But Hamilton's second-place finish was placed under threat late on Sunday night when his Mercedes car failed a post-race plank inspection test and the matter was referred to the stewards for consideration.

Charles Leclerc's Ferrari failed the same mandatory test and is also under investigation. He had finished sixth.

In the race Verstappen, who has already sealed his third successive drivers' title with five rounds to spare, appeared to be cruising towards victory after coming from sixth on the grid to take the lead midway through the grand prix.

However, apparent braking issues on his Red Bull left Verstappen agitated and vulnerable as Mercedes' Hamilton closed to within two seconds in the latter stages, but the Dutchman clung on for the 50th F1 victory of his career.

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Hamilton had already passed the McLaren of Lando Norris, who faded in the second half of the contest, having taken the lead on the opening lap to boost his hopes of a earning a maiden F1 victory in his 100th race.

"The whole race, I was struggling a lot with the brakes," Verstappen said. "It was very close at the end and also with the backmarkers, the tyres are already going so it makes it more difficult.

"It's incredible to win my 50th Grand Prix here. Very proud of course and we will keep on trying to push for more."

Carlos Sainz took fourth for Ferrari after he and Red Bull's Sergio Perez made late passes on pole-sitter Charles Leclerc, who dropped back after the Italian team attempted an ill-advised one-stop strategy.

George Russell could only manage seventh as he failed to match team-mate Hamilton's pace after dropping back from fifth on the grid at the start.

Pierre Gasly rounded off an improved display from Alpine to take eighth, although team-mate Esteban Ocon was an early retiree along with McLaren's Oscar Piastri after a first-lap collision took them both out of the race.

Lance Stroll claimed his first Grand Prix points finish since July by taking ninth after his Aston Martin team-mate Fernando Alonso was forced to retire with floor damage, while Yuki Tsunoda took the final point for AlphaTauri, and doubled his tally for the day with the fastest lap of the race.

Verstappen's victory takes him to 466 points for the season and beyond the record haul he set last year, with the Dutchman set to rewrite the sport's history books over the four rounds of the campaign that remain.

His lead over team-mate Perez extends to 228 points, while Hamilton has closed to within 19 points of the Mexican as the Brit attempts to deny Red Bull a first-ever one-two in the drivers' standings.

United States GP result
1) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
2) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
3) Lando Norris, McLaren
4) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
5) Sergio Perez, Red Bull
6) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
7) George Russell, Mercedes
8) Pierre Gasly, Alpine
9) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
10) Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri

Strategic battle sets up thrilling finish

With Verstappen having dominated from pole in Saturday's Sprint contest, Norris and Hamilton were the only two drivers given any chance of holding him off in the full-length race.

To have any chance of doing that, they needed a strong start, and Norris got just that as he passed Leclerc into the first corner, before opening up an early advantage.

Hamilton, perhaps decisively in the end, was less successful. He lost a place to Sainz at the start, and although he had passed both Ferraris to move into second by lap six, lost crucial time and tyre life.

Verstappen gained a place at the start despite cautiously navigating the opening lap, and surprisingly took significantly longer than Hamilton to clear the Ferraris.

When he did on lap 12, he was seven seconds back from leader Norris, with Hamilton about midway between them.

Any thoughts that Verstappen may have been nursing his tyres to set up a one-stop race were dispelled when the Red Bull was the first of the leaders to pit at the end of lap 16.

The fact Red Bull chose to fit him with another set of the medium tyres he had started the race on meant he would definitely need to stop again to use a different compound before the end.

McLaren reacted by bringing in Norris a lap later, but put him on the hard tyre, keeping open the option of one-stopping.

Mercedes decided to keep Hamilton out as they looked to be considering the one-stop option, but ultimately appeared to be caught somewhat between the two strategies.

Hamilton's tyres appeared to fall off a metaphorical cliff in his final couple of circuits before stopping on lap 20, with a crucial loss of time occurring as he ran wide and off track.

A slow stop compounded the situation, leaving Hamilton to come out with the several-second advantage he had previously held over Verstappen having switched the other way, while Norris led.

Verstappen ominously cruised up behind Norris and eased past the McLaren on lap 28, but he appeared uncomfortable as he described his struggles with braking in the class-leading RB19.

Norris triggered the second round of pit stops when he came in on lap 34, and closed back to within just over a second of Verstappen when Red Bull responded by stopping a lap later.

That played into Hamilton's hands, as he was able to keep running at a reasonably competitive pace for three further laps, and had a fresh set of the better-performing medium tyres for his final stint, with the leading duo on hards.

It quickly became clear that it would be a matter of time until Hamilton would pass Norris, with the big question being whether he could track down Verstappen in the closing stages.

Despite having little hope of holding off Hamilton, Norris put up a stern defence over a series of corners that cost Hamilton a crucial couple of seconds and potentially a shot at victory.

The five-second gap that remained with seven laps left initially looked out of reach, but the gap suddenly began to close, with the backdrop of Verstappen repeatedly scolding his race engineer over the radio for talking to him in braking zones.

The gap was under two seconds going into the final lap, but ultimately Mercedes' failure to optimise their strategy, sub-par pit stops and just about the only error Hamilton made throughout a stellar weekend for the Brit left him agonisingly short of a first win since December 2021.

"I think we probably should have stopped before Lando because I was within undercut position," Hamilton said. "I don't know why we didn't.

"Then after that I came out another eight seconds behind and I had to catch up. It was really difficult to catch up and then I came out again another eight or 10 seconds behind [after the second stop]."

Despite having claimed a third successive win a row at Circuit of The Americas, Verstappen was given a frosty reception by some fans as he appeared to be booed during the podium ceremony by a group of fans.

F1 heads straight to Mexico for the middle leg of the Americas triple header. Watch the whole Mexico City Grand Prix weekend live on Sky Sports F1 from Friday, with Sunday's race at 8pm. Stream F1 on Sky Sports with NOW