Verstappen extends lead as Norris hit with pass penalty

Lando Norris’s championship hopes were dealt a hammer blow after he was handed a controversial five-second penalty to finish behind rival Max Verstappen in a compelling US Grand Prix.

- PHILIP DUNCAN

As Charles Leclerc raced to an impressive win at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas, pole man Norris was only fourth – one place behind Verstappen – to leave him 57 points adrift in the title race with only 146 points to play for across the concluding five rounds. Carlos Sainz took second to complete a Ferrari onetwo.

Norris spent the final dozen laps crawling all over Verstappen’s gearbox in a thrilling conclusion, and he eventually made the move stick on the 52nd lap.

However, the stewards quickly launched an investigation into the pass, and Norris was adjudged to have run off the track. He was penalised, and although he crossed the line in third, four seconds ahead of Verstappen, his sanction dropped him back, in what could prove a pivotal decision in his championship quest.

Norris might have hoped he had banished the first-lap demons which have so far plagued his championship bid.

Up until the previous round in Singapore, he had failed to end the opening lap in the lead on any of the five previous occasions he has started from pole. Under the lights of the Marina Bay Circuit, Norris finally ended the hoodoo before going on to claim the most emphatic win of his life.

But here, in the Lone Star State, Norris was left to rue another poor getaway.

There was nothing wrong with the McLaren man’s initial reaction time. As he roared up the hill there was clear daylight between Norris’s McLaren and Verstappen’s Red Bull.