Lando Norris’ championship hopes were dealt a hammer blow after he was handed a controversial five-second penalty to finish behind rival Max Verstappen following a compelling US Grand Prix.
As Charles Leclerc raced to an impressive win at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas, pole man Norris was only fourth – one place behind Verstappen – to leave him 57 points adrift in the title race with only 146 points to play for across the concluding five rounds. Carlos Sainz took second to complete a Ferrari one-two.
Norris spent the final dozen laps crawling all over Verstappen’s gearbox in a thrilling conclusion, and he eventually made the move stick on the 52nd lap.
However, the stewards quickly launched an investigation into the pass, and Norris was adjudged to have overtaken off the track. Norris was penalised, and, although he crossed the line in third, four seconds ahead of Verstappen, his sanction dropped him back, in what could prove a pivotal decision in his championship quest.
Norris might have hoped he’d banished the first-lap demons which have so far plagued his championship bid. Up until the previous round in Singapore, Norris had failed to end the opening lap in the lead on any of the five previous occasions he has started from pole.
Under the lights of the Marina Bay Circuit, Norris finally ended the hoodoo before going on to claim the most emphatic win of his life. But here, in the Lone Star State, Norris was left to rue another poor getaway.
There was nothing wrong with the McLaren man’s initial reaction time. As he roared up the hill there was clear daylight between Norris’s McLaren and Verstappen’s Red Bull. But Norris left the door open for Verstappen at the left-handed corner and the triple world champion didn’t need a second invitation.
Verstappen was more aggressive on the brakes than Norris to slingshot ahead of his rival. Norris ran off the track and was soon on the radio to take aim at Verstappen’s driving.
“He clearly pushed me off,” protested Norris. “He had no intent on making the corner. He had to go off the track as well. I had to avoid crashing into him and him into in me. He went in so hard he went off the track, same as Budapest, it was identical.”
At the Hungarian Grand Prix, an investigation was launched into Verstappen’s first-corner conduct, and he was advised by his Red Bull team to give the place back. Here, there were no such orders. McLaren boss Zak Brown called Verstappen’s move a “divebomb” but both his and Norris’ protests fell on deaf ears. The stewards didn’t even note the incident, let alone launch an investigation.
Leclerc started fourth but took advantage of Norris and Verstappen tripping over one another to assume the lead. Sainz slotted into third, with Norris now fourth. Lewis Hamilton has won a record five times in Austin, and six in all in the US, but the seven-time world champion has endured a weekend to forget.
He qualified seventh and finished sixth in the sprint before qualifying only 19th for the main event. Hamilton made his way up to 12th but his race suffered a premature end when he lost control of his Mercedes at the penultimate corner on lap two. With his Silver Arrows beached in the gravel, Hamilton’s race was run. “Sorry, guys”, he said.
Out came the safety car and Leclerc made no mistake at the re-start to keep Verstappen at arm’s reach, with Norris unable to make any impression on Sainz’s Ferrari.
By the start of lap 24, Leclerc’s lead over Verstappen was 10 seconds and his team-mate Sainz was also on the move. Pitting four laps earlier than Verstappen, he was able to jump the Dutch driver when he stopped on lap 25. Norris stayed out until lap 31 in the hope of gaining a tyre advantage for the climax of the race. When he left the pits he was 6.6sec behind Verstappen and he was able to half that advantage over the next half-a-dozen laps to provide him with hope.
“These tyres just aren’t good,” complained Verstappen. “I can’t brake. I can’t attack anything.”
Norris was taking chunks out of Verstappen’s advantage and by the start of lap 44 he was one second behind and within DRS range. With nine laps remaining, Verstappen was defending for his life as the two championship contenders went wheel-to-wheel. Verstappen was deploying all of his brilliance to keep Norris behind.
On lap 51, Norris thought he’d got ahead coming out of Turn 13 but Verstappen again clung on, in what was proving to be a defensive masterclass for the ages. Then on lap 52, Norris drew alongside Verstappen on the 215mph drag to Turn 12. Verstappen held the inside line, and Norris completed the pass, albeit off the track.
Norris asked his team whether he should hand the position back, but they urged him not to, believing that their man was ahead at the apex. Crucially, the stewards took a different view.
Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri finished fifth, one place ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell.
10:28 PM BST
Updated constructor standings
This is now a genuine three-way fight for the constructors’, though I am not totally sure that Red Bull are in it if Perez continues like he did today.
