Leclerc leads Ferrari 1-2 as penalty drops Norris behind Verstappen

Charles Leclerc claimed his third win of the season with victory at the United States Grand Prix over Carlos Sainz for a Ferrari 1-2, as Lando Norris lost out on third with a five-second penalty in a fierce battle with Max Verstappen.

The Monegasque gathered a swift start and pounced on the battling front-row duo of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, cutting back down the inside of Turn 1 and escaping through the sweeping corners with the lead.

He immediately gained a 1.6-second lead at the end of the first lap to ward off the threat of Verstappen with DRS, as the Dutchman had benefitted from a conservative approach from Norris into the first corner to pick up second.

Leclerc then had to defend from Verstappen after a safety car brought out midway through the third lap, caused by Lewis Hamilton spinning off at Turn 18 and beaching his Mercedes in the gravel to cap off a torrid weekend.

Although Verstappen stuck with Leclerc on the restart, the Ferrari driver covered off the Red Bull through the Turn 2-8 complex of corners to ensure there was no threat from behind.

Having gone long into the race on a one-stop, which proved to be the most popular strategy, Leclerc emerged from the pits after his lap 26 stop behind the long-running McLarens as Norris and Oscar Piastri sought to gather a tyre offset into the final stages of the race.

Leclerc resumed the lead once the McLarens stopped, but this was now over team-mate Carlos Sainz; the Spaniard had successfully batted away an earlier power issue to stay with Verstappen and then undercut the Red Bull with a stop four laps sooner.

Sainz occasionally ate into Leclerc’s lead, cutting a seven-second advantage down to under six seconds, but Leclerc had the legs over Sainz in the final laps and cemented his victory from fourth on the grid.

But the box-office action emerged in the battle for third, where Verstappen’s struggles on the hard tyre and Norris’ pace on a six-lap younger set of white-walled Pirellis pitted the two into a breathless battle for the final step on the podium.

Norris cut down a six-second advantage and got within DRS range of Verstappen by lap 45, setting up a series of attempted overtakes as their championship battle manifested brilliantly on track.

But Verstappen’s defence was excellent and he kept Norris contained; Norris…