Verstappen’s wire-to-wire victory in Austin closes the gap in the drivers’ championship to 40 points over Oscar Piastri with five races remaining.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had a perfect weekend in Texas, dominating from pole position at Sunday’s US Grand Prix and leading every lap to further reduce Oscar Piastri’s F1 championship lead.
McLaren’s Piastri finished fifth with teammate and closest rival Lando Norris, seconds after passing last year’s winner Charles Leclerc of Ferrari with five laps to the checkered flag.
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With five rounds and two sprints remaining, Piastri leads Britain’s Norris by 14 points, while Verstappen has narrowed the gap to Australia’s Norris from 104 points to 40 points at the end of August.
Verstappen also won from pole position in Saturday’s sprint at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas, making it a maximum points weekend for the four-time world champion as McLarens retired after a collision.
McLaren has already won the constructors’ title.
Verstappen says he has a title chance
“For sure, we have a chance,” Verstappen said of the title fight. “We need to give it our all this weekend.
“I’ll try whatever I can. It’s exciting,” he added after scoring his third win in the last four races and 68th of his career.
Piastri said he still had full confidence in his ability to become Australia’s first champion since Alan Jones in 1980.
“I would rather be where I am than the other two,” the 24-year-old added.
Norris lost to Leclerc at the start, but it took him 21 laps to turn around as the Monaco’s Leclerc, on faster but less durable soft tyres, maintained a defensive masterclass.
Leclerc then battled with Lewis Hamilton, who had started in the medium, before pitting on lap 23 and returning in 9th place, with his teammate moving up to 3rd and Piastri into 4th.
By then Verstappen had a 10-second lead over his nearest rival.
Once the rest of the leaders had finished their pit stops, Leclerc was back on the road in second place, but more than six seconds behind Verstappen, with Norris in third place and a track limit warning forcing him to start overtaking again.
Norris finished 7.9 seconds behind Verstappen and 7.4 seconds ahead of Ferrari.
“It was tough. We did everything we could,” he said of the battle, which thrilled fans as Verstappen raced laps almost invisible on TV around the world.
“I thought the second attack would go a little easier, but it wasn’t. Charles ran a very good race. It was a lot of fun and it was a good battle. So we have to be second. We couldn’t have done better today.”
However, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said Norris could have fought for victory had he not been held back by Ferrari.
Hamilton was fourth, Piastri just 1.1 seconds behind, and defending Singapore champion George Russell took the checkered flag in sixth place for Mercedes.
Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda finished seventh ahead of Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Haas’s Oliver Bearman. Fernando Alonso scored the winning goal for Aston Martin.
The virtual safety car was brought in on lap seven when Mercedes’ Italian rookie Kimi Antonelli collided with Williams’ Carlos Sainz, forcing the Spaniard to retire after attempting to overtake him on the inside for seventh place.
Stewards have handed Sainz a five-place grid penalty and two penalty points for next weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix for causing the collision.
Sainz’s teammate Alex Albon was also involved in a first-corner collision with Sauber’s Brazilian rookie Gabriel Bortleto.
A heat hazard was declared for the weekend, but temperatures during the race were lower than feared, at about 28.6 degrees Celsius (83.5 degrees Fahrenheit).
