AUSTIN-. Charles Leclerc gave to Ferrari his first victory in the United States Grand Prix since 2018 with a clever display on Sunday, while Max Verstappen established himself as a leader with his Red Bull by benefiting from a sanction to stay ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Verstappen took the podium after Norris received a five-second penalty for passing Verstappen off the track in the closing laps.
The reigning champion complained about the maneuver and Norris insisted that Verstappen also went off the track. Both were involved in a close dispute for third place for several laps, with Verstappen not giving up one bit.
“It has been a very tough battle. “I have tried everything I can to keep him behind,” said Verstappen, who is fighting for his fourth consecutive title. “In the end, reaching the podium was a great result.”
Referring to the sanction to Norris, Verstappen indicated that “I have my opinion, but I don’t have to share it here. “I let the stewards decide.”
The penalty and fourth place cost Norris valuable points. Verstappen extended his championship lead over Norris, from 54 to 57 points. Five grand prix and two sprint races remain.
Norris’ pace at the end of the race seemed enough to eventually overtake Verstappen. Instead, Norris had to fight to try to open a gap of more than five seconds on Verstappen. In the end he could only be 4.1 seconds ahead.
“It is difficult to determine. Maybe it was my only chance. “Max was defending well and it wasn’t easy to pass,” Norris said.
McLaren boss Andre Stella was more critical.
“In my opinion, the way the stewards interfered with a beautiful element of motorsports was inappropriate,” said Stella. “Both cars went off the track, so they both took advantage. It’s a shame because it cost us the podium.”
Verstappen took the win in Saturday’s sprint at the Circuit of the Americas, but the Dutchman has yet to win a grand prix — the last one dates back to June in Barcelona.
Leclerc obtained his third victory of the season and Ferrari completed the 1-2, with the Spanish Carlos Sainz as his teammate’s escort. Kimi Raikkonen had been the last Ferrari driver to win in Austin in 2018.
“It hasn’t been an easy weekend. “I didn’t feel comfortable in the car, but in the race it was better,” said Leclerc. “The double for the team… you couldn’t ask for a better result.”
Norris will leave Austin regretting that he missed a great opportunity to get closer to Verstappen. The Briton took pole for the start.
“I enjoyed the battle,” Verstappen said, without expressing any regret over the penalty to Norris. He recalled that a podium was taken away from him here in 2017 due to an overtake that was considered illegal.
“I tried to stay calm and take the car to the finish line,” Verstappen said.
The Mexican Sergio Pérez finished seventh with the other Red Bull, while the Argentine rookie Franco Colapinto (Williams) was tenth to take the last point.
Colapinto got into the points zone after overtaking Fernando Alonso on the 23rd lap. After pit stops, the 21-point Argentine reached seventh place before being overtaken by “Checo” Pérez.
“I woke up thinking that I was going to have a chance to add and we did,” said Colapinto, who made his debut in the Italian Grand Prix after his team decided to fire American Logan Sargeant at the end of August.
Colapinto scored points for the second time in four races, having previously placed eighth in the Azerbaijan GP.
The championship will move south of the border for the Mexican Grand Prix next weekend.
Colapinto was excited to go to the Mexican capital and face Pérez on the Hermanos Rodríguez circuit: “It is always nice to fight against Checo. He is someone who races very cleanly and we have to continue for everything in Mexico now,” said the Argentine.