DPA
Berlin
Triple world champion Max Verstappen won the Formula One sprint race at the United States Grand Prix on Saturday to increase his lead over Lando Norris by two points ahead of the main race.
The Red Bull driver has won all four sprint races so far this season, with two more to come in Brazil and Qatar.
He has also won the last three races in Austin, and a fourth straight victory on Sunday would be more than welcome because he is winless in eight grand prix races.
Ahead of the weekend in the US, Verstappen saw his championship lead cut by more than 30 points in the last six Grands Prix by Norris. The sprint race win increase his advantage to 54 points.
“It was not too bad, feels a bit like old times! I’m very happy with today. Finally we were racing again, normally we were looking back behind us but now we can do our own race,” Verstappen said.
A total 172 points are still on offer from the remaining six grands prix, fastest laps there, and two sprint races.
Norris loses precious points in final lap Verstappen started from pole position and got away well, defending strongly against the Mercedes of George Russell. Norris, meanwhile, found a gap to take his McLaren from fourth to second.
Norris initially stayed close to Verstappen, but the Dutchman eventually opened a gap good enough to avoid any threat from his title contender.
The McLaren driver, meanwhile, was in danger as Russell started closing the gap and tried to make a move, but failed to overtake.
The attempt, however, had a high price for Russell, who started having issues with his tyres and was overtaken by the Ferrari cars of Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
Sainz emerged victorious from a battle for third place against Leclerc and in the final lap successfully made a move on Norris for second place, as the McLaren driver dropped important points in the title race.
“I thought I could hang on to second, but my front tyres were completely finished. Disappointing end but happy with the race result and a good amount of points,” Norris said.
Sainz said he was starting to struggle with the tyres but “I saw Lando struggling and I thought if I could get into DRS, I could get P2. Our pace was decent, which is encouraging for tomorrow.”
Qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix was later on
Saturday.
Meanwhile, Marko McLaren CEO Zak Brown has sharply criticized comments about Norris and his mental state made by Red Bull’s motorsport consultant Helmut Mark.
“I think it’s quite inappropriate to poke around like that and it sets us back 10 or 20 years,” Brown said in a news conference.
He then told broadcasters Sky ahead of the sprint race that “there’s no point talking to him (Marko) about it. It’s not the first time he’s made comments like that and it certainly won’t be the last.” Marko told the oe24.at news portal that Verstappen would win the championship again because he’s the best mentally and as a driver.
“Norris is weak in (race) starts, plus he is not the strongest mentally. The pressure increases with every race, because in reality he has to win every time to catch up.” Brown said that he was “disappointed, but not surprised” with Marko’s statements.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff also spoke on the matter, saying: “I think this is a serious topic that we’re trying to talk about and bring it to the fore.”