Haas now put a couple of points between themselves and RB. Williams pick up a point in their fight with Alpine through the excellent Franco Colapinto who has five points in his four grand prix starts. In fact, 12th is his worst finish. A couple of points for Liam Lawson too.
10:24 PM BST
Updated driver standings – Top 10
Verstappen increases his lead to 57 with five races and two sprints remaining.
10:20 PM BST
Lando Norris speaks on the incident
10:07 PM BST
Strong views from McLaren’s Andrea Stella
“My view is that the way the stewards interfered with a beautiful piece of motorsport was inappropriate because both cars went off track so both cars gained an advantage.”
09:58 PM BST
Confusing penalties
I do not think that was the best day for the stewards. Plenty of very similar incidents resulting in different outcomes. Okay, they were not all identical and the Norris penalty at the end was probably fair enough. But Verstappen did force him off the track when Norris was (probably ahead). Would like to see an onboard of Verstappen’s steering wheel. Russell picked up a penalty for forcing Bottas off in a less extreme way, though it was Russell who took the position there, not Bottas.
09:52 PM BST
Leclerc on his third win in 2024
“Very happy. It hasn’t been an easy weekend until now I have been struggling a little bit with the feeling with the car. We were a bit not scared but we thought that the others would improve today but we still had the upper hand. It was a pretty good turn one. We had a really good launch, I knew that it was going to be very tight into turn one… today I gained from it. That helped our first stint because we had mega pace.”
09:50 PM BST
Carlos Sainz on his race
“First of all congratulations to the whole team, to Charles for an amazing result that puts us where we want to be in the constructors right now. I knew Lando and Max were going to go hard into turn one. Unfortunately I got the worst of it and couldn’t get that lead. I had to settle for P2 which anyway was a good race. It’s definitely been the strength of the car this year, how long we can go on stints and how little deg we have. Last year we spent all of the races defending and losing positions.”
09:48 PM BST
Max Verstappen speaks
“For me it was quite a difficult race, I never had the pace to attack. Quite different to yesterday. Just understeering… that made the defending quite difficult. It was a tough battle. I tried everything to keep him behind. I have my opionion but I don’t need to say it here, I’ll let the stewards do their thing.”
09:46 PM BST
Karun Chandhok weighs in on the incident
Confused by the McLaren plan there with Lando at the end…. The rule is clear that a driver is “not allowed to gain a lasting advantage” and getting ahead of another car is obviously “a lasting advantage”.
Should have told Lando to give the place back and he could have re-passed
— Karun Chandhok (@karunchandhok) October 20, 2024
Fair point. Perhaps another case of slight mismanagement from McLaren. As Martin Brundle points out, though, Norris was only 0.9sec away from claiming third anyway after his penalty.
09:42 PM BST
Norris is told of his penalty
“Yeah, well, then I should have just gone back behind him shouldn’t I?”
09:41 PM BST
2024 US Grand Prix classification
LEC
SAI
VER
NOR
PIA
RUS
PER
HUL
LAW
COL
MAG
GAS
ALO
TSU
STR
ALB
BOT
OCO
ZHO
OUT: HAM
09:40 PM BST
CHARLES LECLERC WINS THE 2024 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX!
Dominant. A 1-2 finish with Sainz in second. Norris third on track but that will become fourth after the penalty is applied. Three wins for Leclerc and four for Ferrari in 2024.
09:39 PM BST
FINAL LAP
Five-second penalty for Norris for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, which drops him back to fourth currently but possibly fifth if Piastri gets a move on. Probably no track limits penalty yet, though.
09:38 PM BST
Lap 55 of 56 – A messy end to the race for Norris
A bit of a shame but I am not sure it would have made a great deal of difference to his championship hopes.
09:38 PM BST
Lap 54 of 56 – Norris leads Verstappen by 2.1sec
Leclerc cruising to victory now. Sainz will be second. Third place will be decided in the stewards room. Red Bull say that Lando Norris has exeded the track limits… limits and will take a penalty for that anyway. So it seems like he will be behind Verstappen and possibly even Piastri. Hmmm.
09:35 PM BST
Lap 53 of 56 – Verstappen tries a move at turn one!
Norris jinks to the inside quite late and keeps the position. Verstappen is again on the radio saying that Norris needs to give the position back. It is true that Norris, on the outside, overtook him off track but Verstappen totally forced him off with his line.
The incident of Norris leaving the track and gaining an advantage has been noted.
