WATCH: Intense final lap battle between Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc at the US GP sprint

F1 title contenders Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc battled it out during the final lap of the US GP Sprint race. Their entire final lap battle was shared on social media by Sky Sports F1.

Despite starting the Sprint in P4, an unorthodox move on the inside line of turn 1 pushed Norris up by two positions on the opening lap. Both Norris and race leader Max Verstappen were able to steer clear of their rivals George Russell (P3), Charles Leclerc (P4), and Carlos Sainz (P5) in the early stages of the race. While the Brit pushed hard for the top spot, his engineers requested a more defensive drive to restrict tire degradation.

Meanwhile, Sainz moved past Leclerc on Lap 6. The duo then went on to overtake Russell by lap 10 and began pushing for Norris in the second half of the sprint. With their tires in better condition than the McLaren, both Ferraris kept charging for podium places. While it seemed like Norris was in control in second, he locked up massively on turn 1 of the penultimate lap, allowing Sainz to move ahead.

With Leclerc close on his heels, the final lap turned into an intense battle between the Brit and the Monegasque. Despite a few close calls between the two, Norris eventually emerged victorious, grabbing the final podium position by a small margin.

Sky Sports F1 posted a video of the final lap on X. Here's a look at the entire battle between the McLaren and Ferrari drivers:

"That final lap ⚡️"

As of now, Max Verstappen is leading the drivers' table with 339 points, followed closely by Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc, who have 285 and 250 points, respectively.

---

"Not a great day" - McLaren's title contender Lando Norris blamed the balance and setup of his car for finishing P4 in the Sprint Qualifying

Lando Norris struggled with the balance and setup of his MCL38 race car during the Sprint Qualifying at COTA on Friday (October 18th). This pushed the McLaren driver in P4 for the Sprint Race, behind Max Verstappen, George Russell, and Charles Leclerc.

He reflected on his troublesome session during a post-qualifying media interaction.

"Not very good – I’m P4. Not a great day, I’ve been struggling the whole day honestly with the balance and the set-up," Lando Norris commented.

“In a way (I’m) happy with P4 because I feel like it could have been a lot worse, but my lap was shocking. So yeah, not a terrible day – it could have been worse, could have been better, but I’ll take it,” he added.

While Norris was set to start the Sprint at P4, his teammate Oscar Piastri was pushed to P16 after his lap time was deleted in SQ1 for exceeding track limits.