In F1 United States Grand Prix, Max Verstappen kept control from start to finish. Behind him, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc fought fiercely for second place, with the McLaren driver finally getting past in the closing laps. Verstappen came closer in the championship to the McLaren drivers, however Piastri lost some point confront of Norris.
Follow PaddockLines on social media: Facebook and Instagram
Start
Leclerc, who started on softs, took over Norris and jumped to 2nd, Verstappen had a clean start and saved the leading position. Piastri gained one place up and came 5th.
Lap 7
Virtual SC deployed – Sainz and Antonelli crashed at turn 15. The Spanish driver was out of the race.
Lap 9
Race restarted and the intervals were becoling to be permanent. Verstappen led by over 3 seconds ahead of Leclerc, who followed by Norris by 1.5 seconds.
Lap 15-21
Norris started to push harder and tried to compress Leclerc, even though they were fighting for 2nd place this time. Finally in the lap 21 the British changed places with the Ferrari driver, meanwhile got a black-white flag for track limits.
Lap 23
From the leader group Leclerc stopped firstly – changed the tires from soft to mediums. From the 3rd place he went back to 9th.
Lap 31
Piastri stopped from 4th and got softs to go until the end.
Lap 33
Norris in pit from 2nd, lost 1.5 seconds during the pitwork – backed to 4th. At the end of the lap, Verstappen changed tires too and came back 1st. The order was again: Verstappen, Leclerc and Norris.
Lap 43
The softs started to go, reported Verstappen and Norris. This time Norris reduced the fighting a bit with Leclerc for 2nd place.
Lap 51
After preparing his overtake, Norris passed Leclerc to move into 2nd place. Point from the McLaren’s driver it was an important moment in the fight for the World Championship title.
Lap 56
Verstappen secured the victory in front of Norris and Leclerc. Piastri finished 5th only, and lose important points aginst Norris.
Provisional classification after 56 laps, according to FIA.com:
