Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Austin

Image source, Getty Images

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.

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.

Read the full report here

Image source, Getty Images

Phew. I think we can say that was a great sprint race to get us in the mood for tomorrow's main show.

The slate is wiped clean now, so any mistakes or mishaps from the shorter dash are now forgotten. It's time for drivers to fully focus on securing the perfect qualifying place for Sunday.

We'll head back into the pits, but come back and join us for qualifying build-up at 22:30 BST.

See you shortly!

Mercedes' George Russell speaking to Sky Sports: "If you look at it as an overview, I was quick in the beginning and then I had no tyres left but the Ferraris were kind of right behind me and they weren't exactly relaxing so I kind of felt like if I back up a little bit, they're going to be on my tail. I spoke to Lewis after the race and he had no rear tyres left so we're clearly missing something."

"It's just getting on top of these tyres. It's a little bit hotter today, the first time we ran on the medium tyres. In practice, the hard tyre felt really great, we had really great race pace and you could push really hard on it. Clearly on the medium, it was different. It was a bit of a shame to end up P5, it's only the sprint race and it's almost a practice session ahead of the main race tomorrow so we got another opportunity."

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella on Sky Sports: "We have always at least internally, with great clarity, looked at Singapore, Zandvoort, Hungary, races in which we were dominant, we looked at that as exceptions. The reality of Formula 1 is that is it's a very tight competition, not always you're going to enjoy this kind of advantage.

"The reality is that you need to keep improving all the time, fight on track, maximise the potential of the car, maximise the exploitation of the tyres so for me, today, it's just more a realistic picture of what we have seen across the entire year."

"There are four cars, four different cars in contention to fight for podiums. I think for today, Mercedes, they just suffered some extra degradation otherwise they are there. With new tyres, they were the fastest car. So that's it, that's what we have to face, but it's encouraging that we are there."

"There's a few things I think we have learnt in terms of usage of the tyres, in terms of setup, we will try and use this information now in preparation for qualifying and the race."

"I definitely think Ferrari looks like one of the fastest in new tyres. Yesterday, in qualifying, I think they had a couple of issues, otherwise they could have been pole position in the sprint qualifying."

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner on Sky Sports: "A real energy boost for the whole team because there's a huge amount of work into the these cars and to get that win, I think it's our first win since June so you know great to get that. I think it just gives everybody a lift and the performance of the car was very strong and Max [Verstappen] managed the race beautifully throughout."

On the Ferraris: "They looked very competitive. They were pushing each other hard and that usually takes quite a lot out of the tyre particularly in the first sector and they will be very strong in the race tomorrow for sure but I think what was encouraging for us was if you look at Max [Verstappen]'s last lap, he managed those tyres well, he still had quite a bit of performance left in them."

Charles Leclerc did flag on the Ferrari radio that Lando Norris was "moving under braking" on the final lap as the two fought over third place, and now the Briton is under investigation for "driving erratically" at Turn 15.

However, Norris will get the opportunity, along with Leclerc, to give his side of the story when the pair visit the stewards shortly.

McLaren's lead over Red Bull at the top of the constructors' championship has been cut from 41 points to 39 following Max Verstappen's sprint triumph.

In the battle for sixth, Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen's points finish today has given Haas another boost, drawing them level with RB on 34 points.

1. McLaren - 522

2. Red Bull - 483

3. Ferrari - 453

4. Mercedes - 336

5. Aston Martin - 86

6. Haas - 34

7. RB - 34

8. Williams - 16

9. Alpine - 13

10. Sauber - 0

The gap at the top of the drivers' championship is now 54 points between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris after that 19-lap sprint race, but all is not lost for the Briton Norris, as the big prizes are still to come tomorrow.

