Charles Leclerc led Ferrari to a resounding one-two victory in Sunday’s US Grand Prix. It was Leclerc’s first victory in the United States, his third of the season and the eighth of his career. For Ferrari, on the other hand, it was the first one-two on American soil since 2006.
“It wasn’t an easy weekend up to now, I have been struggling with the feeling with the car, but I had confidence in the race,” said Leclerc.
“I am really happy with today, a 1-2 for the team, we couldn’t have dreamed for better.”
On the other hand, Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz benefitted from an undercut to move past Max Verstappen for the second place following his pit stop. The Spaniard crossed the line 8.5s behind Leclerc.
As the US Grand Prix entered into its final stages, Norris overtook Verstappen for third place following a fierce battle between the championship rivals. However, the decision was made in favour of Verstappen and Red Bull, claiming that Norris had overtaken outside of the track limits. It happened during lap 53 of the 56-lap contest.
This led to Norris receiving a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, relegating him down from third to fourth and promoting Verstappen into the final podium finish.
Verstappen said, “It was a difficult race for me. I never had the pace to attack and defending was quite difficult with understeer. It was a tough battle and tough to keep him (Norris) behind but it’s a great result.”
Red Bull’s three-time champion Verstappen has now extended his lead over Norris to 57 points in the drivers’ championship standings with five races left this season.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri finished fifth and George Russell of Mercedes sixth after starting from the pitlane.
Sergio Perez was placed seventh in the second Red Bull ahead of Nico Hulkenberg of Haas, Liam Lawson of RB and Franco Colapinto of Williams.
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US Grand Prix: Results
- 1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- 2. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
- 3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- 4. Lando Norris (McLaren)
- 5. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
- 6. George Russell (Mercedes)
- 7. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
- 8. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
- 9. Liam Lawson (RB)
- 10. Franco Colapinto (Williams)
- 11. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
- 12. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
- 13. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
- 14. Yuki Tsunoda (RB)
- 15. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
- 16. Alex Albon (Williams)
- 17. Valtteri Bottas (Sauber)
- 18. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
- 19. Zhou Guanyu (Sauber)
- DNF. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
