Lando Norris lost two points to Max Verstappen in the F1 driver’ title race as the Red Bull racer led the United States Grand Prix Sprint race from start to finish
Max Verstappen said his upgraded Red Bull “feels like old times” as he used his new parts to inflict a blow on Lando Norris‘ title hopes.
The Brit needs to keep closing the gap to his title rival but missed out on the chance to do so in yesterday’s Sprint race in Austin.
The damage was done on Friday when he qualified fourth for the 19-lap Texas tussle while Verstappensecured a first pole in any F1 format since the Imola race in May.
And he led from start to finish while Norris had to settle for third after rising two places on the first lap before losing one of them to Carlos Sainz at the very end.
Verstappen beamed: “It feels a bit like old times! I am very happy with today. If you look at the whole race, Ferrari were also very quick but, for us, we were finally racing again. Normally in the race we were always looking back behind us, but now we could just do our own race and we had good pace.”
He gained two points on Norris to extend his championship lead to 54 with five more rounds remaining after today’s United States Grand Prix. But despite losing ground, the McLaren racer insisted he was pleased with how he had performed.
Norris said: “It was a good race and honestly I am pretty happy with how things ended up. It was a tough one – I thought I could hang on to second but Carlos did a good job and my front tyres were completely finished.
“There was not a lot that I could do whether I stayed straight or defended or not, I am pretty sure I would have lost the position to Carlos [anyway]. So, a disappointing end but I am happy with the race result and a good amount of points.”
Lando Norris settled for third behind Sprint winner Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz
Norris has been lampooned for his sluggish starts at times this season, but he was not hanging around here. Furious to be starting fourth, he had flown up to second within just a few corners with a brilliant launch off the line to dive past Leclerc and George Russell. The latter was so intent on challenging pole-sitter Verstappen into the first corner that he was careless on the exit and suffered a snap of oversteer.
It was all Norris needed to power through and set his sights on the back of his title rival’s car, but that was the only angle of the Red Bull he would see all afternoon. Verstappen pulled himself more than one second away from the McLaren to make sure Norris didn’t have the benefit of DRS and that was the moment the Brit began to fall further back.
It was a Sprint to forget for Mercedes as Russell slipped from second on the grid to fifth, ahead of Lewis Hamilton who struggled for pace despite claiming he should have secured pole the day before. Sainz and Charles Leclerc spent much of the Sprint fighting each other, but still Hamilton was not able to take advantage and was dropped by both. Haas pair Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenbergrounded off the top eight to score points at their home event.
