Oscar Piastri failed to make progress and opened the door for Max Verstappen to take a huge chunk out of his championship lead and pile the pressure on McLaren in the F1 drivers’ title race
Max Verstappen said he is “for sure” in the Formula 1 title hunt after taking another chunk of points out of his McLaren rivals with victory at the United States Grand Prix. Though Lando Norris pulled off a late overtake to finish second and limit the damage done.
The Dutchman started on pole and led throughout with a vintage Verstappen performance as the Red Bull ace barely broke sweat in the hot Texas sunshine. “It was an unbelievable weekend for us,” he smiled. “I knew the race for us was not going to be super straightforward.
“If you look at the whole race, the pace between myself and Lando was really close. That first stint was where we made the difference as I could eek out a gap which is what helped at the end. I’m just incredibly proud of everyone for delivering a weekend like this.”
Championship leader Oscar Piastri could manage only fifth and so Verstappen took a significant 15 points out of the gap between them. And regarding his title hopes, the Red Bull racer added: “For sure, the chance is there. We just need to keep delivering weekends like this until the end and try to do what we can.”
Norris looked set to settle for third after Charles Leclerc got the better of the Brit at the first corner and spent much of the rest of the race slowing him down. And with 15 laps to go, Norris told McLaren over the radio: “These tyres are gone… I just don’t have the grip.”
But the McLaren racer overcame his frustration and made a daring move stick with four laps to go to earn three crucial extra points. “I finally made it through, though it took long enough,” Norris said.
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“It was a good battle with Charles, he fought hard and it was tough. We did everything we could. Charles drove a very good race. It was good fun, good battles. But I’ll take second as there was not a lot more I could have done.”
McLaren chief Zak Brown added: “Had we got past Leclerc earlier on, maybe we would have given Max a race… but we didn’t. “We’ll dust ourselves off from a less-than-stellar weekend and go again in Mexico.”
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This was Verstappen’s fifth Grand Prix victory of the year and he ended the weekend 23 points closer to Piastri than where he had started it. Leclerc was disappointed to have been bested by Norris in the end but proud to be in the top three after a difficult run for Ferrari. He said: “It’s been a tough second part of the year and so to be back on the podium here, I’m happy.”
His team-mate Lewis Hamilton has now overtaken Didier Pironi as the driver with the most Ferrari starts without a Grand Prix podium: 19. But he finished fourth with one of his best performances in red, something to build on as he bids to end a difficult year on a high.
