Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took his first Formula 1 victory for nearly four months with a controlled drive in the sprint race at the United States Grand Prix.
Verstappen’s win extends his championship lead over McLaren’s Lando Norris to 54 points.
Norris was running second going into the final lap but a lock-up at the first corner allowed Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz to slip by in Austin, Texas.
The Briton then had to fend off the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, which he managed to do to the flag, helped by a mistake by Leclerc into Turn 15.
Verstappen’s victory was his first in F1 since the sprint event at the Austrian Grand Prix in June, and could be a decisive development in the title race on a weekend where Red Bull have introduced a major upgrade to their car.
Qualifying for Sunday’s main grand prix at the Circuit of the Americas is at 23:00 BST.
Dutchman Verstappen converted his pole position into a lead at the first corner and was able to keep Norris at bay for the full 19 laps.
“It was not too bad,” Verstappen said. “It feels a bit like old times. The whole race, Ferrari was always very quick, but for us we were finally racing again. We had good pace.”
Norris jumped up from fourth on the grid to second on the first lap with a superb first four corners, sweeping past Mercedes’ George Russell into the fast Esses after passing Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at Turn One.
Sainz and Leclerc staged a race-long battle in the Ferraris in a sprint that was engrossing throughout.
The Ferraris staged a frantic scrap over the first five laps in which they seemed to spend almost as much time side by side as in line astern. Sainz time and again attemped moves only to be rebuffed, often as he ran into corners too deep.
Once ahead on lap five, with a dive down the inside at Turn 15, the Spaniard attacked Russell as the Mercedes driver started struggling with front tyre wear, and moved ahead at Turn 15 on lap nine, Leclerc following him through at the same place next time around.
Leclerc came back at Sainz in the closing laps as the Spaniard himself tried to attack Norris for second.
And Norris’ error into Turn One, locking his inside front wheel, allowed Sainz to slip by and reduced the pressure from Leclerc, who had been lining up for a move on his team-mate.
Norris said: “It was a good race. I am pretty happy with how things ended up.
“It was a tough one, I thought I could maybe hang on to second but Carlos did a good job.
“My front tyres were completely finished and there was not a lot I could do. Whether I’d stayed straight or defended, I am pretty sure I would have lost the place.
“I did the most I could, I don’t think we had the pace on Max and the Ferraris so I am happy to finish third.”
Verstappen gave relatively expansive answers in the official news conference after the race as he explained that the car had improved with its upgrades and “felt a bit more together”.
Asked whether his stance of giving only minimal answers in that forum, as a result of being punished for swearing in one in Singapore, was therefore over, he replied: “No, I’m just a good person.”
Russell faded to fifth place, struggling with his front tyres wearing out, but managed to hold off team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who had the same problem with his rears, on the final lap.
Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg took the final points in seventh and eighth places.
