Winners and Losers from 2024 F1 United States Grand Prix

The Circuit of the Americas in Austin again threw up an entertaining United States Grand Prix as F1 kicked off the final quarter of the season.

Max Verstappen won for the first time since June, albeit in the sprint, and Ferrari launched itself back into the constructors' championship equation.

Lewis Hamilton had an off-weekend and Lando Norris not only failed to make ground in the drivers' title fight, he ended up losing five points.

So, who has made the RacingNews365 list of winners and losers for the 2024 F1 United States Grand Prix?

Winner - Max Verstappen

Given recent success for Max Verstappen has almost exclusively been defined by how few points he loses to Lando Norris on any given weekend, for the Dutchman to leave COTA extending his championship lead is nothing short of remarkable.

The 27-year-old knew he - and Red Bull - would need to come out of the Autumn break swinging, and he laid an early marker with sprint pole.

Converting that into a first victory since June was not insignificant either, proving he could still win, despite the RB20 fighting to settle into the comfortable life of the mid-pack.

George Russell's qualifying crash robbed Verstappen of a chance to nab pole for the grand prix, but the three-time drivers' champion maximised during the race.

His defensive display was trademark. The contentious incident with Norris aside, it was a masterclass from a driver in inferior machinery on older tyres.

Not only is his lead 57 points heading to Mexico, Verstappen has shifted the momentum back in his favour and reversed the narrative surrounding the title fight. The pressure is now squarely on his competitor, not him.

Loser - Lando Norris

Isaac Newton's third law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Norris was on the receiving end of this theory at the United States Grand Prix. Demoted from his third-place finish for overtaking Verstappen off track, it was the Red Bull driver who inherited his position.

Three points lost and three points gained to the tune of a six-point swing in the championship standings. Will that be consequential come the end of the season? Unlikely.

However, for Norris to lose ground to Verstappen is costly. The McLaren driver needs to be taking considerable points out of the reigning champion round after round. The deficit growing is a disaster for the 24-year-old.

The critical incident aside, Norris was far too meek heading into the first corner. He simply gave Verstappen too much room. In doing so, he allowed the Ferraris through and with them went any chance of victory for the Briton.

He does not have long to regroup before Mexico and realistically, any faint chance of claiming a maiden drivers' title now rests on either a considerable turn of good fortune or a devastating capitulation by Verstappen - and the latter most certainly is not going to happen.

Winner - Ferrari

Somehow, Red Bull looks increasingly likely to finish third in a two-horse race and Ferrari has seemingly come from nowhere.

Taking a resounding one-two victory at COTA has thrust the prancing horse back into contention. Now just eight points behind the reigning champions, McLaren out front do not have an insurmountable lead.

The 48-point gap to the leaders is larger than the 39 it was at the end of the Italian Grand Prix, but if Ferrari can continue to chip away at the Woking-based team - and Red Bull - there is no reason the Scuderia will not be in the fight in Abu Dhabi.

Both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz looked strong all weekend, and crucially, appeared to be a match for one another.

A first one-two on U.S. soil since 2006, Ferrari will want to carry the momentum into the Mexico City Grand Prix. Not only did the Maranello team win in Austin, but it also swept away the opposition. We have a constructors' championship fight on our hands.

Loser - Lewis Hamilton

A torrid weekend for Hamilton in Texas started badly and ended worse. A spin during the sole practice hour should have been a sign of things to come.

Finishing sixth in the sprint was fine, but what happened after was a disaster. P19 in qualifying after a mistake at Turn 12 was uncharacteristic of the seven-time drivers' champion, but his early retirement from the grand prix is borderline unprecedented for Hamilton.

It is hard to call it a clear driver error, especially when team-mate George Russell had a similar incident at the same corner, but Hamilton spinning off is most unusual.

The good news for the 39-year-old? Ferrari was in imperious form. The British driver will no doubt be counting down the days as he dreams of mounting a championship challenge in pursuit of that allusive eighth title.

Winner - The Rookies

Take a bow, Franco Colapinto and Liam Lawson. Both of F1's rookies were sublime at COTA, showcasing the strength in depth coming through the feeder ranks.

Firstly, Colapinto took his fifth point in F1, at just his fourth race, and in an average Williams.

Even more striking is that it was at the same venue his predecessor scored his sole point during his 36-round F1 career - and only after Hamilton and Leclerc had been disqualified.

Lawson, meanwhile, stormed from the back row of the grid on his F1 return, clinching two points, which could prove critical in the constructors' championship fight with Haas for sixth.

The New Zealander was always going to be under a microscope over these final rounds, and with Yuki Tsunoda struggling relatively - in part due to poor strategy - if Lawson can keep up this early level of performance, he may vault himself into prime position to replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull next year.

Better still, the 22-year-old went toe-to-toe with Fernando Alonso across the weekend, showing he is not one to shy away from a considerable challenge.

Giving it as good as he got, Lawson refused to be intimidated when the two-time drivers' champion made his dissatisfaction with him known following their sprint duel. 

Loser - Sergio Perez

Whilst Lawson scythed his way through the pack during the grand prix, Perez was in no-man's land.

Inconsistent earlier in the year, the Mexican has at least found a consistent level. However, the current problem for the 34-year-old is that it is nowhere near good enough.

His position at Red Bull is precarious and increasingly untenable. Only moving from ninth to seventh is below expectations and the six-time grand prix winner finished almost a minute behind race-winner Leclerc - even more damning was Lawson coming in only a further 11 seconds adrift, despite starting at the back.

It is no longer a case of Lawson - or Tsunoda - needing to wrestle the seat from Perez. He needs to actively earn it himself.

It is his home grand prix up next and last season showed the pressure can get to him. He needs an impressive weekend in front of the adoring Mexican fans - and the intensity of the task at hand probably means he will be unable to deliver.

The ice is getting thinner for Perez, and his display in a car that won a race in COTA will have done nothing to cool the heat being applied by Red Bull.