Ferrari ambush rivals in Austin as Leclerc surges to victory, Sainz P2; Verstappen holds off Norris for last podium spot to extend Championship lead

After being flummoxed and frustrated by their lack of pace in Saturday’s Sprint race and Grand Prix Qualifying, Ferrari unlocked what they thought they had all along in Sunday’s United States Grand Prix at the beautiful, flowing Circuit of the Americas. Charles Leclerc came from P4 on the grid to overtake both the pole-sitting McLaren of Lando Norris and the P2 Red Bull of Max Verstappen, as well as his P3 teammate Carlos Sainz, on the exit of the steeply uphill Turn 1. Norris and Verstappen, with the tunnel vision of the two main Drivers’ Championship contenders, took their personal battle out wide there, with Norris taking evasive action into the runoff, allowing Leclerc to scamper through the open space unimpeded and instantly take the lead of this 56-lap contest on the opening lap. Verstappen recovered enough to keep Sainz at bay and maintain P2 but Norris lost enough momentum to relegate him to P4 behind the Spaniard’s Prancing Horse. The frantic action continued until not long after DRS was enabled  when Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, starting on the Hard Pirelli tires after a poor qualifying result saw him mired down in P17 on the grid, lost it heading into Turn 18 and beached his Silver Arrow in the gravel trap there. In an abrupt instant, the seven-time champ’s day came to a premature end and a Safety Car was deployed to retrieve the stricken Mercedes.

“Through goes the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc!”

Watch all the key action from a star-spangled race in Austin 🤩#F1 #USGP

— Formula 1 (@F1) October 20, 2024

When racing resumed towards the end of Lap 5, Leclerc was just able to keep Verstappen’s charging Red Bull behind him and then attempt to build a gap from the point utilizing his SF24’s superior performance at this track. The car worked like a charm for the Monegasque and by Lap 20 he had pulled a whopping 8-second lead over the Dutch Master. The Ferrari pit wall then pulled their own successful strategy maneuver by calling in Sainz on Lap 22 for his first pit stop for fresh Pirellis, a swap off the opening-stint Mediums onto the durable Hards. The Scuderia braintrust were hoping the undercut here in Austin would be as powerful as their simulations, with Red Bull waiting until Lap 26 to pull Verstappen in. Indeed, it worked a treat for Sainz when Verstappen’s now Hard-shod car came out behind the Spaniard, Sainz having been able to put in some impressive laps on fresh rubber to build his advantage in the intervening laps. With enough of a cushion and perhaps anticipating that Verstappen might not be their main challenger this day, Leclerc came in a lap later for his own fresh Hards, emerging from the pits in P3, still ahead of his teammate and behind the yet-to-pit McLaren duo of Norris and Oscar Piastri .

McLaren continued to stay out over the next several laps, hoping that track position and running longer than their key rivals would give them the decisive fresh tire advantage in the race’s closing stanza. But when Leclerc made easy work of Piastri for P2 on Lap 31 Team Papaya new that it was time to pull the pin. Norris came in first on Lap 31, adhering to the top contenders’ Medium to Hard Pirelli strategy and emerging in P5 but crucially a little over 6-seconds behind Verstappen. Piastri made the same move from the lead on Lap 33 and came out behind his teammate in P5, Norris now being promoted to P4 and on the hunt for a podium position as he closed up on Verstappen. By Lap 45, the young British McLaren driver was on the gearbox of Red Bull’s points-leading ace and they continued to run nose to tail for the next several laps, Norris desperate for a move that might result in an overtake and Verstappen masterful at positioning his car in defense. On Lap 52, the two diced side by side steaming into Turn 12, and Norris passed Verstappen for P3, albeit well outside the white and blue lines of the track limits. While Norris claimed he was forced wide by the Dutchman, the stewards, who has quite a busy day overall, agreed with Verstappen’s perspective that the McLaren made the move off track and gained an advantage. Norris was assessed a pivotal 5-second time penalty for doing so and, despite crossing the line at the checkered flag ahead of Verstappen, was relegated back down to P4, a pivotal swing in the larger Drivers’ Championship picture, especially after Verstappen took victory in the Sprint and Norris finished P2. Verstappen netted 5-points over Norris on the weekend and starched his overall lead to 57, with just five rounds remaining in the season.

Leclerc, meanwhile, dominated to the finish and won easily by some 8.5-seconds over teammate Sainz, making it the first Ferrari one-two since 2006. It was a supremely satisfying day for the Scuderia, which now finds itself breathing down the neck of Red Bull for P2 in the Constructors’ points, with an outside chance of overtaking McLaren for that most important Championship. Piastri finished P5, well ahead of the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez in P8, so it was still a good team result for McLaren even if Norris took a hit to his title aspirations. The lone surviving Mercedes of George Russell, starting from the pit lane after a crash in qualifying, rode an audacious 41-lap opening stint on Hard tires to make a series of key late-race passes on fresh Mediums and secure a somewhat remarkable P6 in a Silver Arrow that was clearly a nightmare to handle all weekend long. Rounding out the top ten, Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg had another strong drive to take an impressive P8; rookie Liam Lawson, who replaced Daniel Ricciardo at RB Honda, scored in P9 despite starting from P19 due to engine penalties; and fellow rookie Franco Colapinto also continued to impress, taking the last point in P10 for Williams.

Top 10 finishers of the United States GP:

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in bt a week’s time — the Mexican Grand Prix from the high altitude Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Will Ferrari’s pace advantage prevail in the thin air of Mexico City? Or will Red Bull and McLaren reassert their dominance, leading to a lockdown dragon between Verstappen and Norris for the win? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!