Martin Brundle’s frustrated verdict on why Lando Norris lost the lead of the US Grand Prix

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The United States Grand Prix was the most exciting Sprint event of the 2024 Formula 1 season and had more than its fair share of talking points across the race weekend.

Max Verstappen appeared to prove during the Sprint Race sessions that Red Bull had fixed the issues that were hampering them for much of the season.

However, McLaren star Lando Norris showed he wasn’t giving up his fading title hopes during qualifying for Sunday’s race.

Norris described his pole position lap as one of the best of his career, but his lead was short-lived once the Grand Prix started.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration

Norris lined up alongside Verstappen on the grid with the two Ferrari drivers ominously waiting to pounce behind them.

Jenson Button noticed Norris complaining about an issue on the way to the grid which was a far from ideal start to the Brit’s race preparations.

Much has been made in the past about how Norris deals with race starts, having lost the lead of the race on the first six occasions he started from pole position.

The 24-year-old put that particular statistic to bed during the Singapore Grand Prix, but Martin Brundle has shared on Sky Sports F1’s commentary what he got wrong when trying to hold position during the United States Grand Prix.

Verstappen is an expert at placing his car exactly where it needs to be and appears to understand the intricacies of the rules better than any of his rivals.

Damon Hill was left confused by how Verstappen avoided a penalty going into turn one when George Russell was penalised for a similar move on Pierre Gasly later in the race.

Martin Brundle criticises Lando Norris for ‘not aggressive enough’ start at the United States Grand Prix

Watching back a replay of the race start, Croft said: Here’s the race start then, we’ll look at it from lights out. Lando Norris did get away well but Verstappen in the second phase came at them.”

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine

Brundle replied: “He had it covered! But he just didn’t cover it enough,” to which Croft asked: “Too tentative?”

Brundle answered: “[He was] just not aggressive enough! He really needed to close Max off and that then let them sort of scuffling amongst themselves and Leclerc in particular filled this boots.”

When hearing McLaren were reporting the incident to the stewards, Brundle added: ”Wouldn’t hold your breath on that one.”

Lando Norris shares his verdict on Max Verstappen’s turn one move at the US Grand Prix

Norris and Verstappen’s battle continued at the end of the race in Austin after their close running going into the first corner.

They were split by Carlos Sainz once Norris was pushed wide by the Red Bull driver, but the Spaniard undercut Verstappen during the pit stop phase to secure a fantastic one-two for Ferrari.

Norris looked after his tyres brilliantly and created a tyre delta that allowed him to catch Verstappen during the closing stages.

However, Norris was eventually penalised after finding a way past Verstappen heading into turn 12 even though the Dutchman also failed to make the corner.

Speaking after the race, Norris believed Verstappen went ‘too hard’ into turn one on the first lap but didn’t go as far as to criticise the 27-year-old for his role in the move that eventually cost him a podium.

He said he didn’t want to complain, but the decision from the stewards has created plenty of chatter in the paddock.