Max Verstappen wins F1 Austin sprint after first-lap disaster for McLaren
The Red Bull driver is chasing down his championship rivals at a rapid pace.
AUSTIN, Texas – Max Verstappen took victory in a dramatic sprint at the Formula One United States Grand Prix as both McLaren drivers crashed on the opening lap.
The Dutchman is truly in the hunt for the World Drivers' Championship after both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris walked away with zero points from the sprint race, after a move from the Australian on the inside ended in disaster.
Verstappen held off Mercedes driver George Russell and maintained his lead through two safety cars to take the vital eight points from the Saturday race.
Despite his dominant victory, Verstappen was ambivalent about his chances ahead of Sunday's Grand Prix.
"[The sprint] was OK," said the Red Bull driver.
"I mean, the start was good, but then I think the overall pace throughout the race, I expected it to be a little bit better. So that's something we need to work on, especially if the McLarens are not out on lap one tomorrow.
"I do think that if they would have raced today, it would have been very tough to keep them behind. So that is something that, yeah, for tomorrow, we need to work on.
"But nevertheless, I take it. We’ll take the points. It's positive. And now we just need to look ahead, you know, how we can improve a little bit the pace."
Verstappen had snatched pole for the sprint ahead of Norris and Piastri, and held a clear lead of the two McLarens into turn one.
Piastri had the jump on his teammate and championship rival but lost the drag race up the hill and attempted to cut back on the inside of Norris.
The Australian was collected by the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and speared across the track into his teammate, ending both of their races.
"It’s obviously not ideal, but I actually haven’t seen what happened yet," said Piastri after the race.
"I tried to cut back on Lando – I mean, we were both very far from the apex and then got a hit, and he obviously sent me into Lando, so [it’s] a shame.”
"I mean, what was I meant to do in that – I just got hit,” said Norris.
"I did nothing wrong. Further back things happened, and I just got unlucky and I got hit because of it."
Team principal Andrea Stella said it was a frustrating result for the team.
"This took away valuable track time for Lando and Oscar, resulting in them both needing to get straight into the rhythm of qualifying."
Verstappen once again sealed pole position ahead of Norris, but Piastri was only able to manage P6 for his Grand Prix start.
The Australian maintains his lead of the standings on 336 points, with Norris on 314 points, and Verstappen now just 55 points behind on 281.
The F1 United States Grand Prix is underway from 6.00am Monday (AEDT).