09:34 PM BST
Lap 52 of 56 – Finally Norris gets Verstappen!
Verstappen, as he usually does, fights the move at turn 12 robustly and forced Norris off the track when the McLaren driver executed the overtake.
Immediately Verstappen is on the radio saying “Overtook me on the track”. Norris says he was ahead at the apex:
09:32 PM BST
Lap 51 of 56 – Still Norris cannot find a way past!
Norris has been patient here but as time goes on the tyre advantage he had over Verstappen will be diminished after all these laps close behind the Red Bull. Mind you, Verstappen will be pushing his tyres to the limit too.
Norris gets closer at T11 but doesn’t have a brilliant exit. He is close enough to have a look here and Norris does so on the outside but slightly locks up I think. Again they go sie by side through 13, 14 and 15! Norris dipped a wheel onto the grass, kicking up dust. Thrilling stuff.
09:30 PM BST
Lap 50 of 56 – Verstappen vs Norris for third
It’s impressive how close the McLaren can follow the Red Bull in that first section of the lap. Verstappen locks up at turn 12 but Norris isn’t close enough to take advantage and loses a bit of time on exit himself…
Leclerc leads Sainz by 5.4sec.
09:28 PM BST
Lap 49 of 56 – Verstappen defending smartly here
Superb car positioning and car control in the braking zone at turn one. Again Norris is not close enough to try a move at T12. They are approaching Bottas, though, who they are trying to lap.
09:27 PM BST
Lap 48 of 56 – This is a great battle for P3
Meanwhile out front Leclerc extends his lead to five secons as Sainz also has to lap those backmarkers.
Again Norris gets DRS on the back straight but doesn’t commit to a move there. His aim will be to be all over the back of him in the final sector and onto the following lap…
He looks to have done that so far, pressuring the Red Bull driver…
09:25 PM BST
Lap 47 of 56 – Mistake from Verstappen!
He locks up at turn one and Norris is closer than he has ever been! He gets a better exit on the back straight, will have DRS and will surely send it up the inside of the hairpin at turn 12. No! Verstappen takes the inside line but Norris decides against a move on the outside.
They go side by side through the rest of the lap as Verstappen defends. Norris not looking desperate to make the move. It seems like a matter of time…
09:24 PM BST
Lap 46 of 56 – Is Verstappen closer on the back straight than before?
A little but he will have to be patient and wait for the DRS zone on the pit straight I think.
Leclerc loses more time to Sainz, again, presumably because Leclerc is having trouble with lapping backmarkers.
09:22 PM BST
Lap 45 of 56 – Norris edges closer, closer, closer
Still not enough for a look in turn 12. Sainz is marginally faster than Leclerc but that gap has stabilised to just over 5.2sec now.
09:20 PM BST
Lap 44 of 56 – Norris closes further
He gets DRS on the back straight but is not close enough to think of a move, but that is surely a matter of time.
09:20 PM BST
Lap 43 of 56 – Norris now almost within DRS range of Verstappen
Has leader Leclerc got something to worry about? Sainz in second took half a second out of him the last time around but the leader is approaching Albon to lap him so that probably has something to do with it. In other words, dirty air.
09:17 PM BST
Lap 42 of 56 – Verstappen has a six-lap tyre advantage over Verstappen
His pace advantage is around 0.4sec per lap as the gap is just 1.3sec as they finish lap 42. Sainz sets a new fastest lap to move slightly closer to leader Leclerc.
09:16 PM BST
Lap 41 of 56 – Norris only 1.7sec behind Verstappen
This could be a fun watch. Hulkenberg doing well in the points in seventh. A fine season he is having.
09:15 PM BST
Lap 40 of 56 – Top six and gaps
LEC
SAI +6.4
VER +13.2
NOR +15.1
PIA +23.5
PER +49.3
Lawson up into ninth in a very impressive performance. Yellow flags because Lawson’s team-mate Tsunoda has spun at turn one.
09:13 PM BST
Lap 39 of 56 – Ferrari are the class of the field today
They lead 1-2 and perhaps the only reason it wasn’t like that earlier was because Verstappen was the blocker between them. Norris now just 2.2sec behind Verstappen ahead in third. Piastri a bit too far back to become involved in that emerging scrap.
09:12 PM BST
Lap 38 of 56 – Leclerc leads Sainz by 6.6sec
Verstappen six seconds behind Sainz but has Norris closing on him. Norris is just 2.7sec behind the Dutchman. His pace advantage isn’t the one-second it was before but is around 0.4-0.5sec per lap currently.
