Verstappen secures milestone 50th F1 win at US GP

Max Verstappen has won the United States Grand Prix, taking his 15th win of the current Formula 1 campaign and the 50th of his career.

Starting from sixth on the grid, Verstappen stayed out of trouble in the opening laps and slowly made his way ahead of his rivals to bring himself into contention.

Shortly after his first pit stop of the race, Verstappen overtook Lando Norris for the lead after the McLaren driver led for much of the first half.

It then became a race of strategy with the frontrunners going for different options, but it was Verstappen who prevailed, with Lewis Hamilton managing to get ahead of Norris in the latter stages for second place.

Hamilton closed in on Verstappen rapidly in the final laps, but couldn't launch an attack on the Dutchman.

With Norris third, the Ferrari duo of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were fourth and sixth respectively as Leclerc was unable to convert his pole position into a substantial result.

Sergio Perez was fifth, while George Russell lacked pace throughout the Grand Prix and crossed the line in seventh.

Pierre Gasly bagged points for Alpine in eighth and Lance Stroll recovered from a pit lane start to take the chequered flag in ninth.

AlphaTauri scored a solitary point with Yuki Tsunoda, who bagged his first top 10 finish since Belgium.

Differing strategies

Leclerc’s lead from pole position was short-lived as Norris moved in front of him on the run into the first corner.

Ferrari then ran in second and third place with Leclerc leading Sainz however, both soon dropped back to fourth and fifth as Hamilton and Verstappen made moves on them.

By lap 11, both Oscar Piastri and Esteban Ocon retired from the race after sustaining damage following contact on the opening lap.

They would later be joined on the sidelines by Fernando Alonso, who dropped out of the session with a problem while running inside the points.

As Norris and the rest of the leaders approached their first pit stops, Hamilton closed in on the McLaren driver for the lead.

At the end of lap 16, Verstappen became the first of the front-runners to pit as he took on another set of Mediums, committing to a two-stop strategy.

Race leader Norris came in on the following lap, as did the Sainz and the second Red Bull of Perez - but unlike his peers around him, Norris took on the Hard tyres.

Hamilton pitted a handful of laps later for the Hard compound, with Verstappen jumping his old title rival for a net second place.

Verstappen closed the gap to Norris over several tours of the circuit and on lap 26, managed to get within DRS range of the McLaren driver.

Two laps later, Verstappen moved in front of Norris for the lead of the race knowing that he had to make another pit stop later in the Grand Prix.

But it was Norris who pitted first at the end of lap 34, switching to another set of Hard tyres. Red Bull responded on the following lap, allowing Verstappen to stay in front of Norris.

Ahead of lap 39, Hamilton pitted for fresh Medium tyres and set off in pursuit of the top two.

10 laps later, Hamilton battled Norris through the first two corners and managed to come out ahead of the McLaren driver.

That would be as far as Hamilton's chase would go, however, as the Mercedes driver was unable to close in enough on Verstappen, who reached a milestone 50th win.