Charles Leclerc gave Ferrari their first United States Grand Prix victory since 2018 with a commanding drive on Sunday, and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen strengthened his lead in the F1 season championship with a podium finish awarded by a late penalty on McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Verstappen finished third after Norris was given a five-second penalty for leaving the track to pass Verstappen in the final laps.

Norris’ pass came after the two drivers had battled for the final podium spot and critical championship pointsover several laps and Verstappen had stubbornly refused to give ground.

Verstappen immediately complained after Norris passed him. The McLaren driver insisted Verstappen also left the track.

“It was a tough battle. I tried to do everything I could to keep him behind. To be on the podium is a good result,” Verstappen said.

“I have my opinion (on the penalty). I’ll let the stewards do their thing.”

The penalty and fourth-place finish may cost Norris dearly in the title chase. Verstappen stretched his championship lead over Norris from 54 points to 57 with five grand prix and two sprint races left.

Leclerc earned his third win of the season and Ferrari pulled a 1-2 finish with his teammate Carlos Sainz in second. Kimi Raikkonen had been the last Ferrari winner at the Circuit of the Americas in 2018.

“We couldn’t have dreamed for better,” Leclerc said. “It was a bit of a lonely race, but a good kind of lonely.”

The bigger battle was raging behind them. Verstappen and Norris tangled at thestart and fought over every inch of the track in the final dozen laps.

Verstappen has not won a grand prix since June and Norris has steadily chipped away at his lead as the Red Bull car has faded. Yet Verstappen still stretched his lead by five points over the weekend by also winning Saturday’s sprint race.

Norris leaves Austin knowing he squandered a big chance to gain ground. He had even earned pole position for Sunday’s race.

Verstappen started right beside him and the fireworks between the drivers ignited in the first turn.

Both cars run wide, leaving room for Leclerc to pounce on the opening.

The Ferrari driver jumped from fourth and straight into the lead, and quickly drove off for the victory.

Norris complained Verstappen forced him off the track. It was just the start of a scrap they would rejoin late in the race.

Verstappen said he “enjoyed the battle today” and had little sympathy for Norris losing the podium. Verstappen noted he was stripped of a podium finish in Austin in 2017 for a pass that was determined to be illegal.

“I just tried to remain calm and bring the car to the end,” Verstappen said.

That was key. Norris’ pace late in the race was good enough that he could have given the place back toVerstappen and tried to pass him again.

Instead, Norris chose to try to stretch the gap ahead of Verstappen to more than five seconds to nullify the penalty. He only got to 4.1 seconds.

“He defends by going off-track, he overtakes by going off-track. But I’m not going to complain. Max drove well and he defended well, we had a good race together. But the rules are the rules.” Norris told Sky Sport F1.

Hamilton misery

It was a race weekend to forget for Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. His race ended on the second lap after poor qualifying left him starting from 17th. He quickly shot up to 12th, then spun his car into gravel and retired. It was the first time the seven-time champion failed to finish a race in the US.

Hamilton was disqualified from his second-place finish in 2023 after his car failed a postrace inspection. He will race for Ferrari next season.

AP