Leclerc wins US Grand Prix as Ferrari finish top two in Austin

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has won his third race of the 2024 Formula One season, taking out the US Grand Prix on Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

McLaren’s Lando Norris and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen started on the front row, with Ferrari locking out the second row. Norris and Verstappen started strongly and battled wide into the first turn, opening the door for Leclerc to dive down the inside of the corner and take the lead.

Discussions raged on the team radios when Norris complained that Verstappen only overtook him by “going in so hard” to the corner, forcing both cars wide with the McLaren leaving the track to avoid collision.

The incident was noted by stewards, without any investigation taking place.

Norris was forced back to fourth position, in front of Australian teammate Oscar Piastri, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz jumping into third spot behind Verstappen.

Sainz kept pushing through the opening stages of the race to overtake Verstappen, who struggled to hold on, before the Spaniard reported a fuel issue in the car to his race engineer.

The first yellow flag of the race came on the opening lap, when Alpine’s Esteban Ocon made contact with the Williams of Alexander Albon and spun out before re-entering the race in last position.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton started in 17th spot after failing to get out of the first qualifying session on Saturday.

He was able to move up to 12th before locking up into turn 19 and running into the gravel — the same corner that teammate George Russell went off the track in Q3, forcing him to start the race from the pit lane.

Hamilton’s incident brought out the first safety car in F1 since the Canadian Grand Prix in June, bringing race leader Leclerc back to Verstappen and the field for the restart.

However, Leclerc was able to time his restart perfectly and open a race-winning lead, with Sainz holding out the rest to give Ferrari a one-two finish.

Russell was unlucky not to win ‘Driver of the Day’ after he was able to overtake several rivals in both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships to finish in sixth position, despite being given a five-second penalty for forcing Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas from the track while overtaking.

Another who was unlucky to not feature higher in the voting was RB Honda’s newest driver, Liam Lawson.

Having replaced Australian veteran Daniel Ricciardo, the debutant started in 19th place after failing to record a time when he advanced to the second qualifying session.

However, the New Zealander elevated himself to ninth position when the chequered flag was waved, earning two points for the drivers’ championship in his first F1 race.

Alpine’s lead driver, Pierre Gasly, had a strong start to the race from sixth position before switching to the hard tyre and falling all the way back to 12th, behind rival Kevin Magnussen for Haas.

Both Red Bull drivers reported issues with the hard tyres, along with Gasly, which opened the door for the fourth-placed Norris to make a move on championship leader Verstappen in the closing laps of the race.

Norris was hot on Verstappen’s tail with DRS advantage before lap 53 and soon managed to pass his rival to take third place.

However, the Englishman was deemed to have overtaken Verstappen illegally, incurring a five-second penalty that ultimately handed the final position on the podium back to the Red Bull driver.

Leclerc’s win now has him as equal favourite at +275 with Bovada to win the 2024 Mexico Grand Prix in a week’s time, alongside championship rivals Norris and Verstappen.

Verstappen is still a firm favourite to win the 2024 drivers’ championship at -454.55 with top online bookmakers, while McLaren are -1000 to win the constructors’ championship.

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