Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen took a lights-to-flag United States Grand Prix victory ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to cut the gap to championship leader Oscar Piastri to 40 points as the Australian finished fifth in Austin. 

Verstappen got away well from pole at the start and he powered up the hill comfortably ahead of Norris who had a poorer getaway from the dirty side of the track. The McLaren driver’s slower start meant Leclerc was able to get alongside and as the pair exited Turn 1 the Ferrari driver made tit through to second. 

Behind the top three, both Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri beat George Russell to the punch and the Mercedes driver dropped from fourth on the grid to sixth ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and Williams’ Carlos Sainz. Behind them, Yuki Tsunoda also made a good start and he climbed from P13 to P9. That then became P7 on lap 5 after Carlos Sainz collided with Kimi Antonelli. The Williams driver retired from the race, while the Mercedes rookie was dumped down to the bottom of the order. 

After a short VSC the field settled into the first stint and Verstappen began to pull away from Leclerc who was driving conservatively in order to extend his stint on Softs. By lap 19 the Dutchman was 7.5s clear of the Ferrari driver. 

Behind Leclerc, Norris was pushing to find a way past and as the first third of the race elapsed he launched a series of attacks. Leclerc defended bravely but eventually he could hold out no longer and Norris snuck past. Hamilton then began to pressure his team-mate and on lap 22 Leclerc dived into the pits for a set of Medium tyres. He emerged in ninth place behind Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg. 

Piastri was the next of the leaders in for Softs, followed by Hamilton and Norris and then, at the end of lap 33 Verstappen finally made his sole stop, for C4 Soft tyres, before emerging in the lead six seconds clear of Leclerc who had used his Mediums to good effect to haul his way past Norris. The McLaren driver was now on new Soft tyres and by lap 37 he was right up behind the Ferrari and once again pushing to get past. 

The pressure abated briefly when Norris was forced to drop off Leclerc and cool his tyres but in the closing laps he once again closed in and with Leclerc’s ageing Medium tyres at last beginning to give up Norris got close enough under DRS on lap 51 to barge his way past. Leclerc tried to fight back but Norris quickly began to pull away and the position at the front stabilised, with Verstappen crossing the line to take his 68th career win 7.9 seconds clear of Norris and 15 ahead of Leclerc. 

Fourth place went to Hamilton, while Piastri had to settle​ for​ a lonely fifth place ahead of Russell. At the end of a strong second stint Yuki brought his RB21 home in seventh place ahead of Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg, Haas’ Ollie Bearman and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. 

 “An unbelievable weekend for us,” said Verstappen. “I knew that the race wasn’t not going to be super straightforward. I think if you look at the whole race, the pace between myself and Lando was really close. I think just in that first stint, that’s where we made the difference. I could eke out a little bit of a gap, and that’s basically what we kept till the end. 

Having taken a weekend haul of 33 points to slice the gap to Piastri to 40 points Verstappen also acknowledged that a late title charge is very much on. 

“For sure, the chance is there,” he said. “We just need to try and deliver this kind of weekend now till the end. So just try whatever we can, you know. I think it is exciting, and I’m really just very excited for the end.”

2025 FIA Formula 1 United States Grand Prix – Race 
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 56 1:34'00.161 
2 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 56 1:34'08.120 7.959
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 56 1:34'15.534 15.373
4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 56 1:34'28.697 28.536
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 56 1:34'29.839 29.678
6 George Russell Mercedes 56 1:34'33.617 33.456
7 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 56 1:34'52.875 52.714
8 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 56 1:34'57.410 57.249
9 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 56 1:35'04.883 1'04.722
10 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 56 1:35'10.162 1'10.001
11 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 56 1:35'13.370 1'13.209
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 56 1:35'14.939 1'14.778
13 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 56 1:35'15.907 1'15.746
14 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 56 1:35'20.161 1'20.000
15 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 56 1:35'23.204 1'23.043
16 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 56 1:35'32.968 1'32.807
17 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 55 1:34'02.468 1 lap /2.307
18 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 55 1:34'03.718 1 lap /3.557
19 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 55 1:34'06.316 1 lap /6.155
55 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 5 8'29.440 Accident