The final spurt in the Formula 1 season is turning into a title drama: Max Verstappen won everything at the US Grand Prix. After the sprint, the Dutchman also won the race impressively and further reduced the gap to the World Championship throne.
A few hours before the race in Austin, the first headline had already appeared – the US Grand Prix will continue to be held in Texas until at least 2034. Formula 1 boss Stefano Domenicali said the organizers had “played a crucial role in establishing Formula 1 in the United States”. And Verstappen offered a top-class race to suit the occasion.
Verstappen moves away, Norris and Piastri have problems
The four-time world champion won the start and immediately pulled away from pole. Behind him, Verstappen benefited from Charles Leclerc overtaking one of his McLaren opponents and pushing Lando Norris into third place. World Championship leader Oscar Piastri moved up one position from sixth place, but had to fight against George Russell immediately countering again.
The Singapore winner couldn’t do that, so the biggest battle for position took place behind Verstappen, where Norris wanted to get back into the chasing position. The Brit had a hard time on the course, which offers few opportunities for overtaking maneuvers, and then had to give up a bit.
Norris has problems with that Route limitation
After twelve of 56 laps, Verstappen was four seconds ahead of Leclerc, Norris was consistently just over a second behind and was therefore not in the DRS window. Piastri had even more problems than his teammate from the McLaren racing team, which had been so dominant until a few weeks ago; he was far from working his way forward.
Norris got close to Leclerc again, but failed to pass the Monegasque many times and also left the “track limits” a few times, which got him into additional problems. After 20 minutes, Norris had already committed three such offenses and a fourth time would result in a five-second penalty. Shortly afterwards, on the 21st lap, he finally made it to second place – and was already ten seconds behind Verstappen.
McLaren’s mistake puts Leclerc in second place
The Dutchman was on his way to further reducing the once big gap to the McLaren duo. In the previous three races, Verstappen had gained 29 points on Norris and even 41 points on Piastri – and in Austin he had collected eight more points more by winning the sprint and eliminating his two opponents.
The perfect weekend was shaping up for Verstappen. Especially since McLaren gambled away during its pit stops and Leclerc passed Norris again on the 33rd lap when the 25-year-old had to change tires. After all the top drivers were behind them, Verstappen was six seconds ahead of Leclerc, with Norris three more seconds behind. Behind him, Lewis Hamilton was sniffing his first Ferrari podium, Piastri was fifth behind the Brit.
| driver | Points | |
|---|---|---|
Oscar Piastri | 27 | |
Lando Norris | 39 | |
Max Verstappen | 68 |
Norris overtakes Leclerc – but Verstappen gets closer
There was then a duel at the start of the race when Norris worked his way back to Leclerc little by little – before that the victory seemed to be taken and behind it the other places seemed to be taken. The World Championship runner-up was already desperate, complaining about his tires, but reacted correctly when he dropped back to protect the tires. Five laps before the end, Norris was there and took second place. Otherwise nothing happened at the front.
Verstappen, who won by 7.959 seconds after a show of force, gained another seven points on Norris and 15 points on Piastri. The Australian remains the leader, but his lead has shrunk to just 40 points over Verstappen before the last five races of the season, while Norris is 14 points behind his teammate. “It was an incredible weekend, very, very good. Let’s keep trying and keep the momentum going”said the Austin winner over the radio.
Away from the race for the world title, Nico Hülkenberg really delivered in Austin. The 38-year-old started eleventh and scored four points in eighth place – it was his fourth-best finish this season.