The Racing Bulls driver moved up one more place after the chequered flag, when Ollie Bearman, who crossed the line eighth, was hit by a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
Looking to complete a late season heist to win a fifth straight world championship, Max Verstappen led from start to finish to bank eight points, aided by the McLarens’ woes.
Since the introduction of sprint races, Verstappen has won every shortened affair in Austin.
That victory sees Verstappen bank another eight points to eat into Piastri’s advantage at the top of the standings, now down to 55.
Fresh from his victory in Singapore, George Russell crossed the finish line in second, while Carlos Sainz completed the podium in third.
In a chaotic start to the race, neither McLaren cars made it through turn one, Oscar Piastri was clipped by the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg, and then in turn veered into teammate Lando Norris.
Amidst the pandemonium, Lawson climbed from 15th to 11th, while Hadjar fell from 12th to 17th, leaving Yuki Tsunoda as the real winner when he rose from 18th to seventh and into a share of the points, where he would finish.
Lawson, though, appeared to suffer damage to his front wing after he couldn’t avoid tangling with one of the Ferraris in the turn one incident.
It wasn’t until lap five that the safety car returned to pit lane to restart the race, despite driver requests for a red flag to clear the debris.
Resuming in 11th, Lawson was in range of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, as he pushed out of Drag Reduction System (DRS) range of Haas’ Esteban Ocon.
Antonelli didn’t have Lawson in his mirrors for long, when he got around Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, which left the Kiwi targeting the Alpine to move up a place.
One lap later, Lawson did just that and made use of his DRS to move up into the top 10, making use of the extra speed and then braking late into turn 12 to get around Gasly.
With three laps to go, another tangle between Ocon and Lance Stroll saw another safety car, even as the Aston Martin driver attempted to continue with three wheels.
However, that meant the race would finish behind the safety car and brought arguably the most eventful sprint race in Formula One’s history to an end.
There will be two more sprint races to conclude the 2025 season, in Brazil and Qatar at the start of November and December respectively.
The 20 drivers will return to the grid later on Sunday morning for grand prix qualifying, before the race itself at 8am on Monday (NZT).
US Grand Prix sprint race result
- Max Verstappen – Red Bull
- George Russell – Mercedes
- Carlos Sainz – Williams
- Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari
- Charles Leclerc – Ferrari
- Alex Albon – Williams
- Yuki Tsunoda – Red Bull
- Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes
- Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls
- Pierre Gasly – Alpine
- Gabriel Bortoleto – Sauber
- Isack Hadjar – Racing Bulls
- Nico Hulkenberg – Sauber
- Franco Colapinto – Alpine
- Ollie Bearman – Haas
Did not finish: Esteban Ocon (Haas), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Oscar Piastri (McLaren), Lando Norris (McLaren), Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.