First blood then to Max Verstappen, as the Formula One championship run-in opened with the Red Bull driver enjoying his first win since June and his most comfortably controlled drive since then, with a win in the sprint race at the US Grand Prix.
In what was an impressively dominant victory at the Circuit of the Americas, beating his title rival Lando Norris into third, he has extended his championship lead and crucially demonstrated the Red Bull is once more on fine form. Norris, having lost second place to Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz on the final lap, failed to take vital points off Verstappen but remained optimistic for Sunday’s race.
Verstappen maintained his unbeaten record in the short-form format this season and was in control from pole to flag; once leading from the off he was unchallenged across the 19-lap dash. Norris chased him hard, moving from fourth to second with a blistering start but ominously could then make no dent in the Red Bull lead and with his tyres shot toward the end, was powerless against Sainz.
The win is just the opening Verstappen required to the six-meeting title-deciding finale that will close the season. He has extended his lead over Norris to 54 points, with a further 172 still on the table. While he outscored Norris by only two points, most importantly he prevented the British driver from narrowing the gap. Norris needs to outscore his rival by just under nine points per meeting and with the additional chances to do so in sprint races this is an opportunity lost.
Most importantly for Verstappen and Red Bull, it indicates the limited upgrades the team brought to the race in an effort to solve the balance issues with which their car has been suffering, appear to have been successful, demonstrating the command at the front of the field he enjoyed in the first half of the season.
This was acknowledged by a beaming Verstappen. “It feels a bit like old times,” he said. “I am very happy, finally we were racing again. Normally in the race we are always looking back but now we could do our own race.”
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Norris believed he had extracted all he could from the McLaren and admitted the team’s upgrades had been vital to stay in touch with a resurgent Red Bull. “I’m happy with all the bits here, otherwise we would be even further down the grid,” he said. “These upgrades have made us go quicker.” However, on this form, not quick enough.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fourth, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were in fifth and sixth for Mercedes. Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg were in seventh and eighth for Haas.
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