America GP Sprint Report

Off they went up the crazy steep hill for 20 laps of racing and obviously Verstappen held pole with LeClerc getting away well in second too but being overtaken off the track by Hamilton.  They were battling hard, seemingly without worries for sustaining damage before the main event the next day.

Russell had been given a penalty for impeding LeClerc in the Shootout so was demoted to 11th.  He was up to 7th after a few laps but by overtaking Gasly and Piastri by going wide.  Drivers were pushing each other off the track left, right and centre and if their elbows were this sharp for the Sprint, there could be some tough battling in the race.  Russell was given a 5 point penalty.

A highpoint of the race for me was Albon overtaking the McLaren of Piastri for 9th place.  I wonder if Williams put all their eggs in the Sprint basket to get points this weekend as they qualified higher for the Sprint than for the race.

Piastri was the first driver to receive a black and white flag for track limits.  It took Perez half the race to realise how to drive the car and he suddenly came to life and started overtaking and working his way up the placings.

In the end, Verstappen won by a comfortable margin.  Hamilton was second and LeClerc third.  Norris was fourth ahead of Perez, who just can't find the same pace as Verstappen in that Red Bull.  Great to see four different teams in the top four positions.  Hopefully this can continue next year and there's more of a battle.