1. Max Verstappen - 339

2. Lando Norris - 285

3. Charles Leclerc - 250

4. Oscar Piastri - 237

5. Carlos Sainz - 197

6. Lewis Hamilton - 177

7. George Russell - 159

8. Sergio Perez - 144

9. Fernando Alonso - 62

10. Nico Hulkenberg - 25

15. Kevin Magnussen - 8

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz finished the sprint in third, he said afterwards: “Honestly there were good battles, it was a good sprint, when a sprint is like this you always enjoy them, that little bit of extra action.

“We had a lot of battles especially in the first five laps, there was a lot going on and towards the end I was starting to struggle with the tyres but I also saw Lando struggling and I thought if I could get DRS I would have a chance to finish in P2. We made it stick in Turn One and it was a good one.”

Asked if he started on pole would the outcome be different, he added: “The reality is we didn’t manage the tyres because we were in so many battles the whole time we couldn’t focus on tyre management too much.

"Even though we did that our pace was still decent so it’s encouraging to see that maybe for tomorrow we have a good chance. For qualifying I think our car is still not in the best place but we will try and qualify as far ahead as possible.”

Image source, Getty Images

Lando Norris talking on Sky Sports: "I mean it was a good race. I'm pretty happy with how things ended up. It was a tough one, I thought I could maybe hang on to second but Carlos [Sainz] did a good job and my front tyres were completely finished.

"There was not a lot I could do whether I stayed straight or defended or not, I'm pretty sure I would have lost the position to Carlos [Sainz] so a disappointing end but I'm happy with the race result and a good amount of points."

"Today was a good start again and a good first corner. I did the most I could, I didn't think we had the pace on Max [Verstappen] or the Ferraris but yeah, therefore I'm happy to finish third."

Image source, Getty Images

Red Bull's Max Verstappen wins his fourth sprint race of the season, he said afterwards: "It was not too bad, it feels like old times, I’m very happy with today. If you look at the whole race, Ferrari were very quick and I think for us finally we were racing again. In the race we are normally looking back behind us but we could do our own race and we had good pace.”

On being successful in the sprint races, he added: “It’s probably because I don’t like it. It’s a very hectic weekend like this to get the car in the right window, but luckily the last few times we’ve had the sprint, the car was in a good window. There was a bit more pressure on delivering but luckily it’s working out for us.”

Harry Benjamin
BBC F1 Commentator

The gap does increase to 54 points now between Verstappen and Norris in that championship fight.

The next F1 sprint will be in Sao Paulo.

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

That was unbelievable and I still can't believe we've got all 20 cars to the end of this sprint finishing and taking the chequered flag. There's no way I would have predicted that with how close the racing was.

Maximum points are handed to Max Verstappen to put towards his bid to lift a fourth consecutive title. That late lock-up for Lando Norris means he takes six points from the sprint, while the two Haas boys bring home three points for American-based team.

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - 8pts

2. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) - 7pts

3. Lando Norris (McLaren) - 6pts

4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) - 5pts

5. George Russell (Mercedes) - 4pts

6. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) - 3 pts

7. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) - 2pts

8. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) - 1pt

Jennie Gow
F1 pit-lane reporter in Austin

The crowd all standing up now trying to get their pictures as Max Verstappen just pulls into the number one bay right in the middle of the tarmac, right in the middle of the start finish.

He addresses the crowd, they're happy, Max Verstappen is our winner.

Charles Leclerc jumped on the team radio straight away to say Lando Norris was "moving under braking" when the McLaren was defending in the closing stages.

This is Max Verstappen's first win since his sprint win at the Red Bull Ring in Austria - in June!

Harry Benjamin
BBC F1 Commentator

What a sprint in Austin.

It was very controlled from Max Verstappen and he sounds so cool and calm on the radio.

It's his first win of any kind since the sprint in Austria.

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

That was a school boy error by Lando Norris, coming under massive pressure, and did he buckle under that pressure with just a lap to go?

Harry Benjamin
BBC F1 Commentator

There's a huge lock up for Norris going into turn one as Sainz tried the dummy.

It's caught Norris out. He almost loses two positions!