Dominant Verstappen reels in McLaren duo with Austin victory

Verstappen’s perfect weekend

Victory from pole position in the sprint, all while the McLarens failed to score after a no-fault racing incident collision, marked a pretty good start to the Austin weekend for Verstappen. To then take pole for the Grand Prix and race away to a serene victory on Sunday capped a stella visit to Texas for the four-time World Champion.

Clear into Turn 1 from the start, Verstappen was perhaps aided by Leclerc getting ahead of Norris. But even if the McLaren hadn’t faced a Ferrari red wall, it seems unlikely the outcome would have been any different. Yes, Verstappen dropped back towards his chasers in the closing stages as his soft Pirelli tyres began to wilt in the hot Texas sun, but then again everyone faced the same problem in a gruelling, if processional, Grand Prix.

So, can he win a fifth consecutive World Title and pull off the greatest comeback in F1 history? Yes — this is Max Verstappen, after all. But will he? It remains a tall order…

What is clear is that Red Bull is back. This win felt like a re-wind to the team’s domination of 2023, and if Verstappen keeps beating the McLarens and eking into their lead we could be in for something very special.

You could tell from his body language in his post-race interview with Martin Brundle and his tacit admission that he’s going all-out with one goal firmly in mind: Verstappen can sniff the opportunity that against all odds is now beginning to present itself.

Norris versus Leclerc

In that context, Norris beating Leclerc to second place was crucial, because as we get closer to the end every point might well make all the difference. With Piastri out of the picture in Austin, qualifying sixth for the Grand Prix and racing to a lonely fifth, this was a big opportunity for Norris to make inroads — even if the increasingly pesky Verstappen was out of reach for the victory.

Leclerc drove a blinder on a smart Ferrari strategy to give Norris a serious headache at the Circuit of the Americas. He was the only one in the top 15 to start on (used) red-walled softs, and made the most of them to swing wide on the outside line into Turn 1 and beat Norris into second place.

“I was a little worried when I saw I was the only car on softs at the beginning, but I kind of knew that it was a risky move,” he said. “What I had in mind was to use the softs to try to get free air — it was quite optimistic because we had two cars in front, but that’s what we tried to do.” Norris was frustrated to find that even with DRS down the back straight Leclerc was able to keep his Ferrari just out of reach.

After a couple of foiled attempts, the McLaren driver finally made one stick on lap 21, though by this time Verstappen was long gone. On lap 25 of 56, the Red Bull was more than ten seconds up the road.

But Leclerc wasn’t done. He pitted a lap after Norris passed him to take on yellow-walled mediums, rejoining ninth. Leclerc then carefully picked his way past Nico Hülkenberg, Oliver Bearman and Yuki Tsunoda, and when Norris finally pitted for softs on lap 33 the Ferrari was back in front of the McLaren. Great work.

As the race ground on, Norris began to struggle on his softs and dropped back, only to rally after his tyres had cooled a little. Back he came at Leclerc and on lap 51 made a dive on the inside at Turn 1. Leclerc had it covered and slipped back ahead on the exit but was then powerless down the back straight into Turn 12 — Norris moved to the inside and swept into second place for good.

The pair had enjoyed a spirited and clean battle. Norris knew second was as good as it could get for him on this day, and Leclerc was back on a podium after a worrying dry spell for Ferrari.

Three teams in scrap for second

Lewis Hamilton drove a steady, mostly lonely race to fourth having shadowed Leclerc and Norris in the early stages, while Piastri kept George Russell’s Mercedes at arm’s length having started two places behind the Singapore Grand Prix winner, who didn’t have the pace to feature at the sharp end in Austin.

Beyond the increasing intrigue for the Drivers’ World Championship, another upshot of this result is that Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull are now separated by a span of only ten points. It’s only for second place, given that McLaren is already crowned 2025 Constructors’ Champions, but there are millions of dollars — not to mention a heap of pride — at stake over which finishes best of the rest. Given Verstappen’s renewed form, fourth-placed Red Bull is now right back in the game to get one over Mercedes and Ferrari.

One to forget for Piastri

Damage limitation is probably the politest way to describe Piastri’s Grand Prix after the disaster of the sprint race on Saturday. In attempting to cut back inside Norris out of Turn 1, he’d been clipped by Hülkenberg’s Sauber which then sent him into his team-mate. Awkward and dramatic in the moment, but upon reflection just one of those things at a first corner that often induces such collisions.

Piastri has little time to stew and must dust himself down quickly, recompose and get set for the Mexican Grand Prix this coming weekend. To recap, his gap to Norris is down to 14 points, with Verstappen annoyingly now just 40 behind.

That’s still a strong position anyone would take with five races to go, but it’s much weaker than when he last won a race back in August at Zandvoort. He’s shown an impressively cool head for much of 2025 — that strength is needed now more than ever.

Images courtesy of Getty Images.