Dominant Max Verstappen wins US Grand Prix sprint race, Norris comes third | formula 1

First blood then went to Max Verstappen as the run-in to the Formula 1 championship began with the Red Bull driver enjoying his first win since June and his most comfortable ride since, with a victory in the sprint race at the Grand Prix of the USA.

With an impressively dominant victory at the Circuit of the Americas, where he beat his title rival Lando Norris to third place, he extended his championship lead and crucially showed that Red Bull is once again in good form. Norris, who lost second place to Ferrari's Carlos Sainz on the final lap, failed to take any important points away from Verstappen but remained optimistic for Sunday's race.

Verstappen maintained his unbeaten short-form record this season and was in control from pole to flag; While he was in the lead from the start, he was unchallenged for the entire 19-lap route. Norris chased him hard and moved up from fourth to second place with a brilliant start, but unfortunately was unable to reduce the Red Bull lead and was powerless against Sainz as his tires were broken towards the end.

The victory is just the start Verstappen needs for the six-game, title-deciding final that will conclude the season. He has extended his lead over Norris to 54 points, with another 172 points still on the table. Although he only overtook Norris by two points, he crucially prevented the British driver from reducing his gap. Norris needs to outscore his rival by just under nine points per encounter and given the additional chances of achieving this in sprint races, this is a missed opportunity.

Most importantly for Verstappen and Red Bull, the limited improvements the team brought to the race to address the balance issues their car was suffering from appeared to be successful, proving the lead at the front of the field he has Enjoyed the first half of the season.

This was acknowledged by a beaming Verstappen. “It feels a bit like old times,” he said. “I'm very happy, we're finally racing again. Normally we always look back when racing, but now we could run our own race.”

Norris believed he had got everything out of the McLaren and admitted the team's improvements had been crucial to staying in touch with a resurgent Red Bull. “I’m happy with all the points here, otherwise we would be even further down the grid,” he said. “These upgrades have made us faster.” However, not fast enough on this form.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was fourth, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell took fifth and sixth for Mercedes. Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg took seventh and eighth place for Haas.