Max Verstappen claimed a dominant United States Grand Prix victory forward of Lando Norris because the pair made vital inroads into Oscar Piastri’s Drivers’ Championship lead.
Verstappen adopted up Saturday’s Dash win with a lights-to-flag triumph for Crimson Bull on the Circuit of The Americas, whereas Norris made a late move on Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to salvage second place as his McLaren team-mate Piastri toiled to fifth.
A 3rd win in 4 races for Verstappen brings the Dutchman inside 40 factors of Piastri with 5 rounds of the 2025 season remaining, whereas Norris closes to inside 14 factors of the title lead.
Verstappen, who’s chasing a fifth successive drivers’ title, has in simply 4 rounds diminished Piastri’s lead over him from a seemingly unbridgeable 104 factors, with 23 factors gained throughout the Austin weekend after each McLarens had been taken out of the Dash after being concerned in a multi-car collision in the beginning.
Requested about his championship probabilities after the race, Verstappen replied: “The prospect is there. We simply must attempt to ship these weekends till the tip.
“We will try whatever we can. It’s exciting and I’m very excited until the end.”
Piastri had appeared on track for a maiden title when his Dutch Grand Prix victory on the finish of August took him 34 factors away from Norris, however the 24-year-old Australian has completed behind each his nearest challengers in any respect 4 races since, with uncharacteristic errors compounding a basic drop-off in tempo.
Lewis Hamilton took fourth to finish an improved show for Ferrari, with Leclerc ending a streak of 5 races with no podium for the Italian workforce.
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Max Verstappen says he’s centered on being excellent for the remainder of the season as he hunts down the McLaren’s within the title combat.
George Russell was sixth as Mercedes failed to breed the tempo that enabled the Brit to win in Singapore two weeks in the past, whereas Verstappen’s Crimson Bull team-mate Yuki Tsunoda claimed seventh.
Russell’s team-mate Kimi Antonelli completed outdoors the factors after an early collision with Carlos Sainz when the pair had been battling for seventh, which resulted within the Williams driver retiring from the race, and will probably additionally earn him a grid penalty for subsequent weekend’s race in Mexico.
With McLaren already having sealed the Constructors’ Championship, Sunday’s outcome noticed Mercedes’ benefit over Ferrari within the battle for second diminished to seven factors, with Crimson Bull simply three factors additional again.
Norris salvages second as Piastri toils
McLaren entered the race hopeful that their energy in managing tyres would enable Norris to problem Verstappen for victory within the sizzling situations, however his plans suffered an instantaneous blow.
The Brit acquired tucked up behind Verstappen on the first nook, permitting Leclerc to swoop across the outdoors and earn the within line on the method to Flip 2, which might enable the Ferrari to take second.
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US GP opening lap! Max Verstappen holds off Lando Norris as Charles Leclerc pounces early in Austin!
Piastri crucially adopted Hamilton previous Russell in the beginning, which meant the 4 positions that separated him and Norris in the beginning had been halved within the opening corners.
Norris utilized heavy strain to Leclerc within the early levels however would put himself on the again foot by exceeding observe limits on three separate events, mentioning a black and white flag warning that meant one additional breach would lead to a five-second time penalty.
The Brit wasn’t deterred and on lap 21 would lastly move Leclerc, however Ferrari instantly pitted the Monegasque, who had been the one front-runner to start out the race on the smooth tyre compound, along with his rivals on the extra sturdy medium.
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Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc rewatch their United States Grand Prix battle for P2 within the cooldown room.
Norris waited one other 10 laps to change from mediums to softs, by which level Leclerc had undercut him, which means the McLaren driver would want to move the Ferrari once more to reclaim his beginning place.
The sample was much like the primary stint as Norris cruised up behind the Ferrari earlier than turning into annoyed and seemingly accepting his hopes of second had been gone as he complained about tyre put on.
Nonetheless, the McLaren got here on sturdy within the closing levels, and Norris ruthlessly compelled his means by on the within of Flip 12 with 5 laps remaining.
“It was a good battle with Charles, he fought hard. It was tough,” Norris mentioned. “We did every thing we might. I assumed we had it in a better means after we acquired forward and we went for much longer. I anticipated a barely simpler second try and get by however it wasn’t the case.
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Lando Norris says Charles LeClerc defended very effectively of their battle for second in Austin, and that he would’ve struggled to move Max Verstappen if he had the chance.
“Charles drove a very good race, it was good fun. Good battles. So I had to take second, not a lot more we could have done today.”
Surprisingly, Piastri by no means appeared like threatening Hamilton for fourth, till the Ferrari driver suffered what he believed was a slow-puncture on the ultimate lap and was solely simply in a position to dangle on to equal his finest grand prix end of the season.
Piastri mentioned: “(There are) some things to try to understand from this weekend because clearly it just wasn’t related to qualifying.”
Components 1’s thrilling title race heads continues on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the Mexico Metropolis Grand Prix this weekend, reside on Sky Sports activities F1. Stream Sky Sports activities with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
