It was Max Verstappen's first blood. The Formula 1 championship's dry run began with the Red Bull driver taking his first victory since June and enjoying his most comfortable and controlled drive since then, winning the American Grand Prix sprint race. However, title rival Lando Norris fought back later in the day to take Sunday's pole position, with Verstappen second on the grid.
Sprint racing was an overwhelming victory at the Circuit of the Americas. After beating Norris to move into third place, Verstappen extended his championship lead and proved that Red Bull is in top form once again. Norris conceded second place to Ferrari's Carlos Sainz on the final lap, but recovered in qualifying.
Verstappen maintained an unbeaten record in the short-form format this season, remaining in control from pole to flag. After leading from the start, he was unstoppable throughout the 19-lap dash. Norris had a blistering start, rising from fourth to second and chasing hard, but was unable to break Red Bull's lead and his tires suffered in the closing stages, leaving him powerless against Sainz.
The victory was just the opening round Verstappen needed for a title-clinching finale in six straight races to end the season. He extended his lead over Norris to 54 points and has 172 points left. He was only two points ahead of Norris, but most importantly he stopped Norris from closing the gap.
Equally important for Verstappen and Red Bull, the limited upgrades the team brought into the race to resolve balance issues the car was having appeared to be successful, showing command at the front of the field. It shows that. He enjoyed the first half of the season.
Verstappen acknowledged this with a smile. “It feels like a long time ago,” he said. “I'm very happy, we can finally race again. Usually when we're racing we're always looking back, but now we can race our own.”
However, Norris bounced back in qualifying and took the lead, beating Verstappen by just 0.031 seconds. The McLaren driver set the early pace in the fight for pole and luck befell him when George Russell's Mercedes crashed at the penultimate corner.
At the time, it looked like Verstappen would beat Norris' time, but Russell's high-speed shunt forced all drivers to fall back. This gave Norris the all-important pole position, with Verstappen joining him on the front row.
Ferrari's Sainz finished third, one place ahead of Charles Leclerc, with Norris' McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri fifth. Lewis Hamilton holds a record five wins in Austin, but the seven-time world champion endured a horror show and qualified 19th.
“What's wrong with this car?” Hamilton said over the radio after finishing 60 seconds behind fellow Mercedes driver Russell. Russell advanced to Q3 and finished 6th despite a late crash. Hamilton was sent to the back as Liam Lawson fitted a number of new engine parts to his RB, moving up one place to 18th.
Hamilton blamed his shock result on suffering a suspension failure during the first half of the sprint race. “In the sprint, we had some trouble with the front suspension from the formation lap,” he said. “It was like that all through the sprint race, so it made the balance very difficult. The car was a nightmare in qualifying. “Maybe we should start from the pit lane, otherwise we'll get nowhere from where we are. I can’t go.”
