A colossal sporting weekend in Austin culminated in Charles Leclerc's third victory of the 2024 Formula 1 season as the 27-year-old piloted a Ferrari one-two at the United States Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon.

Leclerc, who was fourth on the grid, skillfully maneuvered past championship leaders Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in the first corner of the race and never looked back. He and his teammate Carlos Sainz spent the rest of the afternoon driving their Ferraris, by far the best car of the weekend, quickly around the Circuit of the Americas track without facing any significant pressure from their pursuers.

The real battle of the race was the battle for the final spot on the podium, with Verstappen and Norris once again fighting for crucial points in the title fight. Despite having fresher tires and plenty of opportunities to get past the three-time reigning drivers' champion, Norris received a five-second penalty for overtaking Verstappen outside the race limits, resulting in a disappointing fourth place for the McLaren driver. Verstappen, the architect of an impressive defensive performance, completed the podium in third and consolidated his position at the top of the standings.

This is what you need to know about the 2024 US Grand Prix:

There's no question that the Red Bull-McLaren dispute has grabbed headlines this season, but Ferrari has emerged as more than just a dark horse in recent weeks thanks to a handful of mid-year upgrades. If we learned anything at COTA this weekend, it's time to stop ignoring the Prancing Horse.

Leclerc, who rewarded himself with a sensational birthday present after turning 27 earlier this week, reminded the paddock why he is one of the best drivers on the grid with his Turn 1 maneuver on the first lap of the race. Positioning his car on the inside of Sainz and then allowing Verstappen and Norris to focus on each other was a masterstroke in waiting for the right moment to attack. He then made one of the most fluid and effortless moves of the season.

But what happened later in the race should make spectators take Ferrari seriously. Steady hands from Leclerc and Sainz, well-timed pit stops to ward off any threat and top-notch technical performance are a recipe for success for any team. Leclerc said it himself when speaking to Sky Sports' Jenson Button at the end of the race; The progress made on the technical and development side to bring the Ferrari back into the victory standings after subsequently falling behind Leclerc's home win in Monaco are something that should be recognized and praised.

Throughout the weekend it had already seemed as if members of the paddock – and especially Ferrari's top rivals – were preparing for a breakthrough performance. What seemed like a two-dimensional race for the constructors' championship is now largely a three-horse race as Leclerc and Sainz carry the juice from Austin to Mexico City.

Stop me if you've heard this before. Norris started in pole position but lost the lead on the first lap of the race.

If you felt an acute sense of déjà vu, it's because in 2024 we've seen this film before, and more than once. Norris immediately gave up the lead and despite having a tire advantage over his rivals in the second stint after the leading group pitted, he was unable to gain another place on Sunday.

It must be said that McLaren did not expect COTA to be a strong track for the team, and Norris finishing on pole was probably just the result of Verstappen failing to complete his final flying lap in qualifying on Saturday could. But with the margin for error so slim in his pursuit of his first world championship, Norris couldn't afford a weekend like the one in Austin.

The gap to Verstappen is now 57 again points, which means that Norris now not only has to be clean in the last five races, but probably needs to at least A gaffe from one of the safest drivers the sport has ever seen. McLaren's lead in the team standings is also just 40 (with a gap of just 48 to Ferrari) and it's fair to say that when the team needed to deliver this season, they left a lot open.

It's likely that Norris will be challenging for championships for the rest of his F1 career, but the 2024 season is fast approaching “what if” territory for the 24-year-old.

McLaren may not have had an ideal Sunday given its expectations, but Mercedes had a completely poor weekend. Toto Wolff's team will leave Austin with a meager 13 points – just six more than Haas scored over the two days of racing.

Mercedes didn't expect a fight for the top of the podium, but things quickly turned around on Saturday. After a mediocre fifth and sixth place in the sprint, Lewis Hamilton finished second to last in qualifying. However, that wasn't the team's low point in the session, as George Russell badly damaged his car on his final flying lap. What would have been a sixth place start for Sunday's race became a pit lane start for Russell as the damage to his vehicle was so bad that Mercedes had to work all night on Saturday to make repairs.

Sunday's race brought plenty of room for improvement and Hamilton seemed to embrace it, jumping from 17th to 12th on the first lap. However, just two laps later, the 39-year-old stalled in the same corner where Russell had crashed less than 24 hours earlier and was forced to retire from the race.

Russell fought his way to sixth by the end of Sunday's Grand Prix, but the damage had already been done on a weekend where Mercedes needed a better performance – especially after the outburst that Ferrari had. Now we just have to settle for fourth place in the constructors' championship and focus on how we can improve next year.

While Norris, Verstappen and Leclerc fought at the front of the field, a fascinating battle raged at the bottom of the points. And the youth won the day.

Liam Lawson, back in Formula 1 and driving for RB, along with Williams' Franco Colapinto, completed the group of points scorers with two mature drives that far exceeded their years of experience on the track. Both rookies completed some of the longest first stints of the field on hard tires, allowing them to opt for significantly faster medium tires and push past those who had made their pit stops at a much earlier stage of the race.

While each driver benefited from their teams' strategy, they did well to stay out of trouble and run a clean race. Both Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda, who finished 12th and 14th respectively, received penalties in the afternoon – the result of riskier overtaking attempts. Lawson and Colapinto made their passes count, staying out of harm's way and capitalizing on it.

Results like those achieved by Lawson (22) and Colapinto (21) on Sunday are monumental for each rider's future. Lawson is not only applying to keep his place at RB next season, but perhaps also for a future place alongside Verstappen in Red Bull's top team. Colapinto does not yet have a contract for next year, but there is still a place at Sauber is free and he has been in form recently (12th, 8th, 11th, 10th in his four starts in Formula 1), there is no denying that he is worth considering.

While the old guard of world champions such as Hamilton and Alonso continue to enjoy their well-deserved respect, it is encouraging to see that the future of the sport lies in such capable hands.