Max Verstappen, victorious in the US Grand Prix on Sunday night, peerless among the next best drivers in the world, is increasingly likely to reclaim his title in one of the greatest comebacks motor racing has witnessed.
He moved to within 40 points of the summit, with championship leader Oscar Piastri, on a poor weekend, only fifth. Lando Norris, runner-up, is 14 off the top, and well in the fight. There are five races, two sprints and 141 points remaining.
It could go down to Abu Dhabi again, the final instalment of a marathon season on December 7.
Verstappen’s win here, a third in four races from 104 points back before the Italian Grand Prix on September 7 represents irrepressible momentum. It was established at that steepling opening corner in Austin that is a test of a driver’s mettle – the wide, blind, dangerous left-hander, bang where the Stars and Stripes fly in all their Texan hugeness over the packed gallery and parched grass.
So many lines present themselves up its long climb that it is not for the jittery, nor is its gradient done justice on TV.
It is where the two McLarens of Norris and Piastri collided on Saturday in a sprint race that again betrayed the nerves afflicting them. Front-running in the championship is not easy and neither man, aged 24 and 25 respectively, has experienced the hard-earned privilege before.
Max Verstappen claimed victory in the US Grand Prix to close the gap in the world title race
Oscar Piastri is watching his championship lead diminish with every race
That corner is also where, a year ago, Norris afforded Verstappen the freedom of the Lone Star State and was passed. The exchange was an emblem of the fact one of them was as tough as teak in wheel-to-wheel action, the other a touch more squeamish, or, to be fair, not so preternaturally aware of the geometry of close combat. At 28, he is the battle-hardened warrior.
This time he showed how the climb and big left should be conquered. Starting on pole, he swept left, covered the inside on entry, closed down any attack on the outside, and so he was up the road. There was no messing about. By the end of the first lap he was 1.4sec ahead, exploiting the clean air his dextrous start allowed him to command the race at minimal cost to his tyres.
These traits plant him right in the minds of the two McLaren men. They know he is on the charge – pole for the sprint, victory in the sprint, pole for the grand prix, victory in the grand prix by eight seconds.
Since this charge started in Monza, Red Bull is now super-fast since the upgrade introduced back then. It may, indeed, be the fastest car in the field at most tracks. It is a championship-winning combination.
McLaren, on the other hand, have not won since in Holland on the last day of August. They have won the title but lost their way not least over the application of Papaya Rules, their fair-minded approach that seems to have tied them in knots. Norris hit Piastri a fortnight ago in Singapore and then Saturday’s smash. So much for the rules – they don’t seem to work, whether a good idea or not!
Backing one man can work, if he’s good enough. And Verstappen’s are. His figures are astonishing: he has scored 306 as against his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda’s 28.
This victory was commanding. After his clean getaway, Verstappen was 11.1sec ahead by lap 25 of 56, despite a brief virtual safety car phase for Williams’ Carlos Sainz and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli colliding.
By this stage Norris, who had been passed at the start by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at Turn Two after a better exit of Turn One – that pesky place of perdition, again – was lying second. Leclerc was third and had to fight off Lewis Hamilton in the other red car to hold on to that.
Verstappen is peerless and his momentum seems irrepressible at the moment
Lando Norris (left) finished second, with Charles Leclerc (right) in third place
Norris had duelled well with Leclerc, the two of them racing cleanly and strongly. But after their pit stops, Leclerc was ahead again, Norris back in third. That was owing to his slow stop – 3.8sec. Oh dear, another sign of the gripping pressure at an otherwise fabulous team that won the constructors’ title two Sundays earlier.
Nothing goes right when it is going wrong and Norris had even been late for the singing of the national anthem on the grid. A fine may await him.
Norris was struggling with his tyres behind Leclerc and making his views known over the radio before getting closer to him as the laps wore on and then passing him for second. A good drive. Piastri was nowhere, no fizz, half-a-minute back.
As for Hamilton, it was a respectable fourth place. He has a special affinity with this vast land. It is where he lives much of the time, in California, and he is the name on most fans’ lips on this side of the Pond.
Lewis Hamilton finished fourth in his Ferrari and appeared more comfortable in the car
He also seems more at ease in his Ferrari than in the recent troublesome months of his first season there. But the Scuderia is a foreign land and he remains in danger of outsider status.
When Leclerc, an Italian-speaking Monegasque, held his 28th birthday party in Austin. It was full of the team. More Italians there than in Milan. One absentee, either not invited or unavailable, Mr Lewis Hamilton.
Anyway, Mexico’s thin air comes next weekend. And who is best holding his nerve at high altitude?
