Verstappen wins in Austin, his 50th career victory, Dutch-man equals own record of 15 wins in a season

Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from second place in the US Grand Prix after running Max Verstappen's Red Bull close for victory.

Hamilton was just two seconds behind Verstappen at the flag but his car was later declared illegal for excessive wear on the underfloor skid blocks.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc suffered the same fate after finishing sixth.

Hamilton's disqualification promoted McLaren's Lando Norris to second and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz to third.

Verstappen was measured, slowly picking off the cars in front of him and then holding on for his 50th career win.

The Dutchman, who started sixth, overtook Russell at the first corner as ahead Norris took the lead from pole-sitter Leclerc and Sainz demoted Hamilton to fourth.

Norris led the opening laps from Leclerc, Sainz, Hamilton and Verstappen, but Hamilton and Verstappen soon despatched the Ferraris to set up the three-way battle for the lead by lap 11.

Verstappen pitted for the first time on lap 16, when he was 6.5 seconds behind leader Norris, who had Hamilton less than two seconds behind him.

While Norris followed Verstappen in next time around, fitting the hard tyres rather than the mediums chosen by Red Bull, and retained the de facto lead, Verstappen turned the screw, closed in and passed the McLaren for the lead on lap 28.

It was a good move, Verstappen diving late to the inside from quite some way back, but the race was a long way from over.

Hamilton delayed his first stop until lap 20 as Mercedes considered a one-stop strategy. But the decision backfired as he quickly ran out of tyre life and lost 10 seconds to Verstappen in just five laps.

Like Norris, Hamilton took the hard tyres, resuming 7.1secs behind Verstappen, who at the time was 2.5secs behind Norris.

Verstappen was now locked into a two-stop strategy while Norris and Hamilton had the theoretical chance to do a one-stop.

High tyre wear meant neither could consider it, but Mercedes stuck with their off-set strategy by stopping Hamilton three laps later than Verstappen at the second stops and hoping he could catch Norris and Verstappen before the end.

It set up a fascinating climax, with Hamilton setting off for his final stint six seconds behind Norris, and Verstappen a couple of seconds further ahead.

Hamilton complained that Mercedes had given him a lot of time to make up, and in the end he was right - although he closed relatively quickly on Norris, Verstappen was just out of reach.

Hamilton closed in and was two seconds behind Verstappen going into the final lap, an advantage the three-time champion was never going to lose.

Mercede were kicking themselves, given the pace Hamilton showed, aware in hindsight that they could potentially have won the race had they kept Verstappen behind him at the first pit stops rather than going for the off-set strategy.

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