Magnussen is told he must pit from 10th and it sounds very much unplanned. He comes out 13th which puts Lawson into 10th and into the points.
09:07 PM BST
Lap 37 of 56 – Verstappen unhappy
“These tyres just aren’t good. I can’t brake, I can’t attack anything,” he says.
09:07 PM BST
Lap 36 of 56 – Leclerc leads Sainz by seven seconds
Franco Colapinto continues his good work and keeps Sergio Perez – on hard tyres 26 laps fresher – behind, somehow. Classic Perez.
Hamilton so far the only retiree. Albon the only driver to have stopped twice. He is in 19th.
09:05 PM BST
Lap 35 of 56 – Lap times at the front
LEC: 1:38.6
SAI: 1:38.8
VER: 1:39.0
NOR: 1:38.0
PIA: 1:38.5
Norris taking chunks out of Verstappen’s advantage…
09:03 PM BST
Lap 34 of 56 – Penalty for Pierre Gasly
Pierre receives a 5s penalty for the move with ALB earlier on.
Time to get our heads down 😤
— BWT Alpine Formula One Team (@AlpineF1Team) October 20, 2024
That is for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
09:02 PM BST
Lap 33 of 56 – Top 10 and gaps
LEC
SAI +7.1
VER +11.2
NOR +17.8
PIA +24.2
RUS +24.9
LAW +35.9
COL +39.8
PER +40.4
MAG +45.4
Drivers in italics yet to stop. Norris sets the fastest lap of the race.
09:00 PM BST
Lap 32 of 56 – Norris comes out in fifth
That is 6.3sec behind Verstappen but with tyres that are six laps fresher and 10 laps fresher than Sainz who is a further four seconds up the road. Piastri pits the very next lap.
08:59 PM BST
Lap 31 of 56 – Leclerc gets DRS on the back straight
Leclerc completes the move easily and Piastri does not really resist too much, leaving the door wide open. Leclerc is not really in the same race as the McLarens, but Verstappen is.
In comes Norris… it’s a quick stop at 2.2sec.
08:57 PM BST
Lap 30 of 56 – Still the McLarens continue
Their pace has dropped off a little bit from those behind who are on fresher tyres but have stopped. They have two cars here and I wonder if they can leave Piastri out a bit longer to block for Norris. Leclerc is about to overtake him, though, but let’s see how easy the Ferrari driver makes that look.
08:55 PM BST
Lap 29 of 56 – Top 10 and gaps
NOR
PIA +4.9
LEC +6.7
SAI +13.6
VER +17.7
RUS +27.0
LAW +35.4
COL +39.6
MAG +44.6
PER +45.3
Drivers in italics are yet to stop.
08:53 PM BST
Lap 28 of 56 – The McLarens’ pace is good
1:39.0s for the pair last time around. Verstappen on his fresh hards was marginally faster, as was Sainz but only by a tenth or so…
Can they make up the ground they lost in the first stint, though?
08:51 PM BST
Lap 27 of 56 – Are McLaren going to one-stop here?
Norris inherits the lead as Leclerc pits. He moves onto the hards which also suggests a one-stop strategy is likely or the lead man. Norris, in clean air, sets the fastest first sector of the race. How will the pace be compared to those on fresh hards? How long can McLaren go?
08:49 PM BST
Lap 26 of 56 – Decent stop from Verstappen and Red Bull
2.7sec. Sainz comfortably comes out ahead by probably three or four seconds in the end, if not more.
08:48 PM BST
Lap 25 of 56 – Is Verstappen in a bit of no man’s land here?
He has in effect been undercut for position by Sainz but the longer he goes on the closer the McLarens get to him. Norris within three seconds of him and lapping steadily 0.5-0.6sec faster per lap. In comes Verstappen…
08:46 PM BST
Lap 24 of 56 – Sainz sets the new fastest lap
He does that on fresh hard tyres. Norris takes another 0.6sec out of Verstappen the last time around. Leclerc leads Verstappen by 10 seconds now.
08:45 PM BST
Lap 23 of 56 – Verstappen does not come in this time
Norris is told that they will extend this stint most likely and he says that he is happy with his pace as it stands. He took about half a second out of Verstappen on the last lap.
Leclerc says he does not want to be left out too long and does not want to be “under pressure”.
