@CharlesLeclerc leads home @ScuderiaFerrari one-two victory at #USGP. #F1 #UnitedStatesGP

Leclerc US GP Victory – Charles Leclerc lead home team-mate Carlos Sainz to bring Ferrari a one-two victory at the US GP in Austin, Texas as championship leader Max Verstappen completed the top three after a thrilling battle with title-rival Lando Norris as the latter was hit with a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

 

 

This was Leclerc’s third win of the season as he lead the majority of the Grand Prix and the one-two finish for the Scuderia brings them ever closer in the battle for the Constructor’s Championship now just eight points behind second-placed Red Bull and 48 points behind leaders McLaren.

 

In the World Driver’s Championship standings, Verstappen’s lead over Norris has increased to 57 points as they head to Mexico next weekend.

 

When the 56-lap US GP began, pole-sitter Norris got a slightly better start than Verstappen as both ran wheel-to-wheel into turn one.

 

Verstappen squeezed Norris wide out of the opening corner as Ferrari’s Leclerc made his way ahead into the lead as they ran through to the Esses.

 

Sainz had a look at Verstappen into turn 12, the latter had to slide off the track and came back in-front of the Ferrari.

 

At the end of the opening lap, Leclerc held a 1.584 second lead over Verstappen with Sainz third, Norris fourth, and Piastri fifth.

 

Further back, Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton made an excellent start finding his way up to 12^th.

 

Third-placed Sainz was all over the back of the Dutchman and whilst he was keeping the Red Bull driver busy, race leader Leclerc was driving off into the distance.

 

The yellow flags were waving as Hamilton was seen beached in the gravel spinning his wheels and could not get back onto the track.

 

The safety car was deployed as Hamilton became the first retiree of the race.

 

Replays showed Hamilton clipped the kerb at the penultimate corner and spun off into the gravel trap.

 

On the fifth tour, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Williams’ Alexander Albon took the opportunity to pit for a fresh set of the C3 yellow side-walled medium tyre.

 

When the safety car came in and the race resumed on lap six, race leader Leclerc pulled away at the penultimate corner with second-placed Verstappen anticipating the Ferrari driver’s jump.

 

The championship leader was right behind the Monegasque into the opening corner and was at 0.753 seconds behind as they reached turn 12.

 

At the beginning of lap seven, Leclerc’s lead over Verstappen was at 1.246 seconds with Sainz in DRS range of the Dutchman in third and the two McLaren’s of Norris and Piastri completed the top five runners.

 

Behind them Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg with DRS assistance made a move on the inside of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso into turn 12 to jump into tenth place.

 

In the battle for second on the eighth lap, Verstappen increased his gap over Sainz to 1.716 seconds breaking himself out of DRS range.

 

Fifth-placed Piastri did not have the same pace as his McLaren team-mate Norris and was dropping off the back of the Briton and had Alpine’s Pierre Gasly behind him for company.

 

Verstappen started to put his foot down and was starting to eat into race leader Leclerc’s gap.

 

Lap 10 saw Leclerc’s lead over Verstappen sitting at 3.1 seconds with Sainz holding third, Norris fourth, Piastri fifth as Gasly rounded out the top six.

 

Third-placed Sainz reported “It smells a lot like fuel in the car guys,” as the Spaniard was falling into the clutches of former team-mate Norris.

 

Further back, Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu suffered a spin into the opening corner as the Chinese driver dropped to the back of the pack.

 

A tour later, Ferrari gave Sainz some instructions and he stopped leaking time to the McLaren behind, but now the Spaniard was 1.5 seconds behind second-placed Verstappen.

 

On the 12^th lap, race leader Leclerc pulled out another half-a-second over Verstappen. If they finished as they are, the latter will have a further six points over Norris in the World Driver’s Championship overall as they head to Mexico City next weekend.

