United States Grand Prix: Live F1 race coverage

In the wake of a thrilling F1 Sprint Saturday, the Formula 1 grid roars back to live Sunday, with the United States Grand Prix from Austin.

Max Verstappen captured yet another race on Saturday, the F1 Sprint, adding yet another trophy to his expanding trophy case. The Red Bull driver has already captured his third-straight Drivers’ Championship, but if he is to pick up his 14th grand prix victory, he’ll need to make up a few spots on the track. After his final qualifying run on Friday was deleted for exceeding track limits, Verstappen will start the main event Sunday in in P6.

Starting up front? Charles Leclerc from Ferrari. He’ll have a great chance to pick up some critical points for Ferrari in their battle with Mercedes for second place in the Constructors’ Championship. However, he’ll have Lewis Hamilton just behind him, as the Mercedes driver is slated to start third.

Then there are a pair of drivers reaching some milestones today. When the lights go out both Lando Norris and George Russell will have started their 100th grand prix.

We’ll have it all covered for you this afternoon, as the race gets underway at 3:00 Eastern. So come back early and often!

All updates are in Eastern.

Race Notes

Update 4:42: “We’re getting closer” says Hamilton to his team as they mark his P2.

“That was a tough one … but another podium” notes Norris.

The P3 for the McLaren driver is his fourth-straight podium.

Update 4:40: Your provisional top tean:

Verstappen
Hamilton
Norris
Sainz
Pérez
Leclerc
Russell
Gasly
Stroll
Tsunoda

Tsunoda not only captures the single point for the provisional P10, but he bolted on a fresh set of softs for the closing laps, and those power him to the fastest lap of the race, and he will get the additional bonus point for the fastest lap.

Update 4:39: Verstappen hits a milestone, as he takes the checkered flag and wins his 50th career grand prix.

Hamilton closed the gap, but will settle for second. Norris grabs his 12th career podium in his 100th F1 start, as he comes across the line third.

Update 4:36: Two laps to go and Hamilton is just 2.755 seconds behind Verstappen.

Update 4:35: At the back of the field, Daniel Ricciardo has stopped to bolt on a set of softs. He has posted the fastest lap of the day on those soft tyres, but he is currently running P17.

Update 4:34: Pérez gets by Leclerc, getting himself into P5. If this race holds and Hamilton finishes in P2, a P5 finish from Pérez would see the Mercedes driver pick up eight more points in their battle for second in the Drivers’ Championship.

Update 4:31: The post-race debrief at Ferrari could be a little frosty:

Update 4:28: Hamilton is five seconds back of Verstappen, and has six laps to make up the difference.

A little bit behind him, Leclerc and Sainz are locked in a battle for P4.

Alonso retires out of a points position, as there is a problem with his floor. Teammate Lance Stroll is currently in the points, but will be investigated at the end of the race for failing to line up in the right spot. He went to the grid, despite the fact that Aston Martin made some changes to his car and he needed to start from pit lane.

Update 4:27: A tremendous battle between Norris and Hamilton at the start of Lap 49, and after the two fought hard, Hamilton finally gets through.

Toto Wolff shakes his head with a sly smile in the garage.

Update 4:23: Hamilton is within 2.320 seconds of Norris here with ten laps to go.

Update 4:22: Ten laps to go, and here are your current drivers in the points:

Verstappen
Norris
Hamilton
Leclerc
Sainz
Pérez
Russell
Gasly
Alonso
Tsunoda

Update 4:19: When Hamilton notes that there is still a “big gap,” Mercedes tells him that the forecast is P2, and “maybe the win.”

Update 4:18: The man on the move is Hamilton. He has just posted the fastest lap of the race on his new set of mediums, and easily worked by Leclerc to get into P3. He is just 3.8 seconds behind Norris and coming fast.

Update 4:15: Verstappen is still complaining about his brakes. When informed by his team about some differences between braking between him and teammate Pérez, Verstappen’s response is, well, not for a family website.

Update 4:14: Norris is described by F1TV as being “tantalizingly close” to his first victory, as he is under two seconds behind Verstappen.

Update 4:13: Alonso is running in seventh, but still has to make another pit stop as he has run two sets of mediums, and needs to switch to another compound before the race comes to a conclusion.

Update 4:11: Norris gets by Leclerc and into P2. Now he’ll try and hope he can chase down Verstappen. In that effort he has just posted the fastest lap of the race.

