Verstappen Continues Dominating at the United States Grand Prix
Austin, Texas – Max Verstappen once again demonstrated his dominance in Formula 1, moving closer to his fifth world title after a resounding victory at the United States Grand Prix. This triumph, added to a complicated weekend for the championship leader, Oscar Piastri, has significantly reduced the difference in the standings.
Piastri, who struggled with his McLaren throughout the weekend, could only secure fifth place. Verstappen took advantage of this situation, surpassing Piastri by 15 points and reducing the gap in the overall standings to 40 points.
Lando Norris also managed to cut Piastri’s lead, finishing in second place. The difference between Norris and his McLaren teammate is now 14 points, with five races remaining in the season.
This result highlights Verstappen’s impressive momentum, who has reduced the gap with Piastri by 69 points in the last four races. Currently, he is only 26 points behind Norris, who is in second place in the standings.
The victory in Austin was Verstappen’s third in the last four races, solidifying his dominant position in the season. The Red Bull driver also won Saturday’s sprint race, where both McLaren cars suffered retirements.
Verstappen’s victory never seemed to be in doubt. Norris, who started in second place, was overtaken by Charles Leclerc at the first corner and was limited behind the Ferrari for much of the race.
Norris managed to overtake Leclerc on lap 21, but lost the position when the Ferrari driver made an early pit stop to change tires, overtaking McLaren.
Despite Norris closing in on the Ferrari, he struggled with overheating tires, which forced him to slow down and create a gap with Leclerc around lap 40.
After cooling his tires, Norris resumed the pursuit of Leclerc and overtook him on lap 51 with a clean maneuver at turn 12.
Leclerc, winner in Austin last year, settled for his sixth podium of the season, finishing third ahead of his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, in fourth.
Behind Piastri, George Russell secured sixth place for Mercedes, followed by Yuki Tsunoda’s second Red Bull in seventh.
Nico Hulkenberg, after retiring from Saturday’s sprint race along with the McLarens, scored points for Sauber with eighth place, ahead of Oliver Bearman and Fernando Alonso, who finished tenth with Aston Martin.
