United States GP 2023
OCTOBER 21, 2023
Sprint Race Report - Verstappen wins from pole in Sprint
© Red Bull
By Peter Habicht
The Circuit of The Americas was host to its first Sprint race today where Max Verstappen took his third Sprint win for Red Bull from pole this year.
Verstappen got away from the field early and didn’t look back in the 104km,19 lap race after a start which saw Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton overtake Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the first corner of the opening lap.
Hamilton and Leclerc went on to finish in order, with Lewis saying afterwards: “Good start down to turn 1 and good battle with Charles… I was trying early on to get closer to Max but their pace is just undeniable at the moment… I’m happy we’re a little bit closer. We’ve still got a long way to be able to eek the pace that he was doing throughout he race but nonetheless i’m really happy to be back on the podium.”
McLaren’s Lando Norris held onto fourth ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, the only driver to gamble on soft tires as the rest of the field ran mediums. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly finished in seventh ahead of Mercedes George Russell, who received a five second penalty for leaving the circuit while overtaking McLaren’s Oscar Piastri on the third lap. Williams’ Alex Albon finished ninth ahead of Piastri, with
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon taking 11th ahead of AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg finished in 14th and 15th ahead of the Alfa Romeos of Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou, and Nico’s teammate Kevin Magnussen took 18th ahead of Williams’ Logan Sargeant.
Lance Stroll retried on lap 16 after letting teammate Alonso by complaining of tire and brake issues which have been bothering the Canadian driver this weekend.
Tomorrow’s United States Grand Prix starts at 2pm.