08:43 PM BST
Lap 22 of 56 – Fortunately for Ferrari…
…Perez is behind Sainz after he emerged from the pit lane.
08:42 PM BST
Lap 21 of 56 – Leclerc looking imperious
Sainz pits at the end of the lap for an undercut attempt on Verstappen. Let’s see how Red Bull respond and indeed if they do.
08:41 PM BST
Lap 20 of 56 – Leclerc continues to stretch his lead
A 1:39.756 for him. Both McLarens around that pace and Piastri reports that his tyres have cleared the graining phase.
08:39 PM BST
Lap 19 of 56 – The undercut works for Magnussen
He is 3.5sec ahead of the Alpine of Gasly now. Wonder if someone at the front wants to give this a go. Verstappen? Sainz? Norris? Piastri?
08:37 PM BST
Lap 18 of 56 – Leclerc leads Verstappen by 7.5sec
Magnussen pits which could trigger a flurry of them in the early midfield. Tsunoda battles with Hulkenberg through the middle of the lap and defends robustly. Tsunoda then ducks into the pit lane as does Gasly to cover off the undercut threat from the Haas of Magnussen.
08:35 PM BST
Lap 17 of 56 – Toto Wolff not happy with that penalty for Russell
He calls it a “total joke”. Leclerc, meanwhile, extends his lead to seven seconds and is looking dominant. That is an advantage of more than 0.4sec a lap but in reality it is more than that given the SC ended on lap five it is more like 0.58sec.
08:33 PM BST
Lap 16 of 56 – Russell gets a five-second penalty
That is for an overtake on Bottas that was not deemed to be legal and resulted in the Finn being ‘run’ off the track. Not sure about that one. Is it that different to what happened at turn one between the leaders? Other than it being on lap one, I am not so sure.
08:31 PM BST
Lap 15 of 56 – Top 10 and gaps
LEC
VER +6.1
SAI +8.0
NOR +11.4
PIA +15.1
GAS +19.7
MAG +21.4
TSU +23.0
PER +23.7
HUL +25.5
08:30 PM BST
Lap 14 of 56 – Leclerc leads by 5.7sec
Meanwhile, Verstappen is told that they have found an issue with his car in this stint and they will attempt to fix it at the pit stop. How much will that cost him if they cannot do it remotely? Sainz not exactly harrying Verstappen at the moment, 1.8sec behind him.
08:29 PM BST
Lap 13 of 56 – It was a lonely walk back for Hamilton
Not a long one, though, as he spun towards the end of the lap. I think he got there on the back of a moped, though.
08:27 PM BST
Lap 12 of 56 – Lawson going very well
He just overtook Alonso for 11th, despite starting in 19th. Good stuff. Perez in ninth and is only 3.7sec ahead of the Kiwi.
08:26 PM BST
Lap 11 of 56 – Leclerc leads Verstappen by 3.7sec
Sainz and Verstappen lapping comparably but Leclerc has a half a second advantage or so over those behind. Sainz probably not being helped out by being in the dirty air of the Red Bull. McLaren lapping nearly a second slower than leader Leclerc.
08:23 PM BST
Lap 10 of 56 – Leclerc extends his lead
Sainz was actually faster than Verstappen on lap nine so has that problem righted itself, somehow? The team said there was nothing they could do. Zhou Guanyu spins at the first corner and drops to last place.
08:22 PM BST
Lap 9 of 56 – Top 10 and gaps
LEC
VER +2.8
SAI +4.3
NOR +5.9
PIA +8.4
GAS +10.3
MAG +10.8
TSU +12.0
PER +12.8
HUL +13.9
Sainz complains of no power on the exit of the corners and says he can smell fuel. He is dropping back and lost nearly a second on Verstappen in the last lap.
08:20 PM BST
Lap 8 of 56 – Verstappen is flying now
His first sector was 0.7sec faster than Sainz’s. And he finds a further three-tenths in the second sector. Leclerc 1.9sec up the road currently. Norris five seconds off the lead in fourth.
08:19 PM BST
Lap 7 of 56 – Verstappen has Sainz on his rear wing again
That didn’t take long. Norris is falling back from Sainz and is nearly two seconds adrift of the second Ferrari.
08:17 PM BST
Lap 6 of 56 – Verstappen is right on the back of Leclerc at the restart
He isn’t close enough to make a move at the first corner but keeps on his rear wing through the esses but Leclerc ends the lap about 1.2sec ahead of him.