 

Further back, RB’s Liam Lawson who started 19^th on the grid, was on the move and up into 11^th place, after picking off Alonso – with the duo having some heat all weekend long. The Kiwi was 2.3 seconds off the back of Hulkenberg and a championship point in his sights.

 

The 15^th tour saw race leader’s Leclerc 6.131 seconds ahead of Verstappen, with Sainz third and 1.939 seconds off the Red Bull, Norris fourth, Piastri fifth as Gasly completed the top six.

 

Race leader Leclerc was calling for plan B or C – likely a two stop for either a medium-hard or a late, short stint on the softer compound as behind him second-placed Verstappen reported a small issue that the Red Bull team were looking into as the gap continued to increase.

 

Further back, Russell picked off Williams’ Franco Colapinto for 13^th place and was under investigation by the stewards for forcing Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas wide.

 

A lap later, the Briton was hit with a five-second penalty for his overtake on Bottas, which he and Team Principal Toto Wolff called it “a joke.”

 

Leclerc’s lead on lap 18 was up to 7.489 seconds clear of Verstappen and making solid progress in cleaner air meanwhile further behind, Perez picked off RB’s Yuki Tsunoda for eighth.

 

Both Gasly and Tsunoda pitted for their fresh set of hards and emerged in 16^th and 17^th respectively. Magnussen’s undercut working to perfection over the pairing.

 

Leclerc’s race lead on lap 21 over Verstappen was at 8.483 seconds with Sainz only 1.5 seconds further back on the Dutchman with Norris fourth and Piastri rounding out the top five.

 

On the 22^nd lap, third placed Sainz pitted for his fresh set of the C2 hards and came out in clean air just ahead of Perez in fifth place as the Ferrari driver looks to attempt the undercut on Verstappen as behind them Russell overtook Lawson for eighth place.

 

Red Bull opted not to react immediately to Ferrari stopping Sainz and left Verstappen out. For how much longer it remained to be seen as behind them third-placed Norris was told “We appear to have lower deg than the cars ahead, so we may try to extend past them.”

 

Leclerc reported to his team “Don’t leave me out too long, I don’t want to be under pressure.”

 

On the 25^th lap Leclerc’s lead over Verstappen was sitting at 11.056 seconds with Norris third, Piastri fourth as Sainz completed the top five.

 

Second-placed Verstappen came in to stop on lap 26 for his fresh set of the C2’s and emerged in fifth behind Sainz.

 

A tour later, Leclerc pitted from the lead for his fresh set of hards and came out in third behind the two yet-to-pit McLaren’s of Norris and Piastri.

 

Meanwhile behind them Perez stopped from sixth along with Alonso as both drivers emerged in 11^th and 18^th respectively.

 

Both McLaren’s out-front remained out on track in the top two places with the Woking based-outfit looking to stay out long and hoping to make up places later on in the race.

 

Meanwhile Hulkenberg pitted for his fresh set of hards and emerged behind Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in 12^th.

 

On the 30^th tour, the yet-to-pit Norris was sitting 5.038 seconds clear of team-mate Piastri with Leclerc only 0.751 seconds behind the Australian in third, Sainz fourth as Verstappen completed the top five.

 

Lap 31 saw Leclerc within DRS range of Piastri and with the rear wing adjusted on the back straight, the Ferrari made the move on the inside into turn 12 to take second place.

 

Meanwhile race leader Norris is told to box and came in a tour later for his fresh set of the harder rubber, emerging in fifth place behind Verstappen.

 

A lap later Piastri finally made his stop from second for his fresher set of the C2’s and came out behind team-mate Norris in fifth.

 

On lap 34, Leclerc’s lead over team-mate Sainz was at 7.177 seconds with Verstappen third, Norris fourth as Piastri rounded out the top five.

 

Third-placed Verstappen complained of tyre wear, and Sainz had to push his tyres hard to get the undercut on the Red Bull with both drivers looking potentially vulnerable to the McLaren’s later on.

