Russell were on hard tires from the pit lane.

Norris and Verstappen both got away well, but when Verstappen tried to force his way to the inside of Turn 1, both drivers ended up too wide on the exit, and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc prevailed and led the United States GP. Hamilton had already moved up from P18 to P12. Carlos Sainz fought his way onto the podium ahead of Norris in the sister Ferrari.

Meanwhile, Esteban Ocon, with the help of Alex Albon, went into a tailspin at T1 and ended up in P20, last place.

But Hamilton's US GP marksman only made it to the third lap when the five-time COTA winner became stranded in the gravel trap at Turn 19, where Russell crashed in the third quarter. Since Hamilton's W15 broke down because he could no longer stop, the safety car made a rare appearance these days.

Norris took the opportunity to express his frustration over the radio about meeting Verstappen at the start.

“He clearly rejected me,” Norris suggested. “He had no intention of making the corner. And he himself went off the track.”

It was a short SC phase with the race resuming at the end of the fifth lap. Verstappen demonstrated Leclerc's restart tactics, but there was no chance for the overtaking maneuver in Turn 1.

Leclerc would soon leave the DRS area for Verstappen, who in turn had a lead of plus one second over Sainz, who lacked power on the exits and smelled fuel. Noris approached. Stroll, meanwhile, became notorious for going off the track at Turn 15, potentially gaining an advantage, which was soon followed by a decision that no further action was to be taken.

Zhou Guanyu erased his progress by spinning in Turn 1, dropping him to 19th and last place.

Lap 11 came and Ferrari believed there was a solution for Sainz. His pace suggested that Norris had fallen over two seconds behind.

Oscar Piastri also had a hard time making progress in the sister McLaren. He was 1.7 seconds behind Norris and called Plan A “ambitious.”

Leclerc wanted “Plan B or C”, while Ferrari opened Plan A, he should maintain this pace. He was now five and a half seconds ahead of Verstappen, who was warned that Red Bull had discovered a “problem” during his pit stop that needed to be fixed.

Where F1 2024 goes next

👉 F1 Schedule: When is the next F1 race and where is it?

👉 Revealed: The five drivers will no longer have a contract at the end of the 2024 F1 season

Russell, now 12th, received a five-second penalty for pushing Valtteri Bottas off the track. “What?!” Russell responded that Mercedes boss Toto Wolff called the penalty a “total joke.”

Leclerc continued to control events at the front. When the 20th lap came he was eight seconds ahead of Verstappen, who was in danger of being undercut by Sainz, especially given the warning of a problem that needed to be resolved at Verstappen's stop. Sainz was out of the race on lap 22 due to a series of raids.

McLaren had hoped to extend Norris's first stint after seeing his tire pressure was lower than Verstappen and Leclerc's, when Leclerc radioed Ferrari warning against a similar move and made it clear he did not want that the pressure lasted too long.

Leclerc urged Ferrari to focus on Plan C when asked how many more laps he thought remained at these intermediate speeds. Verstappen struggled with the left front and rear tires.

Verstappen was there on lap 26, a 2.7-second stop for Hards, as Sainz sailed past and scored a net one-two for Ferrari. Ferrari shined on the medium tires, but would it continue to be the same on the hard tires?

Leclerc had to rely on hard tires on the following lap and maintained a comfortable track position ahead of his teammate and Verstappen.

Ferrari told Sainz that it would “release more Phase 1 brakes”, although in response he announced that he had no idea what that meant. Norris, meanwhile, was told that this was the “situation in Germany” and that McLaren did not want to “pull the trigger too early” as “every lap is a tire delta”. Leclerc came as he overtook Piastri in turn 12.

Pierre Gasly was shown the black and white flag for track limits. A further violation would result in a time penalty of five seconds.

And Norris was racing hard on the 32nd lap, with McLaren hoping the extra tire life could give them a chance at Sainz and Verstappen.

Piastri had a set of hard tires fitted on the next lap as Ferrari's one-two in the order became official, while Gasly was given a five-second penalty, albeit for leaving the track and gaining an advantage in the fight against Yuki Tsunoda .

Verstappen didn't have much more fun on the hard tires and claimed he couldn't “brake” anything or “attack anything”. Tsunoda wasn't in the best of moods either, as he was undercut by teammate Liam Lawson, who asked over the radio how this happened, with Lawson now sitting comfortably in the media.

A spin at Turn 1 did little to cheer up Tsunoda, while Norris was now hot on Verstappen's heels and fighting for the final podium spot, a potentially crucial battle for the world championship.

Norris looked at turns 12, 15 and 16, but Verstappen's clever car placement kept his rival at bay. Exciting stuff with five laps to go.

On lap 52, Norris got his best chance yet, taking the outside line at Turn 12 as Verstappen pushed himself and Norris off the track, but Norris came back to P3 as Verstappen complained about Norris completing this overtaking off-track. Verstappen wanted P3 back. McLaren said Norris was ahead at the apex.

The stewards noticed this incident and soon confirmed an investigation. Red Bull also complained that Norris moved while braking in Turn 1.

Things went smoothly for Ferrari as Leclerc drove to his third win of the season, followed by his teammate Sainz, Ferrari's first one-two of the season and a very timely victory in the battle for the constructors' championship.

Norris received a five-second penalty, so he needed 1.5 seconds ahead of Verstappen to prevent this. He couldn't make it as Verstappen took the final podium spot.

Full times follow…