Charles Leclerc has been crowned the newest winner of the 2024 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix.
“I mean, it hasn’t been an easy weekend until now. I’ve been struggling a bit with the car but I had the confidence that in the race, the feeling was better,” the Ferrari driver, 27, said on Sunday, October 20, per The New York Times. “And it was the case.”
He continued, “We were a bit … not scared but we thought others would improve a lot more today, and we still had the upper hand. So, really happy with the one-two for the team. We couldn’t have dreamed for better.”
Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. placed second on Sunday in the event, which was held in Austin, Texas, and shared a supportive message for Leclerc.
“First of all, congratulations to the whole team. To Charles, for an amazing result. A result that puts us exactly where we want to be,” Sainz Jr., 30, said, per the NYT. “At the same time obviously, I knew the race was going be decided at the start. That Lando [Norris] and Max [Verstappen] would go hard at it into Turn 1 and unfortunately, I got the worst of it and I couldn’t get the lead.
He continued, “Anyway, it was a good race…I’m enjoying it a lot and I hope it stays like this until the end of the year.”
Verstappen, 27, came in third despite Norris’ attempts to chase down the Red Bull driver. With less than five laps to go, Norris, 24, passed Verstappen but went off track. He was penalized by the stewards five seconds on the final lap for “leaving the track and gaining an advantage,” per the NYT. This penalty led to his placement in fourth.
After the race ended on Sunday, Verstappen called it “quite a difficult” one. “I never really had the pace to attack. So a bit different compared to yesterday. Just under-steering a lot, struggling on the braking,” he said, per the NYT. “So that made the defending quite difficult because every time if someone wanted to go for a move, I couldn’t really break that late.”
He continued, “But it was a tough battle. I tried everything I could to keep [Norris] behind and because at the end, to be on the podium is a great result.”
While reflecting on the race, Norris expressed his disappointment with his placement. “[Verstappen] went off the track as well so perhaps he was going too hard. He has overtaken by going off the tack [at turn one] and has defended going off the track. Max drove well, defended well,” Norris told Sky Sports, per the Daily Mail. “We probably ended up where we expected to be. I would have [liked] third and thought we deserved third. It was a tough weekend from the start.”
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