Update 4:09: Hamilton comes in and gives up first place. As he does that, Verstappen passes Leclerc and gets back into the lead.

Hamilton was hoping to make the race a one-stopper for him, but Mercedes decides to bring him in to make a switch to mediums, from the hards.

Update 4:06: The current top five here on Lap 37, along with their running compound:

Hamilton – Hard
Pérez – Medium
Leclerc – Hard
Verstappen – Hard
Norris – Hard

Update 4:04: Verstappen comes in for a pit stop, and it is a 3.3-second stop, a bit on the slower side.

Verstappen comes out just ahead of Norris, so the slow stop is still enough.

As this unfolds, Hamilton pulls into the lead ahead of Sergio Pérez.

Update 4:02: Hamilton on the radio “Max is pulling away.”

“It’s more Norris is coming to you” is the response from Mercedes.

As this exchange unfolds, Norris comes in to make a switch to hards.

Update 4:01: Verstappen is on the radio complaining about his brakes with rather — colorful — language.

“Understood” is the single-world reply.

Update 3:59: Hamilton notes that the wind seems to be picking up on the track.

Update 3:57: Running behind Norris is Hamilton, who was about seven seconds off P2, but has closed that gap to Norris to just over four seconds.

Update 3:56: Now running behind Verstappen, Norris is calling out potential track limits violations by the Red Bull driver to his team.

Update 3:54: Stewards are investigating an incident between Logan Sargeant and Lance Stroll, that took place at Turn 12. Sargeant is currently running in 13th, just behind Stroll.

Update 3:52: As you might have expected, Verstappen has caught Norris. Although Norris wonders on the radio to his team if Verstappen went off the track to complete the overtake.

Verstappen too advantage of a long run and did come of the track, but may not have exceeded the track limits when finishing the pass.

Update 3:50: With Zhou running 12th and teammate Valtteri Bottas right behind him, Zhou is given the order from the team to let Bottas pass him.

Update 3:49: Norris remains in the race lead, but Verstappen is lurking, less than a second behind and in DRS range.

Update 3:46: Also of note, just 18 drivers remain on the track. Both Oscar Piastri and Esteban Ocon, who came together on the opening lap, have retired.

Update 3:45: Norris is back into the lead after some new pit stops cycle through.

Update 3:44: Of note from that previous point. Verstappen has made a pit stop, but started on mediums and is running on mediums. He’ll need to make at least one more pit stop to switch to a different compound. He could be looking at a medium-medium-hard strategy.

Update 3:42: Leclerc is back into P1, as Hamilton came in for his first pit stop. The current top ten, along with what compound they are using at the moment:

Leclerc – Medium
Norris – Hard
Verstappen – Medium
Hamilton – Hard
Sainz – Medium
Pérez – Medium
Russell – Hard
Gasly – Medium
Tsunoda – Hard

Zhou – Hard

Update 3:14: Ferrari is struggling in the early going, as both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. are sliding back through the field. Lewis Hamilton is up into second place now.

Pre-race notes

Update 2:59: All but two drivers are starting on the mediums. Only Stroll and Hülkenberg, who are starting from pit lane, are starting on the hard compound.

Update 1:12: Here is the updated grid:

Update 10:39: We have some news from both Haas and Aston Martin.

Both teams brought some upgrades to Austin, and both teams are trying to figure out how the upgrades are impacting their respective cars. That has led to each team making some changes overnight, and as a result all four drivers — Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen at Haas, and Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll at Aston Martin — will start from pit lane.

At Haas, F1 journalist Will Buxton notes that the team has made “component and setup changes:”

Then at Aston Martin, the team is going with a bit of a split strategy. Aston Martin brought a new floor to Austin, but Stroll will be the only driver using the “Austin update.” Alonso will run a previous version of the AMR23’s floor:

Update 9:06: Noted F1 analyst Albert Fabrega has today’s list of available tyre compounds for each driver, as well as a quick look at the likely strategies:

The most common strategies use two stops, with a combination of medium and hard tyres. There is a two-stop strategy that uses a set of softs right at the end, and teams that have a fresh set of softs — many of whom are starting at the back of the field — may go this route.

The boldest strategy may be a one-stopper, which would push a set of mediums, and then a set of hards, to the limit.

While medium-hard-medium might be the path for many teams, McLaren may have to look elsewhere. Both Norris and Oscar Piastri have just one fresh set of mediums at their disposal, and with each driver having a pair of hards for Sunday, McLaren might use the medium-hard-hard approach.