Max Verstappen has increased his points lead over Lando Norris during Saturday’s sprint race in Austin, Texas, ahead of the United States Grand Prix.
Verstappen led all 19 laps at the Circuit of the Americas and extended his points lead to 54 points. Verstappen received eight points for the win while Norris finished third with six points.
Norris started the race in fourth and moved up to second place behind Verstappen on the opening lap. Verstappen started on pole and defended himself well against George Russell. Norris then passed Russell after Turn 1 after a slow turn into the Mercedes driver’s corner.
However, he lost second place on the final lap after locking his tires under braking at Turn 1. This allowed Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz to finish second, while Sainz’s teammate Charles Leclerc finished fourth after a big save on the final lap when he tried passing Norris.
The Mercedes cars suffered tire wear problems midway through the race as Russell fell to fifth, ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton in sixth. The Haas cars of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg took the final two points-paying positions in seventh and eighth place respectively.
Saturday’s sprint race precedes qualifying for the Grand Prix. The lineup for Sunday’s race (2 p.m. ET, ABC) will be determined later in the afternoon. Verstappen is the defending race winner and appears to have the fastest car in the first three sessions of the race weekend – or at least a car that can hold off the rest.