08:15 PM BST
Lap 5 of 56 – SC ending at the end of this lap
We are ready to go racing again.
08:15 PM BST
Lap 4 of 56 – SC
A strange and innocuous-looking spin for Hamilton. Not really sure what went wrong as the rear end spun around and put him in the gravel.
“We’ve reported the incident in turn one,” Norris is told about the first corner. Not sure it was an incident. “He’s clearly pushed me out, he had no intent to make the corner. I had to avoid crashing into him or him crashing into me… but yeah,” he says. He believes Verstappen overtook him only by going off the track.
08:09 PM BST
Lap 3 of 56 – Top 10 under Safety Car
LEC
VER
SAI
NOR
PIA
GAS
MAG
TSU
PER
ALO
Out comes the SC and out gets Hamilton from his Mercedes. A poor weekend from him. Still not sure what happened but I assume something similar to Russell in qualifying yesterday.
08:08 PM BST
Lap 2 of 56 – Leclerc leads Verstappen by 1.5sec
Not the start Norris wanted, another poor first lap. Could he have squeezed Verstappen a little more? Yes. Should he? Probably… Hamilton has charged through to P12 from 17th on the grid.
Sainz comes back at his former team-mate Verstappen but the Red Bull driver is defending very robustly. I wouldn’t be surprised if this ended in tears at some point. The Ferraris look quick at the moment and Norris doesn’t seem to have the pace to keep on the back of them.
Hamilton’s charge comes to an end as he finds the gravel at the exit of turn 19!
08:06 PM BST
THE 2024 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX IS GO
It’s a fairly long wait as they wait for Lawson at the back to take his grid slot in 19th…
It’s a good initial start from Norris who tries to move over on Verstappen but the Dutchman is bold at turn one and keeps it up the inside. This little squabble means that Leclerc is there to sneak through and take the lead from fourth!
Norris drops even further back to fourth as Sainz and Verstappen duel in the middle of the lap, Verstappen moving off the track and keeping second place… was that fair? Or even legal?
08:00 PM BST
Starting tyre types
The top 12 drivers are on fresh mediums with Stroll on used hards in 13th. Then it’s a mixture of hards and mediums at the back.
07:57 PM BST
Just under five minutes until lights out
Predctions? I think Verstappen has got this one, but hopefully for the championship’s sake he will not.
07:53 PM BST
This is a big first lap for Norris
He aced his start in the sprint yesterday, moving from fourth to second in the first lap.
07:49 PM BST
Verstappen on Red Bull’s chances
“The last few races we have always been struggling on race pace. Yesterday the sprint was a nice indication that it seemed a lot better already, I just hope at full fuel it’s the same. Last year I had a really good sprint but the main race was a little bit more difficult. It [winning] would make our lives a bit easier. Hopefully from now onwards we can be a bit more competitive.”
07:47 PM BST
Busy at Cota again
Three races in the United States this year, this being the second with Las Vegas still to come.
07:46 PM BST
How they line up
2. VER 1. NOR
4. LEC 3. SAI
6. ALO 5. PIA
8. MAG 7. ALO
10. TSU 9. PER
12. OCO 11. HUL
14. ALB 13. STR
16. BOT 15. COL
18. ZHO 17. HAM
19. LAW
PIT LANE: RUS
07:39 PM BST
Current driver standings
07:32 PM BST
Current constructor standings
07:22 PM BST
A word for Haas this weekend
Three points picked up in the sprint race – with both cars in the points – moved them up to sixth in the standings ahead of RB. If they can maintain that it will be their best position in the standings since their third season in F1 in 2018 when they were fifth with 93 points. Their highest points total since then was 38 in 2022. At the current rate they are on course to beat that.
07:14 PM BST
F1 in 2025
Only a couple of seats left to fill now after plenty of uncertainty earlier in the year.
As I said yesterday it is a shame that Carlos Sainz has been forced to go to Williams from Ferrari, but it will be a boost for the team. Can they give him a car that is capable of scoring regular points? It has been a tough season for James Vowles’ team.
07:09 PM BST
Lando Norris speaks
“It’s going to be a tough race but I’m excited for it. It’s a lot more laps but we can make the pit stops. Strategy is going to be a big player today, tyre management is going to be a big player. It can win us the race, it can lose us the race. It’s up to me, putting a better set-up on the car which I think we’ve done. We prepared well. Yesterday’s race was not bad, it just was not good compared to the Ferraris.”
