The surprise of the day is Charles Leclerc! After winning in Monaco in May, the native of the principality won the United States Grand Prix in Austin. Starting in fourth position, the Ferrari driver achieved a brilliant performance by maintaining his first place for almost the entire race under the nose of his teammate Carlos Sainz, over whom he was able to maintain a long seconds lead. throughout the battle.
In a start marked by the very rapid withdrawal of Lewis Hamilton, stuck in the gravel after a few minutes of racing, it was Charles Leclerc who surprised everyone from the outset. The Monegasque took particular advantage of the confrontation between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris to gain the upper hand and take first place.
Sixth Until the 19th lap, Pierre Gasly suffered a strangely long stop of almost seven seconds. Enough to spoil his very good start and relegate him to 12th place at the end of the race. Esteban Ocon finished in 18th position.
Big debate between Verstappen and Norris
While the poor form of Max Verstappen (Red Bull) gave Lando Norris the hope of overtaking him in the general classification, the two men competed head-on for third place in this American race. The Dutchman, who has not won since the Spanish Grand Prix in June, led the race ahead of his McLaren counterpart who did not give up until the last turn of the wheel, with the opportunity to regain three points to his rival.
At the end of a very limited maneuver, Lando Norris managed to find the fault by overtaking Verstappen six laps from the end of the race. This was without taking into account the five-second penalty addressed after examination by the stewards to the Briton, who went outside the limits of the track and who did not give the place back to the Dutchman, although he was also out of bounds. A great missed opportunity to catch up a little further for Norris, who sees the final victory slipping away.
Dutch ogre Max Verstappen is now 57 points ahead of Lando Norris in the drivers’ standings with five Grand Prix remaining in the Formula 1 season.
