Norris wary of Hamilton, Verstappen Austin threats

Lando Norris has pinpointed the threats posed by Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in the United States Grand Prix as he seeks a first win in his 100th race.

Norris will line up second behind pole-sitter Charles Leclerc with Hamilton third and Verstappen down in sixth after his fastest time in qualifying was deleted for exceeding track limits.

The McLaren driver finished a strong fifth in the Sprint race at a track where the MCL60 is strong in the fast esses of Sector 1, but struggles a little in the slow-speed corners found in the final sector.

Owing to the nature of the run to Turn 1, the driver starting second at Austin usually has a chance to dive up the inside at the corner, which could present Norris with his best chance to pass Leclerc's Ferrari, having failed to do so in the Sprint.

However, the British driver also selected the threats of the improved Mercedes of Hamilton and Verstappen - who has won 14 of 17 races - as challenges facing him.

Norris pinpoints Hamilton and Verstappen

"Max and Lewis, I'm not running off with the Ferraris though, they're still very quick," Norris explained to media including RacingNews365 when asked for his expectations of the race.

"They will be difficult to overtake so if Charles can control it from the front on his own, maybe it will be even harder to get past, but definitely if I can get ahead and control the race, it will make my life a lot better than [the Sprint] and I can control the race from the beginning.

"I think Ferrari struggled quite a bit with tyre degradation [in the Sprint] and there are a decent amount of other cars, especially Mercedes who are extremely quick - and they are always very good on a Sunday.

"They're always good in race pace so I think probably Lewis will be the biggest challenger if I am ahead at the beginning because I'm sure he wants a win just as much as I do.

"But at some point, Max is going to come through, and he was almost a second a lap quicker than everyone in the last five laps of the Sprint.

"It is not a surprise it is a track where you have a lot of tyre degradation, a lot more than we've seen for a long time and when you go back to races like Barcelona, [Max] was in a different league.

"But to battle with Lewis and the Mercedes is probably going to be the biggest challenge [for us]."