 

Further back, sixth-placed Russell was yet-to-pit and had not served his penalty yet. With Gasly’s looking to be added to his race time if he remained out for a one-stopper whilst RB’s Tsunoda was hit with a five-second timed penalty for overtaking Albon off the track.

 

On the 37^th tour, seventh-placed Lawson pitted for his fresh set of hards and came out in-front of team-mate Tsunoda in 12^th.

 

Meanwhile Norris took two seconds out of Verstappen as the latter complained that “These tyres are just not good, I can’t brake, I can’t attack anything.”

 

Perez finally wrestled his way past Williams’ Franco Colapinto for seventh place, meanwhile out-front Norris brought the gap to third-placed Verstappen down to 2.5 seconds.

 

On the 39^th lap with his fresher rubber, Lawson made a move on the inside of Gasly into turn 12 to move into the final points place for RB.

 

With 16 laps remaining Leclerc’s lead over team-mate Sainz was 6.751 seconds with Verstappen third, Norris fourth as Piastri completed the top five.

 

Further behind, eighth-placed Franco Colapinto stopped for his fresh set of C3 medium compounds and came out in 12^th place ahead of Magnussen.

 

The Argentine managed to keep the Dane behind in turn 12 to keep the position.

 

Meanwhile Russell pitted from sixth for his fresh set of mediums and emerged in eighth place behind Hulkenberg.

 

On lap 43, the fight for third place was beginning to intensify as Norris edged ever closer to Verstappen, with the gap down to 1.272 seconds as the latter was unhappy with his tyres.

 

Further back fifth-placed Piastri was falling back and could not keep up pace with his team-mate.

 

On the back straight with DRS assistance, Norris took another three-tenths out of Verstappen as the Briton got closer to his championship rival.

 

With DRS on the main-straight, Norris got much closer to the Red Bull into turn one on lap 45.

 

Later on in the lap, Verstappen had extra battery stored to deploy the MGU-K to cover off Norris on the back-straight.

 

With ten laps remaining, Leclerc’s lead over team-mate Sainz was down to 5.2 seconds, as Norris got closer to third placed Verstappen as Piastri rounded out the top five.

 

On the back-straight, once again Verstappen managed to keep the charging Norris at bay once more.

 

Meanwhile, on the beginning on lap 47, Verstappen suffered a lock-up into turn one as the Dutchman fell into the clutches of Norris.

 

On the back straight with DRS, Norris got within the slipstream as Verstappen covered the inside from the McLaren into turn 12 making the former have to look the long way round. Verstappen kept the MCL38 entry behind yet again.

 

A lap later, Norris once more with DRS on the back-straight, tried to have a look on Verstappen but the latter closed the door on the inside into turn 12 to keep the place.

 

On the 49^th tour, Verstappen covered the inside into the uphill turn one left-hander and Norris done the switch back but could not get past the RB20.

 

Norris once again with DRS assistance kept applying the pressure to championship rival Verstappen on the back-straight but could not get ahead.

 

Verstappen moved to the inside to cover turn one again from Norris as Bottas dived out of the way to keep out of the battle.

 

Once again Verstappen kept Norris behind on the main-straight into turn one, once they reached turn 11, the latter was much closer and could not get in-front of the former.

 

Through the Hockenheim-style section both drivers ran wheel-to-wheel and out through the turn 15, 16, and 17 section, but Norris could not get ahead of Verstappen.

 

With five laps left, Leclerc’s lead was sitting at six seconds over Sainz with Verstappen third, Norris right behind in fourth as Piastri completed the top five.

 

On the back straight with DRS assistance, Norris made a move on the outside of Verstappen into turn 12 as the Briton was forced off the track and the McLaren made his way ahead of the Red Bull to take third place.

 

Verstappen reported to his team over the radio that Norris left the track and gained an advantage as the race stewards are currently looking at the incident.

 

The Red Bull team told Verstappen that the stewards were looking into it and needs to stick close in-case a penalty was coming in the way of the Briton.

