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A United States Grand Prix featuring a controversial late run-in added further twists to a fascinating 2024 Formula 1 season.
It also produced plenty of winners and losers. Here are The Race F1 team's picks:
Winner: Liam Lawson
What a way to make your return to F1.
There was a lot of talk prior to the weekend that Liam Lawson's huge grid penalty would give him something of a soft relaunch into F1.
Lawson clearly didn't see it that way. His third-fastest time in Q1 was a warning shot of what he was capable of and he delivered handsomely in the race.
He gained five spots on the opening lap to run 14th then picked off multiple cars - including his Saturday sparring partner Fernando Alonso - with apparent ease.
He managed to overcut team-mate Yuki Tsunoda and took ninth, behind only Nico Hulkenberg in the faster Haas among the midfield contenders.
While that was in part due to RB making some much-needed progress, nonetheless Lawson has instantly scored more points than Tsunoda or Daniel Ricciardo have since the summer break.
He couldn't have anticipated his F1 return going any better than this given the 60-place grid penalty that loomed over it. - Josh Suttill
Winner: Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen tested the limits on Sunday; a move on Lando Norris - who left him a gap through Turn 1 - could have been seen as pushing his rival off track. Then he (just about) left the track and stayed ahead of Carlos Sainz to retain second place early on.
Having pitted later than Sainz, he was duly undercut by the Ferrari for second place in the race but, crucially, McLaren had left their drivers out later than the championship leader.
The tyre offset seemed to be paying off with Norris bearing down with 10 laps remaining but Verstappen defended masterfully. He didn’t put a foot wrong as the finish line loomed.
The Dutchman played the game letting Norris pass him around the outside of Turn 12 in the dying stages. The stewards, having punished others for going off track and gaining an advantage, had no choice but to give Norris a five-second penalty when he decided not to cede the position.
As a result, Verstappen took the final podium place and further consolidated his championship lead - with the sprint race victory from Saturday giving him a healthier margin over Norris. - Samarth Kanal
Loser: Lando Norris
Norris’s pole position advantage was quickly undone when he left the door open for Verstappen into Turn 1 - something Verstappen didn’t do at the start of the sprint.
One could argue that the McLaren driver was hard done by as he was pushed wide exiting Turn 1 and Verstappen got away with that move.
With a tyre offset on Verstappen, he did reel in the Red Bull late on but was goaded into overtaking around the outside of Turn 12, which led to a five-second penalty.
One could also argue that this was harsh as Norris was pushed off the track - but that penalty could have been avoided if McLaren had forced Norris to give the place back to Verstappen. Still, had McLaren asked him to return the position there would have been no guarantee that Norris would retake third off Verstappen.
Oscar Piastri drove a lonely race to fifth too, with McLaren’s later-stopping gamble failing to pay off. It was outscored by Ferrari on Sunday as the Scuderia just about kept itself in contention for the constructors’ championship. - SK
Winner: Ferrari
If there's a downside for Ferrari, it's that a commanding victory was completely overshadowed by events behind Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
Not that it will matter one bit - race winner Leclerc insisted he "won't take it personally" that he wasn't featured too much in the race with attention firmly on the Norris-Verstappen battle.
Simply put, nobody else could live with the Ferrari on Sunday - see Verstappen's inability to chase down the SF-24 of Sainz that had undercut its way into second.
A tilt at either title looks a little bit too much of a long shot now for Leclerc or the team - Azerbaijan provided a big blow to those prospects - but Ferrari looking back on song is one of the factors that promises a great end to the 2024 season. - Jack Cozens
Loser: Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton's recovery from his Q1 elimination started perfectly as he made up five places on the opening lap to run 12th.
But then it was all over at Turn 19 with a big snap in exactly the same place that had bitten George Russell in the sister W15 in qualifying.
"Lewis Hamilton doesn't lose a car on lap five like this," team boss Toto Wolff told Sky Sports F1 after the race. He's 100% sure the car was responsible even though Hamilton apologised after the incident.
Either way, it was an inglorious end to a troubled weekend to forget for Hamilton. - JS
Winner: Haas
Haas claimed another midfield victory, with Hulkenberg's four points for eighth helping to extend its advantage in the constructors' championship from zero to two.
That helps Haas to a run of points finishes in four consecutive grand prix for the first time since 2018.
That's a marker of how impressive a run Haas is finding itself on, having enjoyed its most successful in-season development programme ever. - JS
Loser: Also Haas
...But it could have been even better, right?
Kevin Magnussen's second stop was so unexpected you'd be forgiven for thinking it was because of a puncture or the need for an urgent technical fix.
Instead, it was part of an ill-fated two-stop strategy that cost Magnussen places to both Lawson and Franco Colapinto.
If Haas retains its car advantage it won't matter, but if it finds itself slipping back before the end of the year, it might miss the two extra points it should have walked away. - JS
Winner: Franco Colapinto
Austin provided another case study for the universally popular proposition that Franco Colapinto deserves a permanent place on the 2025 F1 grid.
Williams had an unremarkable qualifying but Colapinto transformed his race prospects with a long, strong first stint on hards. A switch to mediums brought plenty of pace - so much so that rival Alpine had to pit Esteban Ocon for softs just to stop Colapinto from taking the fastest lap bonus point.
That Colapinto came so close to taking the bonus point in a Williams on merit says a lot about the quality of his Sunday drive.
You can't make a fair comparison to team-mate Alex Albon because of the floor damage he picked up from whacking Ocon's Alpine, but Colapinto's looked every bit like a team leader on his way to F1 point number five. - JS
Loser: Sergio Perez
F1 can be all about the fine margins, and had Perez finished one position higher he perhaps wouldn't have ended up in the losers' section. Sixth place, the other side of the McLarens to team-mate Verstappen, might've been an adequate result in the context of his starting position.
But losing out late in the race to pitlane starter George Russell (who'd copped a five-second penalty too) brought Perez's drive into sharp focus: a race spent trailing midfield cars in the first stint, and an eventual deficit of nearly 40 seconds to Verstappen on one of the rare occasions these days where the Red Bull seemed a match for the McLaren, just wasn't good enough.
Even if you adopt a charitable position that sixth was the best result possible to Perez, he didn't achieve it.
With that in mind, it wasn't exactly an encouraging sign considering how well the driver auditioning for his 2025 Red Bull seat did. - JC
Winner: George Russell
Russell’s Q3 crash led to the Mercedes mechanics working late and past curfew to repair his car and fit the Singapore-spec parts to it. That led to a pitlane start.
Yet, he made a rapid start on hard tyres and was well into the top 10 by the time he swapped from hards to mediums.
After that, Russell continued his solid pace, passing Hulkenberg and - very late on - a beleaguered Perez for sixth at the chequered flag.
This was one of the best drives of Sunday, amid some stellar showings from the likes of Leclerc, Lawson, and Colapinto. - SK
Loser: Alpine
Pierre Gasly's launch up to sixth at the start must have left Alpine dreaming of a big points payday to hoist it back into contention with Haas, RB and Williams in the constructors' championship.
That it failed to land a single point - via a painfully slow pitstop and five-second time penalty for Gasly - and didn't look particularly close to doing so near the finish while all three of its nearest rivals got on the board would've been particularly galling.
It's now four races in a row where Alpine has failed to crack the top 10 and since it last did so at Zandvoort back in August only the yet-to-score Sauber has achieved fewer points.
Yet more evidence that F1's most underwhelming manufacturer is destined for a humbling finish in the constructors' championship. - JC
