2024 United States Grand Prix Sprint report and highlights: Verstappen seals assured Sprint victory in Austin ahead of Sainz and Norris

A little further back, Perez was busy defending against Yuki Tsunoda in a battle for P10. Soon Piastri was joining the fight but it wasn’t all going the Australian’s way, having been hit with a five-second time penalty for earlier forcing Pierre Gasly off the track.

This battle eventually saw Piastri take P10 into Turn 1, while things were getting interesting at the front. Sainz had closed to one second behind Norris and Leclerc was also now on the tail of his team mate following their earlier duels.

As the Sprint headed towards its close, Norris – seemingly struggling with his tyres – locked up, which allowed Sainz through into second place as the crowd cheered, while Leclerc was now pressuring the McLaren. There were no such concerns for Verstappen, however, who took the victory by more than three seconds from Sainz.

Norris managed to hold off Leclerc for third, with Russell and Hamilton claiming fifth and sixth ahead of the Haas cars of Magnussen and Hulkenberg. Perez took ninth ahead of Piastri, while Tsunoda was 11th for RB ahead of Williams’ Franco Colapinto in 12th.

Lance Stroll was P13 for Aston Martin, followed by the Alpines of Gasly and Esteban Ocon, the RB of Lawson, Albon and Alonso, while the Kick Sauber pairing of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas brought up the rear in P19 and P20. The Finn had pulled over at Turn 13 at the end of the Sprint with the brakes of his car seemingly on fire.