 

And Norris could be hit with a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits with the McLaren driver potentially having another hit for that.

 

Norris was hit with a five-second timed penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage,

 

Leclerc crossed the line to take the victory by 8.562 seconds over team-mate Sainz to bring home a Ferrari one-two as Verstappen came home third after Norris was hit with his five-second timed penalty.

 

Piastri settled for fifth and ahead of Russell who took sixth and Perez who came home seventh.

 

Haas’s Hulkenberg reached the chequered flag eighth as Lawson and Colapinto rounded out the top ten runners.

 

The other Haas VF-24 entry of Magnussen finished outside the top ten in 11^th place and in-front of Gasly who ended the Grand Prix 12^th and Aston Martin’s Alonso who came 13^th in the classification.

 

RB’s Tsunoda crossed the line 14^th and ahead of the second AMR24 entry of Lance Stroll who finished 15^th and Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon who was 16^th.

 

Sauber’s Bottas and Zhou came home in 17^th and at the rear as Alpine’s Esteban Ocon split the duo in 18^th.

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2024 US GP – The Top Three

 

 

2024 US GP Winner – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, SF-24 – 25 Points:

“Very, very happy. It hasn’t been an easy weekend until now, I was struggling with the car but today in the race the feeling was better. We thought after the Sprint the others would improve a lot, but we still had the upper hand. It was a pretty good Turn 1, that as exactly what I wanted to do. That helped out first stint as we had mega pace. The pace of the car was really, really good.”

 

 

2^nd Place – Carlos Sainz, #55, Scuderia Ferrari, SF-24 – 18 Points:

“Obviously, first of all congratulations for the whole team that puts us in the fight for the constructors’. I knew a lot of the race would get decided at the start, I knew Lando and Max would go hard and unfortunately, I got the worst of it. I had to settle for P2 but that is still a good race. How little deg we have is something I enjoy and makes me enjoy racing. We can just go on attack mode and just push and overtake, which is just fun.”

 

3^rd Place – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB20 – 15 Points:

“For me it was a difficult race, I never had the pace to attack. It was a tough battle, tried everything I could to keep [Norris] behind but in the end a podium is a great result. I have my opinion, but I don’t need to say it here, I’ll just let the stewards do their thing.”

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Formula 1 Pirelli United States Grand Prix 2024 Race Results Classification (56 Laps)

 

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	56	1:35:09.639	25
2	55	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	56	+8.562s	18
3	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	56	+19.412s	15
4	4	Lando Norris	McLaren Mercedes	56	+20.354s	12
5	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren Mercedes	56	+21.921s	10
6	63	George Russell	Mercedes	56	+56.295s	8
7	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	56	+59.072s	6
8	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas Ferrari	56	+62.957s	4
9	30	Liam Lawson	RB Honda RBPT	56	+70.563s	2
10	43	Franco Colapinto	Williams Mercedes	56	+71.979s	1
11	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari	56	+79.782s	0
12	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine Renault	56	+90.558s	0
13	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	55	+1 lap	0
14	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB Honda RBPT	55	+1 lap	0
15	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	55	+1 lap	0
16	23	Alexander Albon	Williams Mercedes	55	+1 lap	0
17	77	Valtteri Bottas	Kick Sauber Ferrari	55	+1 lap	0
18	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine Renault	55	+1 lap	0
19	24	Zhou Guanyu	Kick Sauber Ferrari	55	+1 lap	0
NC	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1	DNF	0
* Provisional results. Note – Gasly and Norris received five-second time penalties for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Tsunoda received a five-second time penalty for forcing another driver off the track.

https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2024/races/1247/united-states/race-result

 

Click here for the 2024 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructor’s Championship Standings

 

Round 20 of the 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship heads straight to the famous Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico for the Formula 1 Gran Premio De La Ciudad De Mexico 2024 from Friday October 25-Sunday October 27.