Max Verstappen pips Lewis Hamilton in Austin to claim 50th grand prix win

Max Verstappen defied Lewis Hamilton to win a cat-and-mouse United States Grand Prix at a sizzling Circuit of the Americas in Austin.

Verstappen has been on easy street this season, but the triple world champion was made to fight for the 50th win of his career - becoming only the fifth driver to reach a half-century.

Verstappen joins Hamilton (103 wins), Schumacher (91), Sebastian Vettel (53) and Alain Prost (51) in the half-century club.

"To win my 50th career win makes me very proud and we will try to push for me," said Verstappen.

Hamilton, who collided with team-mate George Russell at the previous round in Qatar, said: "It was really difficult after the last race, firstly with everything that is going on in the world and then the big mistake I made. I felt I let the team down so much so I had to go through a deep process. I came here fighting, felt great, and I am really happy with this result.

"We are catching Max towards the end and I was hopeful but we needed more laps."

Indeed, at one stage, Hamilton dared to dream of ending a streak without victory which stands at 686 days and counting.

Yet, as so often been the case this year, Verstappen's speed in his all-conquering Red Bull machine came to the fore.

He moved ahead of Lando Norris on lap 28 of 56 to all but seal the win. Hamilton might bemoan a questionable strategy decision which saw him lose 10 seconds to Verstappen in the opening round of pit stops. But in reality, he probably did not have the pace to stop the Dutchman from claiming his 15th wins from the 18 rounds so far.

He crossed the line an agonising 2.2 sec behind Verstappen with Norris hanging on to the final spot on the podium.

Hamilton could count himself unfortunate to drop from third to fourth at the