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Max Verstappen took his 11th sprint victory on Saturday at the Circuit of the Americas while title rival Lando Norris lost points to Carlos Sainz on the final lap.
Verstappen took pole position on Friday afternoon and led Russell away, covering the inside line to prevent any lunges from the Mercedes. From then on, he held onto his medium tyres to manage the gap to Norris - who couldn’t reel in the Red Bull.
Norris, who swooped from fourth to second at the expense of Charles Leclerc and Russell at the start, seemed to be in the running for second place in the final stages.
However, he locked up his medium tyres at Turn 1 on the final lap of the race to allow Carlos Sainz through for second place - from fifth on the grid.
With his tyres screaming, Norris went just off the track soon after that lock-up. Leclerc seemed destined for third in the sprint, but he was caught off guard by Norris following that wide moment. Taking evasive action, Leclerc almost rear-ended the McLaren and had to back off to settle for fourth - but he complained that the title contender was moving under braking.
Norris was later cleared for "erratic" driving.
Sainz and Leclerc’s spirited battle
The final spot on the ‘podium’ was taken by Sainz after a wheel-to-wheel battle with team-mate Leclerc.
Pipped by Norris at the start, Leclerc attempted to pass Russell at the end of the back straight but the Mercedes then held on. That gave Sainz a window to attack his team-mate, the pair of Ferraris side-by-side through sector two.
Leclerc stayed ahead of his team-mate in the battle for fourth place and attempted, over the radio, to call off Sainz’s assault. Sainz was unrelenting and on lap three he dived down the inside of Leclerc into Turn 15. The pair lost traction exiting the corner and Sainz was now safe to pursue Russell.
On lap nine, Sainz picked off Russell for third and Leclerc followed suit one lap later - with the Briton, now fifth, complaining about his front left tyre over the radio.
Sainz was tailed by Leclerc in the late stages of the race and it looked like the Monegasque driver was going to end up half a second away in fourth place - before Norris’s late tyre woes shook up the top three.
Mercedes fades away
Russell’s pace suffered dramatically after he churned through his tyres attempting to tail Norris in the early stages, and after he was passed by the Ferraris he almost fell into the clutches of team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton however finished three seconds off his team-mate in sixth.
Neither Mercedes was on the pace of the leading Red Bull, Norris, nor the Ferraris on Saturday afternoon.
Haas’s Kevin Magnussen took seventh, and his team-mate Nico Hulkenberg was 1.5 seconds off him in eighth place, for the final point.
Perez and Piastri miss out
Sergio Perez started 11th and Oscar Piastri 16th - and neither of them made it into the top eight for points.
One of few drivers to pick new medium tyres rather than used mediums, RB’s Yuki Tsunoda caused problems for Perez when he attempted to pry ninth place off the Red Bull on lap 13.
Tsunoda was aggressive to the very limit and while he put intense pressure on the Red Bull driver, a lock-up put him out of the running and led to him going off track and losing another place to Piastri late in the sprint.
Williams’s Franco Colapinto was a second off Tsunoda for 12th place while debutant Liam Lawson finished 16th - ahead of pitlane starter Alex Albon - in the other RB.
