Max Verstappen saw off Lewis Hamilton’s early challenge to claim victory in Saturday’s sprint race at the United States Grand Prix. For the first time since their 2021 championship duel for the ages, Verstappen and Hamilton ran line astern in the 19-lap dash at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas. But Hamilton was unable to prevent Verstappen from taking the spoils, and accumulating yet another win of this most one-sided of Formula One campaigns. Hamilton took the chequered flag a distant 9.4 seconds adrift of Verstappen with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc third. Verstappen, crowned champion of the world for a third time in Qatar a fortnight ago, took pole position earlier on Saturday and then put his elbows out at the start to ensure Leclerc did not sneak up his inside on the uphill drag to the opening bend. Verstappen moved over to his left to squeeze the Ferrari man allowing Hamilton a clean shot at Leclerc on the exit of the first corner. Hamilton ran over the kerbs and past the Monegasque, and then set his sights on Verstappen. Hamilton has not won a race for nearly two years, the longest losing streak of his career. Indeed, 685 days have passed since he claimed victory at the penultimate round of the 2021 campaign in Saudi Arabia. But for half-a-dozen laps here, Hamilton will have dared to dream that a victory could be on the cards. Hamilton has triumphed six times in America – with five of those victories in the Lone Star State – and his early pace certainly provided Verstappen with food for thought. The seven-time world champion stayed within one second of Verstappen to provide him with a possible DRS slingshot past his Red Bull rival. “Driveability is not there,” moaned Verstappen on the radio. “I lost the rear completely.” Hamilton then hinted his nemesis was gaining an advantage by using more of the track than is allowed. “Max has gone off quite a few times,” said the Mercedes driver. Hamilton has lauded the improvements from his updated machine, but the superiority of Verstappen’s Red Bull came to the fore. Six laps had passed and Verstappen was suddenly out of DRS range. A slim hope of victory for Hamilton was dashed. Yet the 38-year-old, who starts third for tomorrow’s 56-lap main event, will expect to be a contender again. And his chances of a possible win will be aided by Verstappen starting only in sixth after his pole lap in Friday’s qualifying was deleted for exceeding track limits. “Once I cleared the DRS I was settled in my own rhythm and the pace of the car was good,” said Verstappen. “Starting sixth tomorrow will be different to today, but it makes it interesting and hopefully we can have fun. But of course I want to win.” Hamilton said: “That was a fun race. A good start down to Turn 1 and a good battle with Charles. “I was trying early on to get close to Max but their pace is undeniable at the moment. I am happy we are closer, but we still have a long way to go to compete with the pace they had in the race.” Lando Norris took fourth spot ahead of Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, with Carlos Sainz sixth. George Russell finished seventh but was demoted to eighth after he served a five-second penalty for an illegal move on McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. Read More I can do something wiser with my time – George Russell stops using social media Charles Leclerc snatches pole position after Max Verstappen’s lap was deleted Daniel Ricciardo ready for AlphaTauri return at United States Grand Prix On this day in 2009: Jenson Button crowned Formula One world champion in Brazil FIA to review Qatar GP as ‘dangerous’ temperatures prompt driver complaints Lewis Hamilton and George Russell vent anger on radio after collision in Qatar

