Surprisingly, Scuderia Ferrari dominated the United States Grand Prix, with initially favourites Lando Norris and Max Verstappen only able to fight for third place.
Charles Leclerc immediately seized the opportunity presented by Lando Norris and Max Verstappen at the start, starting from fourth place and immediately taking the lead. His compatriot, Lewis Hamilton, also had a superb start, climbing from the back row to 12th place in just a few hairpin bends, but as fast as he was, his fate quickly caught up with him… The Briton slid into the gravel at the same point where George Russell had gone out during yesterday’s qualifying, and so had to kiss goodbye to his chances of continuing to fight. The safety car came out and, even with the safety car’s departure, the situation did not change: Leclerc, Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz were still in the lead. Behind them, the two McLarens, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, followed. After that, there was another rotation of Guanyu Zhou and some battles at the back of the field, but unfortunately it was already clear that we would not record the 2024 United States Grand Prix as the race of the year.
After the pit stops, the leading group changed slightly, with the two Scuderia Ferrari cars dominating the race, followed by Verstappen struggling on the hard compounds. We saw a lot of different strategies and tactics, but sadly fewer moments that recalled the true spirit of motor racing. Norris, who was rapidly climbing, was expected to light some fire in the Austin desert, as was Liam Lawson, who put in a great performance on his comeback. The intensity of the race was well represented by the fact that the broadcast showed nothing but Norris chasing Verstappen for ten laps, simply because nothing else was happening.
In the end, Norris managed to swap places, but irregularly, so that US Grand Prix winner Charles Leclerc and second-placed Carlos Sainz saw Max Verstappen cross the finish line in third place.
