Summary

  • Lando Norris given five-second penalty for pass on Verstappen

  • Dutchman takes third with Norris fourth

  • Charles Leclerc wins with Sainz second in Ferrari one-two

  • Hamilton goes off and out of race on lap two

  • Verstappen extends lead over Norris to 57 points in drivers' championship

Live Reporting

Lorraine McKenna

  1. Harry Benjamin
    BBC F1 Commentator

    Leclerc hits his marks, gets lifted up onto the jacks, needs to be a nice quick, clean, smooth stop by Ferrari and it is, 2.5 seconds.

    He's out in a dash towards the end of the pit lane.

  2. Leclerc is into the pits

    Lap 27/56

    Race leader Charles Leclerc is called in next by Ferrari. Medium tyres dumped, hard tyres bolted on, and the Monegasque driver rejoins in third place. Lando Norris now takes control with McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri in second place.

    Pierre Gasly is running in 15th place but the Frenchman is far from happy in that orange Alpine, flagging struggles on his fresh hard tyres. There is a little train now of Gasly, Alex Albon and Lance Stroll.

  3. Verstappen pits

    Lap 26/56

    Here comes the Red Bull. Max Verstappen is changed quickly on to the hard tyres and as he heads back out at COTA, he slips in behind the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, who is on the same rubber, but four laps older.

    max verstappenGetty Images

  4. Andrew Benson
    BBC F1 correspondent in Austin

    The last thing Leclerc wants is to come out from his pit stop behind Carlos Sainz.

    He thinks 'this is my race, that guy is not going to take it from me.'

  5. Marc Priestley
    Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Live

    Leclerc is obviously a bit nervous but from a Ferrari pit-wall point of view it's always the hardest position on the race track to make that call from. You're leading the race, not really under too much pressure, there's a free pit-stop in terms of nobody is going to undercut him and he's not been pushed too hard.

    He also doesn't want to leave it too long that he comes under pressure from his team-mate Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen.

  6. Lap 25/56

    The questions are coming thick and fast for Charles Leclerc, which is not what you want when you're leading a 56-lap race. Max Verstappen is also feeling the heat, flagging to his pit wall that his left-side tyres are looking a bit dodgy.

  7. Team radio - Leclerc

    "Don't leave me out for too long. I do not want to be under pressure."

  8. Lap 24/56

    The advantage Charles Leclerc possesses over the Red Bull of Max Verstappen is now over 10 seconds, but the Monegasque driver does not want to be at the mercy of other quicker drivers if he's left out too long.

    Race control had a little look at an incident between Kevin Magnussen and the Williams of Alex Albon. Did the Haas force Albon off the road? The verdict is no, your honour.

    charles leclerc leads in AustinGetty Images

  9. 'All not yet lost for Norris'

    Harry Benjamin
    BBC F1 Commentator

    Lando Norris, perhaps, with more pace and better degradation on his tyres so all not yet lost for Norris in the race.

  10. Andrew Benson
    BBC F1 correspondent in Austin

    I wonder what data Pirelli look at sometimes.

    You know Charles Leclerc's done 22 laps on a set of medium tyres and Sainz is about to come in, so that leaves him with 34 laps to do on a set of hards.

    Surely that's not impossible.

  11. Lap 23/56

    Franco Colapinto is taking part in his first United States Grand Prix and in his bid to score some more points, his next car on the to-do list to pass is the godfather of the grid, Fernando Alonso. Job done. Argentine Colapinto is up to 10th.

  12. Team radio - Piastri

    "Tyres still feel good, graining has cleared a bit."

  13. Sainz comes in to pit

    Lap 22/56

    Box this lap, Carlos. Ferrari make the call to the Sainz to dump his starting mediums for a set of the hard rubber. The Spaniard heads back out in fifth place behind the McLaren of Oscar Piastri.

    Carlos SainzGetty Images

  14. Marc Priestley
    Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Live

    Nobody is going for an undercut which might suggest that they [drivers] are trying to run longer and longer.

  15. Lap 21/56

    Will Carlos Sainz try his luck with an undercut on second-placed Max Verstappen? We'll wait and see. Over at McLaren, both drivers are feeling happy with how the medium tyres have performed so far.

  16. 'Good pace' from Leclerc

    Marc Priestley
    Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Live

    Leclerc is doing a really nice job of looking after the tyres while maintaining a really good pace, he still keeps going quicker and quicker at times, some really fast laps.

  17. 'One-stop for the leaders'

    Andrew Benson
    BBC F1 correspondent in Austin

    This is looking to me like a one-stop for the leaders at the moment, they've not taken the hint with the ones at the lower end of the top 10.

    We're heading into lap 20 already.

  18. Lap 20/56

    The first stints are coming to an end and all eyes are on who is going to blink first. Charles Leclerc has an eight-second gap to Max Verstappen and has just banked another fastest lap in the Ferrari.

    Charles Leclerc leads the US grand prixGetty Images

  19. Marc Priestley
    Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Live

    On strategy, everyone is looking at Liam Lawson, the problem the front runners have got is Liam on that harder tyre, you are not going to see a deterioration rate until beyond the point where the medium runners really need to commit to their strategy because their tyres are going to go on first.

    At some point very soon we are going to see somebody think about pulling the trigger and getting into the pit-lane.

  20. Lap 19/56

    Yuki Tsunoda hears the bell to come in to pits for hard tyres. The RB man is in and out and rejoins the action in 17th place. Nico Hulkenberg in up to seventh, Liam Lawson is eighth and George Russell is now ninth.