Lewis Hamilton claims that Max Verstappen's competitors in the United States Grand Prix have work to do

 Lewis Hamilton claims that Max Verstappen's competitors in the United States Grand Prix have work to do

Lewis Hamilton predicts that the front-runners will "have a job on their hands" to stop Max Verstappen from winning the US Grand Prix on Sunday.

Verstappen, who qualified for the grand prix in sixth place, easily defeated Hamilton's Mercedes to win the sprint race on Saturday.

He should be able to pass since he has at least a half-second lead over all of the vehicles in front of him, according to Hamilton.

"There is tyre degradation and strategy," he said.

"But it is a track you can accelerate [on], so it is likely he will be going high up."

Verstappen wins the US GP sprint race ahead of Hamilton.

Garcia wins the inaugural F1 Academy title.

Verstappen's relatively poor qualifying position resulted from having a lap that would have earned him pole position in Friday's qualifying session removed for going above track limits.

But the Red Bull driver won the race on Saturday after finishing first in qualifying and, despite a fleeting challenge from Hamilton in the first two circuits.

"The pace of the car seems quite potent, and hopefully we can do somewhere similar on high fuel," remarked Verstappen.

"But it is one thing to be faster, whereas we have to try and get past a few cars at this point, because with the [tyre] deg around places it is not going to be straightforward trailing in the high speed [corners] and we have a struggle on our hands."

Charles Leclerc of Ferrari will start from the front of the grid on Sunday, followed by Lando Norris of McLaren and Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen starts ahead of Carlos Sainz of Ferrari and George Russell of Mercedes.

"Having Verstappen in sixth will be helpful for us at the front," said Hamilton. He will eventually be breathing down our necks before long, but Charles and Lando will be able to engage in a decent fight.

"Our paces are all somewhat comparable. I'm hoping for a successful struggle. It would be great if we could all keep Max behind, but if not, no big deal.

The speed of the Mercedes, which in Austin had its last significant upgrade of the season in the form of a new floor design, boosted Hamilton, who overtook Leclerc out of Turn Two at the start to move into second.

The British driver emphasized that his team was still a long way from being competitive and said that after following Verstappen for a few circuits, he had learnt a lot about the Red Bull's advantages.

Hamilton stated, "We have a lot of work to do. "To genuinely catch them for the next year is no easy task. They have a fantastic development staff, therefore they will advance quickly, making it challenging for us to advance even faster. However, I am fully confident in my team to succeed.