07:03 PM BST
Remaining races and Norris’s title hopes
With an eye on the championship battle between Norris and Verstappen, these are the races that the Briton has to chase down his rival.
October 20: United States Grand Prix, Cota
October 27: Mexico City Grand Prix, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
November 3: Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Interlagos
November 23: Las Vegas Grand Prix
December 1: Qatar Grand Prix, Lusail
December 8: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina
The races at Interlagos and in Lusail are sprint races, which potentially gives Norris a chance to eat into Verstappen’s lead a bit more substantially. Of course, the opposite can be true too. At the moment he needs to make up nine points every race weekend to win. To take it to the final race he needs to outscore Verstappen by 28 points between now and the end of the Qatar GP.
Not sure I fancy his chances of the former. I think Red Bull appear to have taken a bit of a step here out of the doldrums and Verstappen is performing well enough. I don’t think McLaren have it in them to be as excellent as they need to be, either (in other words, near perfect).
06:54 PM BST
Watch: Russell crashes in Q3
…and this is the reason why they needed to work on the car so late in the day.
06:45 PM BST
Why Russell is starting from the pit lane
Unfortunately George will start today’s race from the pit lane
After yesterday’s accident, the team had to work through the night to revert on specification thus contravening Article 40.6 that says cars must be covered two hours after the end of qualifying pic.twitter.com/si988TZBXc
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) October 20, 2024
06:38 PM BST
Qualifying times
Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren 1min 32.330secs
Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:32.361
Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spa) Ferrari 1:32.652
Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1:32.740
Oscar Piastri (Aus) McLaren 1:32.950
George Russell (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:32.974
Pierre Gasly (Fra) Alpine 1:33.018
Fernando Alonso (Spa) Aston Martin 1:33.309
Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1:33.481
Sergio Perez (Mex) Red Bull 1:33.020
Yuki Tsunoda (Jpn) RB 1:33.506
Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Haas F1 1:33.544
Esteban Ocon (Fra) Alpine 1:33.597
Lance Stroll (Can) Aston Martin 1:33.759
Liam Lawson (Nzl) RB 1:33.339
Alexander Albon (Tha) Williams 1:34.051
Franco Colapinto (Arg) Williams 1:34.062
Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Kick Sauber 1:34.152
Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:34.154
Guanyu Zhou (Chn) Kick Sauber 1:34.228
The final starting grid will look a little different to this, but more on that later.
05:06 PM BST
Good afternoon F1 fans
Welcome to our coverage for the 2024 United States Grand Prix from the Circuit of the Americas, just outside of Austin. I have written this many times before but, for my money, Cota is one of the best tracks on the calendar alongside Suzuka and Silverstone. I think Spa-Francorchamps has become neutered by the modern machines, but this circuit is really a test for the drivers and provides, quite often, excellent overtaking opportunities.
What will we have in store for us today? Well, the trend throughout the weekend was one of Red Bull (or rather Max Verstappen) looking strong. In fact, arguably his strongest weekend since he last won a race in Spain in June earlier this year. He took pole for the sprint race on Friday and delivered that with a comfortable (if not exactly dominant) victory yesterday afternoon ahead of Carlos Sainz.
Verstappen’s rival for the F1 title this year, Lando Norris, finished third in his McLaren. That means Verstappen’s advantage increased to 54 points. Obviously it is not a killer blow, exactly, but it is obvious that Norris needs to be taking points out of Verstappen rather than losing more to him.
Fortunately for Norris, he had a bit of luck of his own in main qualifying later on Saturday. With the McLaren probably looking the third if not fourth quickest car at times this weekend, Norris found his best lap of the day with his first run in Q3. Verstappen came close to matching it but a slightly untidy final sector meant he finished 0.031sec behind the McLaren.
The Dutchman was on course to beat Norris’s time, with Norris unlikely to improve, but then George Russell put his Mercedes in the barriers, in effect bringing an end to the session and securing Norris his sixth pole in the last eight rounds. It gives Norris a small advantage over Verstappen, though even if he wins he will have to hope the Red Bull man has a scrappy afternoon.
Carlos Sainz was third for Ferrari ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc with Piastri in fifth in the second McLaren. Sergio Perez was down in 10th.
It was another day to forget for Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton did not make it out of Q3 whilst Russell will now start from the pit-lane after his crash in Q3. The race begins at 8pm BST and we will be here for all of the build-up, live updates and reaction.
