Chaotic F1 Sprint leaves the world championship wide open
Four-time world champion Max Verstappen clinched a dramatic victory, heightening the anticipation for Sunday’s main event.
Chaos erupted at the first corner of the Formula 1 sprint race in Austin on Saturday, blowing the F1 World Championship wide open.
Within seconds of the start Nico Hulkenberg took out both McLarens and handed Max Verstappen a crucial win, ahead of George Russell and Carlos Sainz. In doing so Verstappen cut eight points from the gap to Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris above him in the standings.
The much-anticipated clash between the two McLaren teammates — the main contenders for the World Championship — came at Circuit of the Americas. Their race was complicated when Hulkenberg lost control and hit Piastri on the outside and Alonso on the inside, triggering a pile-up that eliminated both McLarens from contention.
The safety car came out, reducing the competitive running to just nine laps. Verstappen had to fight hard to keep the lead but he held his ground against a determined Russell and was able to control the race.
There was another standout moment when Lewis Hamilton overtook Charles Leclerc with surprising aggression on the main straight, capitalizing on a small mistake. Hamilton then closed in on Sainz but never got close enough to challenge the Ferrari directly.
Verstappen calmly sealed a victory and improved his chances of a historic fifth championship, although he remains 55 points behind Piastri and 33 behind Norris. Sainz collected six valuable points from a well-earned third place in the sprint.
“I mean, the start was good,” Verstappen said after the race. ”Then, of course, there was the Safety Car because of the Turn 1 incident, and it took a few laps after the Safety Car to have decent pace, so we need to try to figure out what was going on there.
“Nevertheless, we won the Sprint, which is the most important thing. Looking for tomorrow, I do think we need to be a bit better in race trim to be able to fight the McLarens, because we haven’t seen anything from them.”
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