The fastest lap point can be crucial when the championship is on a knife-edge but it has also become a part of strategy, sometimes controversially when used by teams with common ownership
sports2 days ago
Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the US Grand Prix sprint from pole position on Saturday to end an eight-race losing streak and extend his Formula One championship lead over McLaren's Lando Norris to 54 points.
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz finished second, 3.882 seconds behind Verstappen, after passing Norris at the start of the last lap at Austin's Circuit of the Americas when the Briton went too deep into turn one.
"It feels a bit like old times. I'm very happy with today. If you look at the whole race, Ferrari was also very quick," said Verstappen.
Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow KT on WhatsApp Channels.
"For us, finally we are racing again. Normally we are always looking back but now we can just do our own race, so we had good pace."
The victory marked Verstappen's first win since a sprint race in Austria in June. With this win, the triple champion has now claimed victory in all four 100km sprints this season, with two more still to come.
Norris had made a great start from fourth on the grid, seizing second place on the inside into the first corner and holding on until the 19th lap.
The Briton almost lost third place as well as he went wide at turn 12 with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc right behind and they almost tangled at turn 15.
Stewards noted potential erratic driving by the McLaren contender.
"It was a tough one. I thought I could hang onto second but Carlos did a good job. My front tyres were completely finished, so there wasn't a lot I could do," said Norris.
"A disappointing end but I'm happy with the race result and a good amount of points."
Leclerc was fourth with the Mercedes pair of George Russell and seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton finishing fifth and sixth.
The Haas pair of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg took the final points in seventh and eighth, a big boost for the US-owned team in their home race.
The main US Grand Prix is on Sunday, with qualifying on Saturday.
ALSO READ:
The fastest lap point can be crucial when the championship is on a knife-edge but it has also become a part of strategy, sometimes controversially when used by teams with common ownership
sports2 days ago
Sri Lanka chased down their 163-run target with 12 balls to spare
sports2 days ago
Set 135 to win, South Africa reached their target with 16 balls to spare
sports2 days ago
'I am still recovering, but getting better. Health always comes first,' Williams posted on X
sports2 days ago
The Els Club duo received their prizes from Fleetwood at the Jumeirah Golf Estates as he highlighted the significance of junior golf development for clubs, cities, and nations
sports2 days ago
Ayabonga Khaka was the most successful of the South African bowlers with 2-24
sports2 days ago
The former Chelsea and Bayern Munich boss is the first German to manage England and just the third foreigner to take charge after Sweden's Sven-Goran Eriksson and Italian Fabio Capello
sports2 days ago
The 37-year-old announced his retirement from international cricket last month but said that he wanted to play one last Test series at home
sports2 days ago