Written by Owen Bradley
Charles Leclerc won the F1 U.S Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, leading Carlos Sainz across the line to take a historic 1-2 finish, the pair of them beating out Lando Norris and Max Verstappen at the start of the race. Verstappen and Norris would get into controversy once again, leaving Norris with a post-race penalty that put the Brit behind the current championship leader.
Lando Norris would squeeze Max Verstappen to the inside on the run down into Turn 1, with Verstappen drawing alongside the McLaren, edging the McLaren slightly wide after being given such a narrow piece of tarmac to operate on.
Meanwhile, both Ferrari's of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz would take a normal racing line, with Leclerc leading the race going into Turn 2 and Sainz settling back behind Verstappen. Norris would lose three positions at the first corner, a tough start for the three-time Grand Prix winner.
Further through the field, Esteban Ocon would be sent into a spin after contact with other cars at the very back of the pack. Lewis Hamilton made an excellent start, managing to get into 12th place after starting from 17th on the grid. However, Hamilton would end up spinning out into the gravel trap at Turn 19, the same place that teammate George Russell crashed at in Qualifying.
Hamilton's incident would bring out the first full Safety Car since the Canadian Grand Prix, as a couple of drivers made pit stops, like Alexander Albon, who pitted so that the team could also look at the front wing of the Williams after contact with Ocon at the first corner.
George Russell, after the Safety Car had gone back into the pits, would make up multiple places, starting on the Hard compound tyres on the alternate strategy, after also starting from the pit lane due to the crash in Q3.
Russell would be the first to receive a five-second penalty for forcing Valtteri Bottas off the circuit at Turn 12, the first incident in a series of controversial decisions by the FIA. Pierre Gasly would also receive a penalty for a similar incident at Turn 12, as would Yuki Tsunoda as well.
However, despite Turn 12 being a hotspot for penalties, one of the other hotspots for drivers pushing one another wide, were Turns 15 and 16, the double left-hand corners which allowed for cars to dive up the inside of one another, pushing the other outside of the circuit. No penalties would be given for any of these incidents, despite the corners being similar to Turn 12.
Pierre Gasly would get caught out after pitting onto the Hard tyre, stuck in traffic and losing multiple places after initially running in sixth place legitimately. Gasly would finish in 12th place and outside the points after running strong, to the absolute dismay of Alpine and Gasly.
Franco Colapinto and Liam Lawson would drive incredibly well, the pair of them fighting through the field and into the points, Colapinto at one point set the fastest lap, as teammate Alex Albon struggled, with a 16th place finish after fitting the Hard tyres again towards the end of the race.
Carlos Sainz would benefit from the undercut strategy on Max Verstappen, as Lando Norris began hunting down Verstappen for third place.
Meanwhile, George Russell had bolted on the Medium compound tyre and began closing rapidly to Sergio Perez, who ran in sixth place at the time. Russell managed to close down and overtake Perez in the dying laps of the race, to propel his Mercedes ahead of the Mexican driver and take more points away from Red Bull.
The major controversy of the race would come after Lando Norris closed down and attempted multiple times to overtake Max Verstappen, but each time, the Dutchman would have an answer for Norris. Eventually, Norris would attempt to dive up the inside of Verstappen into Turns 1 and 12, however with a lapped car on one occasion, and the Brit's McLaren not quite being close enough on a couple of other occasions, it would come down to the last few laps between the pair.
Norris would get ahead of Verstappen into Turn 12, with the Red Bull of Verstappen releasing the brake midway on entry to the corner, putting the Red Bull back ahead at the apex of the corner. Verstappen would run slightly wide, with Lando Norris driving out even wider and overtaking Verstappen off the circuit.
Norris would be given a five-second penalty on the final lap of the race, and despite building a four second lead, Norris would lose third place, with Verstappen being put back onto the podium and subsequently extending his championship lead.
After post-race analysis, many are saying that the FIA's policing of Turn 12 was incorrect and inconsistent, penalising drivers for pushing one another wide, and also for overtaking at that corner, leading to an incredible amount of confusion.
Charles Leclerc would lead teammate Carlos Sainz over the line as Ferrari took a huge 1-2 finish at COTA, now closing to just eight points in the Constructor's Championship away from Red Bull, who sit second in the standings, whilst McLaren lead by a relatively comfortable margin.
F1 U.S Grand Prix - Results
1st Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
2nd Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
3rd Max Verstappen, Red Bull
4th Lando Norris, McLaren
5th Oscar Piastri, McLaren
6th George Russell, Mercedes
7th Sergio Perez, Red Bull
8th Nico Hulkenberg, Haas
9th Liam Lawson, VCARB
10th Franco Colapinto, Williams
11th Kevin Magnussen, Haas
12th Pierre Gasly, Alpine
13th Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
14th Yuki Tsunoda, VCARB
15th Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
16th Alex Albon, Williams
17th Valtteri Bottas, Sauber
18th Esteban Ocon, Alpine
19th Guanyu Zhou, Sauber
DNF Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
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