AUSTIN, Texas – Pink Bull's Max Verstappen won the United States Grand Prix sprint race on Saturday to claim his first victory of any kind in nearly five months and prevent McLaren's Lando Norris from eroding his season championship lead of Formula 1.
Norris kept Verstappen in sight for 18 of 19 laps at Circuit of the Americas after he moved from fourth to second from the start of the race. But Norris made a costly mistake in the first corner of the final lap that allowed Ferrari's Carlos Sainz to move into second place.
Finishing third instead of second cost Norris a critical point in the title chase. He is now 54 points behind Verstappen with six grands prix and two sprint races left in the season.
Verstappen is chasing his fourth consecutive title. He started on Saturday from pole place and was never threatened for the lead. He won with a difference of almost four seconds.
“It feels a bit like old times,” Verstappen said.
Qualifying for Sunday's main event took place later on Saturday. Verstappen has won the United States Grand Prix the last three years, but has not started the race from pole since 2021.
The dash win should renew Pink Bull's confidence that it has improved a car that Verstappen has alternately called “undriveable” and “a monster” at times this season.
Formula 1 returned from a four-week autumn break this week with Norris steadily chasing Verstappen in the drivers' championship.
The once-dominant Verstappen had not claimed a victory of any kind since the Austrian Grand Prix sprint race in June, with his last grand prix victory coming a week earlier in Spain.
Norris has two wins and three other podiums in that span to close the gap on Verstappen, and McLaren has overtaken Pink Bull in the constructors' championship.
Norris suggested he will find it difficult to compete with Verstappen and Ferrari on Sunday.
“I did my best,” Norris said after the sprint. “I didn't think we had the pace of Max and the Ferraris.”
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