Verstappen Closes Gap in Championship Fight at United States Grand Prix
The driver Max Verstappen continues his impressive path towards a fifth world title, after a resounding victory in the United States Grand Prix. This triumph allowed him to close the gap with the championship leader, Oscar Piastri. Piastri, for his part, had a complicated weekend with his McLaren, finishing in fifth position. This meant that Verstappen scored 15 points more than the championship leader, reducing the gap in the standings to just 40 points. Lando Norris also took advantage of the situation to close in on Piastri in the overall standings, achieving a second place that now puts him 14 points behind his McLaren teammate, with five races remaining. The weekend’s results highlight Verstappen’s great comeback, who has reduced Piastri’s lead by 64 points in the last four races.
When talking about the fight for the drivers’ championship, Verstappen stated: “The opportunity is there. We just have to try to deliver these kinds of weekends until the end. So, we will simply try everything we can. I think it’s exciting, and I’m very excited until the end.” Verstappen’s dominance was consolidated with his third victory in the last four races, also adding the triumph in Saturday’s sprint race, where both McLarens failed to finish. Verstappen’s victory on Sunday never seemed to be in doubt, after Norris, who started second, was overtaken by Charles Leclerc at the first corner and was relegated behind the Ferrari for much of the race. Norris managed to overtake Leclerc on lap 21, but lost the position again when the Ferrari driver made an early pit stop to fit new tires. Norris stayed close to the Ferrari, but had problems with his tires overheating, which forced him to slow down and open a gap with Leclerc around lap 40. After cooling his tires, Norris resumed the pursuit of Leclerc and overtook him on lap 51 with another clean maneuver at turn 12.“It was an incredible weekend for us. I knew the race wasn’t going to be super easy. I think, if we analyze the whole race, the pace between Lando and me was very similar. In that first stint, we made the difference. I was able to get a bit of an advantage, and that’s basically what we maintained until the end,” Verstappen declared after the race.
Max Verstappen
After winning in Austin last year, Leclerc had to settle for his sixth podium of the season, finishing in third place ahead of his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, who finished in fourth place.“Finally! It took a while,” Norris commented on the overtake. “It was a good battle with Charles. He fought hard and it was difficult. We did everything we could.”
Lando Norris
Behind Piastri in fifth place, George Russell took sixth place for Mercedes, followed by the second Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda in seventh. After retiring from Saturday’s sprint race along with the McLarens, Nico Hülkenberg secured points for Sauber with eighth place, followed by Oliver Bearman’s Haas and Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin in tenth.“I am very happy in general, because it has been a tough second part of the year, and to return to the podium here, after what was a difficult FP1 with the gearbox problem, we have recovered well,” said Leclerc. “I am happy. Unfortunately, today I lost at the end, but I had fun in the car”.
Charles Leclerc
