Lewis Hamilton crashes out just THREE LAPS into US Grand Prix as birthday boy Charles Leclerc coasts to victory
A FERRARI double rained on the parade of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris’ charge to the title.
It truly was the Wild West on track from start to finish as Norris and Verstappen produced an almighty scrap as they battled nose to tail for third-place from 12-laps to go.
The top two positions had already been snatched from their clutches as birthday boy Charles Leclerc capitalised on a poor start from pole-sitter Norris to cross the line in first.
Carlos Sainz took second-place eight seconds behind his teammate but no one will care.
All eyes had been on Norris and Verstappen’s all out war with the Dutchman producing a defensive masterclass until five-laps-to-go.
Norris overtook the Red Bull on lap 51 but went off the track and was slapped with a five-second penalty meaning he had to settle for fourth behind third-place Verstappen.
The Texas rodeo continued as seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was forced to RETIRE just three laps in after spinning off at Turn 19 and beaching himself on the gravel.
Norris knew it was pretty much do or die in Texas, given Verstappen soared to victory in Saturday’s sprint-race and stretching his lead to 54 points in the driver’s championship.
Verstappen’s world championship lead is now up to 57 points, having built it by five points across the weekend, while Norris’ hopes of chasing down the Dutchman have been massively dented with five rounds remaining.
The McLaren driver, whose starts have been his Achilles’ heel, got off well but left too much space for Verstappen to bulldoze inside.
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It is the fifth race this season that he has started on pole but not been in the lead after the opening lap, having done the same at the Spanish, Hungarian, Dutch and Italian Grands Prix.
The Red Bull ran Norris wide on the way out of the first corner, and Leclerc swept through to take the lead from fourth.
The other Ferrari, of Sainz, also nipped past Norris, leaving the McLaren in fourth.
McLaren reported the incident as they felt Verstappen pushed him wide, but really Norris was not aggressive enough and only had himself to blame.
Norris said on his team radio: “He clearly pushed me off. He had no intent to make the corner.
“Even he went off the track. I had to avoid crashing into him or him into me.”
There was a safety car on lap 3 as disaster struck forHamilton who was forced to retire as he spun off and beached himself on the gravel on Turn 19.
It was the exact same spot his teammate Russell spun out in qualifying and there wasn’t much the seven-time world champion could do about it.
It prompted the first Safety Car since the Canadian Grand Prix in June and at the restart Leclerc struggled to create a gap to Verstappen but managed to make it through the first corner in the lead.
On lap 17 Toto Wolff came on the radio to slam the “total joke” five-second penalty for an overtake on for allegedly forcing Valtteri Bottas off the track in an overtake earlier on.
Half way through and Leclerc was a whopping ten seconds ahead of Verstappen, but the Ferrari driver did not want to be left out as bait for too long before pitting.
He said on his team radio: “Don’t leave me out for too long. I do not want to be under pressure.”
By lap 36, Norris and Verstappen were tussling for third place as the McLaren was closing in on his rival.
Verstappen was fuming and said on his team radio: “These tyres just aren’t good. I can’t brake, I can’t attack anything.”
Second-placed Sainz was relentless and by lap 43 hit back with another fastest lap, cranking up the pressure on his teammate out front.
Norris continued to snap at Verstappen’s heels and closed the gap to just 0.6 seconds with 12 laps to go.
The Dutchman knew he had a race on his hands and kept the McLaren at bay with text-book defense until lap 52.
Norris got the move down at Turn 12 but it appeared to be off the track and Verstappen fumed on his team radio: “He overtook me outside of the track.”
Hamilton said after the race: “I have never spun especially on the second lap, it’s devastating to not be in the race because I love this race.
“It’s obviously a similar situation to George yesterday, the car is very sensitive, it started bouncing, I wasn’t even pushing. I lost a load of the rear and it came round.”
On hoping for another win in the Mercedes with five races to go, he added: “Of course, that’s what we’re working towards.
“That is painful, it’s never happened to me before but this weekend the confidence had gone already from the first spin we had.
“We need to go back to the drawing board and figure out what has been wrong with the car this weekend because it’s not been normal. We will work on it and try and come back stronger.”