It was like the beginning of the F1 2024 season at the United States Grand Prix Sprint race on Saturday afternoon, October 19. Red Bull F1 driver and three-time World Champion Max Verstappen started the race in the pole position and was never threatened while keeping the lead and winning the 19-lap competition easily. Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz and McLaren driver Lando Norris were second and third in the Sprint.
Verstappen’s Grand Prix dominance during the first five weeks of the season was so great that many expected he’d be uncontested as he drove for his fourth Championship. After the fifth race, however, issues with the Red Bull race car and winning performances by other drivers, particularly Lando Norris, opened the opportunities for both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships. McLaren is ahead of Red Bull, and Norris has been closing the points gap for the Drivers’ Championship. Before the USGP, with six Grand Prix remaining in the season, including three with Sprints, the gamble was whether Norris could catch up to Verstappen’s points lead before the season ended. Today, with the Sprint finished, the direction turned, and Verstappen strengthened his lead.
Why the Sprint race matters
The FIA Formula 1 organization added Sprint races to a limited number of Grand Prix in a season (currently no more than six) to give race fans who attend in person or stream the race events an additional exciting event during the weekend. Sprints are held the day before the Grand Prix, so people who didn’t care much about watching practice sessions and qualifying events would have an excellent reason to attend or watch during an additional day. The top eight drivers win Championship points, too, with eight points for the winner, seven points for 2nd place, and so on, so the eighth place driver wins 1 point. The extra 8 points for the winner can be a good boost, even though it’s less than one-third of the points for winning the Grand Prix, which awards 25 points to the winner and decreases more rapidly, so the tenth place driver gets the final point.
What the Sprint race results suggest for the Grand Prix
Because Verstappen won so handily in the Sprint race, Sunday’s Grand Prix could be a bellwether for the rest of the season. If Verstappen wins, it may dishearten McLaren because, besides making the math of the Championship points harder to beat with so few remaining races, the feeling around the track may be that Red Bull’s upgrades for this race have finally fixed the midseason issues.
It is interesting that Verstappen has won all four Sprint races this season. So, if he doesn’t win the Grand Prix, maybe people will think he’s unbeatable in Sprints but vulnerable in the longer Grand Prix races.
The following are the points winners in today’s Sprint Race and their current standings overall with Drivers’ Championship points.
| Sprint finish position | Driver | Team | Sprint Championship points today | Current Championship points total |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 8 | 339 |
| 2 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 7 | 197 |
| 3 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 6 | 285 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 5 | 250 |
| 5 | George Russell | Mercedes | 4 | 159 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 3 | 177 |
| 7 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 2 | 8 |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 1 | 25 |
