United States GP: Charles Leclerc leads dominant Ferrari 1-2 in Austin as Lando Norris penalty hands Max Verstappen third
20 October 2024, 16:08 | Updated: 21 October 2024, 08:06
Charles Leclerc superbly won the United States Grand Prix in a surprisingly-dominant one-two for Ferrari as Lando Norris lost a crucial third place to Max Verstappen after being penalised for a late-race overtake on his F1 title rival.
While Ferrari overcame the championship's top two in a supreme show of speed from the second row as Leclerc led home team-mate Carlos Sainz, all eyes still ended up being on the title protagonists as they duelled over the final podium berth in a gripping, tense and ultimately controversial conclusion to the race at the Circuit of the Americas.
Having dropped from pole position to fourth behind Verstappen and the Ferrari drivers in a wretched start to the race, Norris relentlessly came back at his title rival into the closing laps after McLaren had delayed the Briton's sole pit stop to ensure he had fresher tyres than his Red Bull rival for the end.
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Wiping out what was a 6.6-second advantage for Verstappen on his return to the track in the space of 12 laps, Norris spent the next 10 tours in DRS overtaking range of the Dutchman before launching what he thought was a crucial overtake into Turn 12 on lap 52.
Both cars ran wide over the kerb and the McLaren rejoined the track first in the coveted third place.
But stewards soon ruled that Norris, who had been on the outside into the corner into the braking zone, had gained the place unfairly by running off track and so imposed a five-second sanction on him.
Having kept third to the chequered flag when he finished only 4.1s ahead of Verstappen, Norris was relegated back to fourth behind his rival in the final classification.
The late switch around meant Verstappen, who won Saturday's Sprint with Norris third, increased his title lead over the McLaren driver to 57 points with only five race weekends to go in 2024.
Norris' penalty almost dropped him behind McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri too, the Australian having run the same long-running strategy and ultimately finishing up just 1.5s behind the lead car in fifth place.
Sixth went to Mercedes' George Russell, who impressively fought back from a pit-lane start to his original grid position in a repaired car which had sustained extensive damage in his end-of-qualifying crash on Saturday.
Russell also had to contend with his own five-second time penalty, which he served at his sole pit stop, in another incident at Turn 12 when he was adjudged to have forced Valtteri Bottas' Sauber off track, a ruling which Mercedes boss Toto Wolff branded a "total joke".
Nonetheless, in a late overtake that is unlikely to do Sergio Perez's long-term Red Bull prospects any further favours, Russell passed the Mexican late on too to cap a fine recovery drive and take a hard-earnt sixth.
But it proved an absolutely miserable Sunday for Russell's Mercedes team-mate and the record five-time COTA victor, Lewis Hamilton.
The seven-time champion's race ended on lap two when he spun out and beached his Mercedes in the gravel trap at Turn 19, the same corner where Russell crashed in qualifying.
After a storming start had seen the 39-year-old gain five places from his 17th-place grid spot, Hamilton turned into the left-hander as normal but the rear of his car did not go with him and he spun backwards off the track and into the gravel, where his car's rear wheels got stuck and race immediately ended.
The returning Liam Lawson, however, did produce a race to remember as the RB driver made light of an engine-change grid penalty to race from 19th to ninth for his second points finish in F1.
Nico Hulkenberg capped a fine home GP weekend for American-owned Haas with a strong run to eighth, while impressive Williams rookie Franco Colapinto was 10th on a weekend he outperformed experienced team-mate Alex Albon.
Verstappen vs Norris: Controversies to start and finish
Verstappen and Norris were involved in two disputed wheel-to-wheel moments during the course of the 56-lap race - and twice the Briton and his McLaren team thought they had been treated harshly.
The first came at the very start when Verstappen sent his Red Bull down inside of the pole-sitting Norris on the uphill run to Turn One, a move which sent the McLaren running wide and caused both cars to drop behind the fast-starting Leclerc.
Norris fell behind Sainz too and so left the first turn three places back from where he started.
Despite complaining over team radio that he had been illegally forced off the track by Verstappen, stewards ruled that there had been nothing untoward in the world champion's driving and that no investigation into the incident was required.
Fifty-one laps later and McLaren felt even more aggrieved when Norris, this time the one attempting the overtake, finally thought he had got ahead of Verstappen after a 10-lap pursuit of the Red Bull, only to be placed under investigation.
Getting a great slipstream-friendly run on the Dutchman with the aid of DRS on the long straight to the Turn 12 braking zone, Norris positioned his McLaren on the right-hand side as his rival chose to defend the inside line.
Norris briefly nosed ahead on the outside, but as Verstappen came back by braking late on the narrower inside line, the two cars came close together in the corner apex and both ran wide into the run-off area. But Norris had the greater momentum and speed and returned to the track first to take over third.
Verstappen immediately argued on team radio that "he overtook me outside of the track", a verdict that the stewards ultimately agreed with too after they investigated the incident and ruled that Norris was "not level with [Verstappen] at the apex" and had therefore "lost the right to the corner".
In championship terms, the decision resulted in a potentially significant six-point swing in the reigning triple champion's favour.
Instead of closing down Verstappen's lead to 51 points - one point fewer than the gap stood at the start of the weekend before Verstappen won the Sprint - Norris heads to Mexico City next week now 57 points adrift with time fast running out for him to stage what was already going to have to prove a miraculous comeback to take a maiden title.
Ferrari's statement one-two - is late run at constructors' title now on?
As the Verstappen-Norris battle and resulting controversy naturally hogged the camera time on F1's world TV feed through the closing stint, Ferrari impressively eased towards what proved an absolutely emphatic one-two finish.
In truth, the Scuderia had served notice of the threat they might pose to the two front-row starters in the Sprint the day before when the SF-24 had shown not only strong long-run pace but impressive tyre management too.
On Sunday, Leclerc opportunistically seized the lead from fourth on the grid at the start by passing Sainz going into Turn One and then the wide-running Norris and Verstappen on the exit, while Sainz picked off the McLaren too and then undercut the Red Bull at the pit stops.
Leclerc took the win by 8.6s from Sainz, with Verstappen almost 20s adrift.
"We saw it in the Sprint and were, not scared, but thought the others would improve but we still had the upper hand," said Leclerc, who closed to within 22 points of Norris for second in the Drivers' Championship with his third win of the season.
"Really happy with today. One-two for the team. We couldn't have dreamt for better.
"We are still targeting the title but it's a good start to this triple-header."
That title that Leclerc refers to is the constructors', where Ferrari closed to within eight points of second-placed Red Bull and a-not-yet-insurmountable 48 of McLaren on a weekend in which they outscored the current leaders by 27 points.
(c) Sky Sports 2024: United States GP: Charles Leclerc leads dominant Ferrari 1-2 in Austin as Lando Norris penalty hands Max Verstappen third
