By Alan Baldwin
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) -Charles Leclerc won the U.S. Grand Prix in a Ferrari one-two with Carlos Sainz on Sunday as Max Verstappen dealt Lando Norris a significant setback in the Formula One title battle after a thrilling duel between the two.
Red Bull’s triple world champion finished third to stretch his championship lead over his McLaren rival, who ended up fourth after starting on pole position, to 57 points with five rounds remaining.
Norris had passed Verstappen four laps from the end, after hunting his Dutch rival down on fresher tyres, but was handed a five-second penalty for going off the track and gaining an advantage.
The overtake was the major talking point of the race at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was fifth with Mercedes’ George Russell sixth and Sergio Perez seventh for Red Bull.
Nico Hulkenberg scored precious points for U.S.-owned Haas in eighth while New Zealander Liam Lawson got off to a great return with Red Bull-owned RB with ninth place despite starting at the back of the grid.
Argentine rookie Franco Colapinto also continued his standout form with the final point for Williams.
Leclerc’s win, his third of the season after Monaco and Monza, ended Verstappen’s run of three successive U.S. Grand Prix wins at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas.
“One-two for the team. We couldn’t have dreamt for better,” he said.
“We did a great job. The pace of the car was really good. That’s thanks to the engineers. They have been working like crazy to bring upgrades that we had in Singapore and the last few races. It seems to be paying off.”
Although Verstappen won the Saturday 100km sprint from pole, collecting the maximum eight points, his losing Sunday streak extended to nine grands prix going back to Spain in June.
Norris made a quick getaway, reacting faster than Verstappen, but was then forced wide at the uphill first corner with Verstappen gaining a place while Leclerc overtook both on the inside with Sainz following through in third.
The McLaren driver complained over the team radio about Verstappen’s move.
“He clearly pushed me off. He had no intent to make the corner,” said the Briton. “Even he went off the track. I had to avoid crashing into him or him into me.”
McLaren boss Zak Brown said his driver had suffered “a bit of a dive bomb”.
The safety car made an appearance for the first time since Canada in June when seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton spun off on lap two and beached his Mercedes in the gravel at turn 19.
The retirement ended a miserable 24 hours for the Briton, who qualified only 19th at one of his favourite circuits and started 17th.
Esteban Ocon set the fastest lap for Alpine but finished 18th and did not collect a bonus point.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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