Berlin, 21 October 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Charles Leclerc won the United States Grand Prix thanks to a sensational start ahead of Carlos Sainz in a Ferrari one-two on Sunday while Max Verstappen took third place due to a late five-second penalty for title rival Lando Norris.

Ferrari's Leclerc shot from fourth on the grid to first after the first turn in Austin and never looked back en route to his third season win and eighth overall.

Verstappen extends lead after Norris penalty

Sainz got ahead of triple world champion Verstappen thanks to an earlier pit stop, and pole sitter Norris of McLaren also passed the Dutchman with five laps left.

However, Norris passed outside the track, and the penalty announced in the penultimate lap for gaining an advantage that way saw him classified fourth despite crossing the line in third.

Verstappen is now without victory in nine grands prix but he managed to extend his championship lead over Norris by five points to 57 with Saturday's sprint race win and Sunday's result.

Norris had cut the deficit from 84 to 52 points over the previous six race weekends. A total 146 points are still on offer from the remaining five grands prix, fastest laps there, and two sprint races, with the fight continuing next weekend in Mexico.

The Verstappen-Norris incident

"I have my opinion but I don't need to say it here. I let the stewards do their thing," Verstappen said of the duel with Norris and the penalty.

Norris told Sky TV: "I tried. He’s also went off the track. So, if he goes off the track, clearly he’s gone in way too hard and also gained an advantage by doing what he did. But I don’t make the rules, so ..."

Ferrari delight

Leclerc was meanwhile delighted, saying: "Really happy with today. One-two for the team. We couldn't have dreamt for better."

"It hasn't been an easy weekend until now I have been struggling with the feeling with the car but I had confidence that the race the feeling would be better and it was the case."

Bad day for Mercedes

Norris had claimed pole position with a little luck as Verstappen could not properly complete his final fast lap due to a crash by Mercedes driver George Russell and started from second.

The crash meant that Russell had to start from the pit lane because Mercedes needed longer than allowed to fix the car.

He recovered to finish sixth on a bad weekend for the team which saw five-time race winner Lewis Hamilton only 17th on the grid and then having to retire in lap two after spinning out in the same turn as Russell the previous day.

How the race unfolded

Norris appeared to have won the start but Verstappen sneaked through on the inside but neither seemingly paid attention to Leclerc who sensationally shot into the lead from fourth on the grid.

Sainz also got past Norris and then battled with Verstappen for second which however was put on hold in lap two whe the safety car came out after Hamilton's shunt.

Verstappen tried to put Leclerc under pressure on the restart but the Ferrari was simply too quick and Leclerc was 11 seconds clear in front once Verstappen pitted in lap 25.

He returned behind Sainz who had pitted earlier while Norris was the last of the top contenders to pit in lap 32 and with fresh tyres aimed to have the better end.

He was in Verstappen's slipstream with 12 laps left and did get ahead after several previous attempts but the stewards had other ideas, although Verstappen had also defended himself robustly and left the track as well.

Up front, Ferrari celebrated their second win in Austin, the other coming from Kimi Raikkönen in 2018, from Leclerc.

Also impressive was Visa RB's new driver Liam Lawson who came ninth in his first race since replacing Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull's sister team which he had started from the pit lane.

Photo: EPA