@Max33Verstappen clinches #USGP #F1Sprint victory as @McLarenF1 drivers collide.
Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB21, arrives in Parc Ferme after taking victory in the F1 Sprint, Formula 1 MSC Cruises United States Grand Prix 2025, Circuit of The Americas, Austin, Texas. Image credit to Mark Thompson/Getty Images. Verstappen US Sprint Victory, 2025 US Sprint Results, F1 US Sprint Results.
Verstappen US Sprint Victory – Reigning world champion Max Verstappen clinched the Sprint victory to reel in on World Driver’s Championship contenders Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris who suffered disaster on the opening lap after being wiped out in a quadruple collision involving Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. Mercedes’ George Russell and Williams’ Carlos Sainz completed the top three.
Verstappen reduces his deficit to World Driver’s Championship leader Piastri to 55 points and 33 behind Norris.
When the 19-lap F1 Sprint began, pole-sitter Verstappen got a brilliant getaway into turn one as both McLaren’s ran wheel-to-wheel into turn one as Piastri gets tagged from behind by Hulkenberg, and he hits Norris! Norris is out of the race, Piastri is trying to limp back, and so is Hulkenberg.
Piastri parked it at turn nine as the safety car is brought out to clear the debris and the McLaren’s.
Replays showed that Piastri was cautious into the opening corner, avoiding his team-mate. The space was there to duck back under Norris which he attempted, only for Hulkenberg to be there as the two tangled, pushing Piastri into Norris.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll also had contact at the start. The Safety Car remained out, and Piastri’s MCL39 entry suffered suspension damage.
The top ten order behind the safety car was Verstappen, Russell, Sainz, Leclerc, Hamilton, Albon, Tsunoda, Bearman, Gasly and Antonelli.
Further replays showed Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso also made contact with Hulkenberg. And Tsunoda ran over the debris – Hamilton was reporting the debris was everywhere.
Alonso had also retired so three cars were out on the opening tour.
Further replays showed Leclerc was caught right behind the crash, yet somehow avoiding it, accelerated away from it and made his way up to fourth place. Hamilton also had good reflexes to avoid a spinning McLaren of Norris.
Hulkenberg meanwhile ran over his own front wing, that Tsunoda deposited further down the track. The German was down in P15.
When the safety car came in and the Sprint returned to action on lap six, Sprint race leader Verstappen jumped early, slid a little out of the final corner but the Dutchman gets away cleanly and was on his own into the opening. No movers here, and no DRS yet as Race Control said no further investigation for the first lap chaos.
At the end of proper running, race leader Verstappen was 0.700 clear of Russell with Sainz third, Leclerc fourth, Hamilton fifth, Albon sixth, Tsunoda seventh and Bearman holding the final points place.
DRS was now enabled, and Russell was within a second of Verstappen in the fight for the win. Sainz in third had dropped just outside the one second DRS range. Hamilton though had DRS on team-mate Leclerc.
Russell though could not seem to find a way to get close enough to think about a move on the Dutchman.
Verstappen’s RB21 was not happy through the final sector – again he slid, fighting oversteer and allowing Russell to close in. But the Red Bull driver then managed to pull away down the main straight and had enough of a gap not to give Russell a chance into Turn 1.
But Russell gets a run on Verstappen into turn 12. They both ran wide, and both running wide meant likely there would not be any repercussions there.
Leclerc was noted by the race stewards for a safety car infringement.
Replays showed from the previous lap that Russell made a late, late lunge down the inside. Verstappen ran wide, but so did Russell – a bold dive, but carrying that much speed, Russell was always going to struggle to keep his car on track to hold position.
Further back, Hamilton picked off Leclerc for fourth place.
Sainz remained third at this stage of proceedings – he was 2.3 seconds behind Russell, but he was also 2.2 seconds ahead of Hamilton.
Up-front, Russell had dropped back – that bold overtake seemed to have taken some performance from his tyres. The stewards had a look at that and opted to take no further action on the incident.
Race leader Verstappen reported: “The ride is completely ***** on the rear.” As the race leader held a comfortable 2.180 second lead over Russell on lap 12 with Sainz third, Hamilton fourth, Leclerc fifth, Albon sixth, Tsunoda seventh as Bearman completed the top eight.
On lap 13 – Hamilton was being encouraged on to catch Sainz for third place, Albon looked assured of sixth place behind Leclerc – further back, Tsunoda was seventh despite starting 18th on the grid and running over some debris, Bearman in eighth – but the latter had Antonelli in DRS range behind the Haas driver.
The two McLaren drivers stated after the opening corner drama:
“No idea, I just got unlucky What else could I do. I got taken out so not what more could I have done,” said Norris.
“I’ve not seen the incident from the TV cameras but I had a pretty good start, tried to cut back and got hit. Not a good start to the day,” added Piastri.
With four laps remaining, Verstappen’s lead was at 2.860 seconds over Russell with Sainz third, Hamilton fourth, Leclerc fifth, Albon sixth, Tsunoda seventh as Bearman held the final points place.
The safety car was brought out for the second time after Stroll took a late, late dive into turn one, locking up and hit the rear left of Haas’s Esteban Ocon and sending the Frenchman into a spin and off into the opening corner run-off area.
Stroll running on three wheels parked it at turn three.
The stewards were now investigating Bearman and Antonelli’s incident – that is for Bearman leaving the track and gaining an advantage when he was defending from the Mercedes driver at turn 15.
Bearman was hit with a ten-second-timed-penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, which will put him in last place with the race to end under the safety car.
Verstappen clinched the US GP Sprint victory ahead of Russell as Sainz rounded out the top three.
The two Ferrari’s of Hamilton and Leclerc followed in fourth and fifth respectively.
Albon placed sixth and in-front of Tsunoda and Antonelli who completed the points-paying-positions.
You can see the full Formula 1 MSC Cruises United States Grand Prix 2025 F1 Sprint Results Classification at the link: FORMULA 1 MSC CRUISES UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX 2025 – SPRINT
2025 US GP F1 Sprint – The Top Three
2025 US GP Sprint Winner – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB21 – (8 Points):
“Start was good, then there was the Safety Car. It took a few laps after the Safety Car to have decent pace so need to figure out what was going on there. We do need to be more decent in race trim tomorrow to fight the McLarens. We’ll have a look; we have some ideas of what we can do.”
2nd Place – George Russell, #63, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team, F1 W16 – +0.395s – (7 Points):
“I knew you don’t get many opportunities with Max so I sent it, and P2 was better than we could have expected. I was on the outside [at the start] and fully sent it, and then I realised everyone on the inside fully sent it as well! Looked like three cars into one…”
3rd Place – Carlos Sainz, #55, Atlassian Williams Racing, Mercedes, FW47 – +0.791s – (6 Points):
“We definitely had a solid race with solid pace. The Ferraris were quick behind, but we kept them at bay. I’ve had this pace all year, I just wasn’t able to show it and prove it. I am doing everything I was doing in the first half [of the season] but things are just clicking.”
