F1 US GP: Leclerc leads Ferrari 1-2

Ferrari scored a dominant one-two finish in the United States GP, with Charles Leclerc taking victory ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz. The two championship contenders – Lando Norris and Max Verstappen – battled it out for the last spot on the podium. Norris ended up losing third place to Verstappen after being penalised for overtaking outside of the track limits and gaining an advantage.

1. Leclerc wins, finishes 8.562secs ahead of Sainz
2. Norris penalised for Verstappen's pass
3. Russell goes from pitlane to P6

Leclerc wins US GP

Leclerc took the lead when polesitter Norris was pushed wide by Verstappen heading into Turn 1 at the start. From there on, the Ferrari driver enjoyed an unchallenged run to victory, finishing 8.5 seconds clear of his teammate. “It feels good to bring home a victory at the start of this triple header. The whole team did an amazing job to make this happen and a 1-2 brings us a good amount of points in the fight for the Constructors’ title. It’s an optimistic target, but we will never stop dreaming until it is done,” said Leclerc.

“Our pace was really strong from the first lap onwards, and I felt that I could pull away from Max quite comfortably. We’ve made a really good step in terms of our race trim and, hopefully, we will keep it up in the next few races. We will do everything to maximise our results, and at the end of the year, we will do the math and see where we stand.”

Norris vs Leclerc

While Ferrari grabbed the top two spots rather comfortably, there was a battle brewing for the final podium spot. Norris closed in within DRS range of Verstappen on Lap 47 and made several attempts to pass the Red Bull driver. Things came to a head on Lap 52 when Norris made a move into Turn 12. Both drivers ran wide and Norris returned on track in front of Verstappen. McLaren opted to not give the spot back to Verstappen, and Norris was eventually handed a 5 second penalty for the incident, dropping him to fourth place and promoting Verstappen to the third.

Oscar Piastri finished fifth, behind his McLaren teammate. Following his heavy crash in qualifying, Mercedes’ George Russell had to start the race from the pitlane, but he managed to salvage a sixth place finish. Up next was Sergio Perez in P7, followed by Nico Hulkenberg. Liam Lawson finished P9 on what is his first weekend back on the grid, having replaced Daniel Ricciardo. Franco Colapinto rounded out the top 10 with another impressive drive.

2024 F1 standings

Despite not winning a race since June, Verstappen has extended his championship lead to 57 points from Norris. Leclerc is third overall, 22 points behind Norris.

Up next on the F1 calendar is the Mexican GP on October 25-27.

2024 US GP results

Also see:

Norris dominates Singapore GP to slash Verstappen’s title lead