(Austin) Max Verstappen started in the lead and took his third Formula 1 victory of the season on Saturday, emerging victorious in a sprint at the Circuit of the Americas.

He will try to earn another victory this season on Sunday, at the United States Grand Prix.

Verstappen was denied pole heading into Sunday due to an error during his final qualifying lap on Friday.

The Red Bull driver, however, returned to the track in fine form a day later and took pole position for the 19-lap sprint race.

Verstappen has already won the season championship with 14 victories. He has won three of the five sprint races so far.

He held off Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the first corner, to retain the lead from the start.

From there, it was a matter of creating some space in front of Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who had overtaken Leclerc into second at the first corner.

Hamilton is trying to catch Red Bull’s Sergio Perez for second place in the drivers’ standings.

Mercedes has made what the team hopes will be its final significant improvements to the car this season. Hamilton stayed close to Verstappen for around four laps, before losing ground.

He still finished second, ahead of Leclerc.

“I quickly tried to get closer to Max, but their pace is undeniable,” Hamilton said.

Verstappen lost pole position for Sunday because he exceeded the track limits on the penultimate corner of his final qualifying lap. He will start from sixth place on Sunday, as he aims for a 15th victory this season.

Verstappen has won the last two races in Austin. The winner there has always come from the front row since 2012. The fact remains that this season, Verstappen triumphed after starting sixth in Belgium and ninth in Miami.

Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) did not finish the race, while his teammate Fernando Alonso obtained 13th position.

On X, Aston Martin suggested that the problem affecting Stroll’s car was possibly related to the brakes.