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Max Verstappen bounced back from his mistake in qualifying for the United States Grand Prix to put his Red Bull on pole position for today’s sprint race. Verstappen will line up from only sixth place for Sunday’s main event at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas after his quickest lap was chalked off for exceeding track limits here on Friday night. But less than 24 hours later, the triple world champion atoned for his error to seal top spot ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.055 seconds for the 19-lap dash to the chequered flag later today. “The last lap was not great but we are still on pole so it shows the car is working well,” said Verstappen, with less than a tenth separating the top-three drivers. “It will be an exciting afternoon with cars close to each other so we don’t know what will happen in the sprint race. Normally in the race we are okay, but this track is demanding.” Lewis Hamilton finished third, seven hundredths behind Verstappen, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri fourth and fifth respectively for McLaren. George Russell qualified eighth. It was not all plain-sailing for Verstappen after he spun on the exit of Turn 9 in Q2. Verstappen took too much kerb on the entry to the left hander which sent him onto the grass and into a pirouette. But after he completed a 360-degree spin, Verstappen was able to make it back to his garage and into Q3. Hamilton also survived a hairy moment in the opening phase of qualifying when he nudged the back of Yuki Tsunoda’s AlphaTauri. “Check my front wing,” said Hamilton on the radio. “One of the drivers blocked me and we touched.” Hamilton was able to continue and although the stewards noted the incident, no further action was taken. Daniel Ricciardo, absent from the last five races with a broken hand, out-qualified Tsunoda to progress to Q2 and finish 11th. Tsunoda starts 19th, one place ahead of Logan Sargeant who propped up the order for the second day in a row at his home event. The sprint gets under way at 5pm local time (11pm BST). Read More I can do something wiser with my time – George Russell stops using social media Charles Leclerc snatches pole position after Max Verstappen’s lap was deleted Daniel Ricciardo ready for AlphaTauri return at United States Grand Prix On this day in 2009: Jenson Button crowned Formula One world champion in Brazil FIA to review Qatar GP as ‘dangerous’ temperatures prompt driver complaints Lewis Hamilton and George Russell vent anger on radio after collision in Qatar

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F1 returns to the Circuit of the Americas this weekend for the US Grand Prix – and the fifth sprint weekend of the season. Max Verstappen sealed the 2023 world title last time out in Qatar and also claimed his 14th grand prix victory of the season. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was driver of the weekend, however, winning the sprint race and coming second in the grand prix on Sunday. PREVIEW: Daniel Ricciardo must prove he still belongs on the F1 grid Lewis Hamilton had a weekend to forget, crashing into Mercedes team-mate George Russell, while the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were among the chasing pack. Lando Norris finished third to secure a double podium for McLaren. Verstappen won a thrilling race at COTA last year, edging out Lewis Hamilton who has still not won a race since the 2021 season. Hamilton is, however, a five-time winner at the circuit. Charles Leclerc grabbed pole for Sunday’s grand prix after qualifying on Friday. Follow live updates from the United States Grand Prix with The Independent Read More Lewis Hamilton insists F1 must remain extreme: ‘Let’s not get too soft’ Daniel Ricciardo must prove he still belongs on the F1 grid F1 drivers react as sport governing body increases size of fines

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George Russell said he has has banned himself from using social media and reading the news because it does not bring him any positivity. The Mercedes driver has a combined following of nearly seven million on X and Instagram. But Russell, 25, who was involved in a first-corner collision with team-mate Lewis Hamilton at the last round in Qatar, says he has stepped back from using the platforms. Speaking to the PA news agency, Russell said: “I stopped using Twitter (‘X’) about six months ago. “I work with a social team and everything that is posted is in my own words and is signed off through me. I want to stay connected with the fans. But I don’t use the app and I have started to do the same with Instagram. “I respect that everyone has an opinion. But I don’t need to read the praise because that doesn’t bring me anything, and I don’t need to see the negative comments because that doesn’t bring me anything either. “But when I stopped using Twitter (‘X’), whenever I was on my phone I was on Instagram, and when I stopped using Instagram, I thought I needed to look at something so I started to read the news. But every headline was negative. “Other than being informed about what is going on in the world, reading negative headlines one after another didn’t bring anything to me, so now I am totally off social media.” Russell heads into the final five rounds of the campaign eighth in the standings, 62 points and five places adrift of Hamilton. “It all stemmed after the the summer break when I didn’t use my phone at all,” added Russell, who will line up from fifth on the grid for his 100th race in Sunday’s United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin. “During that period when I had my family and friends around me I had an average screen time of 15 minutes. In a normal week I have an average screen time of three hours. “I saw a post that said ‘if you use your phone on average for four hours a day, by the time you die you will have spent 15 years looking at your phone’. “And when I read that, I was like, ‘Jesus I could spend 15 years of my life on my phone.’ I can do something wiser than scrolling through Instagram memes.”