Title tension builds as Verstappen dominates in Austin

It wasn’t the most chaotic race Austin has seen, but the United States Grand Prix still delivered plenty of championship weight, with Max Verstappen’s commanding victory tightening the championship picture and putting fresh pressure on Oscar Piastri heading into the final stretch of the season.

Unlike yesterday’s “amateur” start to the Sprint race, the grid’s dash to the first braking zone of the United States Grand Prix was a surprisingly clean one, with Verstappen holding onto his lead while the order shifted in his mirrors.

Taking the risk as the only driver within the top fifteen to start on the soft compound, Charles Leclerc catapulted his Ferrari into second place, taking a wide route through Turn 1 to relegate Lando Norris into third.

The Ferrari driver’s teammate mirrored his early overtaking prowess, Lewis Hamilton disposing of his former Mercedes partner, George Russell, who lost two places to the #44 and Piastri as the lights went out. 

Piastri and Russell engaged in a tight battle for fourth place, however, it was the fight for second place that ruled the first stint of the Austin outing.

Running just seven-tenths apart, DRS was Norris’ greatest ally as he clung to the Ferrari driver’s rear wing, staging his first attempt at an overtake on Leclerc as the duo rounded Turn 11, charging down the back straight.

The McLaren driver’s attack was neutralised on Lap 7, with a Virtual Safety Car taking over at the Circuit of The Americas to allow Carlos Sainz’s stricken Williams to be cleared.

The Spaniard, under post-race investigation, took an overambitious inside line as he attempted a pass on Kimi Antonelli at Turn 15, sending the rookie spinning into the gravel, and forcing himself into retirement just metres down the road.

The race got going once again on Lap 9, however, the action had subsided for the time being, with Norris waiting for his medium tyre advantage to come into play just five laps later.

Back within a second of Car No.16 on Lap 16, Norris was given a lesson in defence as Leclerc put on a masterclass display through Turns 12-16 to maintain second place, defending for his life at each of the 19 corners, which allowed Hamilton to momentarily claw his way back into podium contention. 

On Lap 19, the Briton prepared for a second attack, however, his aggression backfired when he picked up yet another track limits warning, drawing him closer to the looming threat of a five-second penalty.

Putting the stewards’ warning on the back burner, Norris finally cemented the long-awaited move for second place as he passed down the inside of the Ferrari driver into Turn 12, leaving the Monegasque vulnerable to his teammate as his soft tyres started to fade. 

The Ferrari duo soon found themselves running side by side, with the potential for contact between Leclerc and Hamilton growing by the second before Leclerc was called into the pitlane, swapping his overworked C4 tyres for a fresh set of C3 tyres. 

With Leclerc dropping back to P9 on return, the race settled down once again, creating the perfect opportunity for the rest of the front runners to relinquish their punished medium compound tyres.

By Lap 33, the top six were back to their opening lap order, with Verstappen maintaining his dominant lead over the pack whilst in the pits, appearing six seconds clear of Leclerc as he rejoined the race.

The battle to be the car in the Dutchman’s mirrors had reignited, however, with Norris now gaining ground on the soft compound and tracking within a second of Leclerc.

Conditions started to shift in Austin, with the heat a more punishing factor as the race progressed, impacting the McLaren driver, who soon dropped back from the Ferrari, with his used soft tyres struggling to hold onto their competitive edge as his MCL39 started to overheat in the dirty air. 

Aside from the tangible difficulties that came from the car underneath him, Norris’ declining pace was a huge mental hurdle requiring his race engineer Will Joseph to coach him through his audible frustrations. 

With the promise of a redemption arc incoming, Norris spent the next ten laps resetting before he found his way back into the Ferrari driver’s mirrors on Lap 50.

Leaving nothing on the table, the #4 charged uphill to Turn 1, pulling alongside Leclerc before momentarily passing the Ferrari driver.

Carrying too much speed, the McLaren driver couldn’t hold onto second place as Leclerc switched back into the silver medal standing for the next eleven corners, with a successful move down the inside of Turn 12, then allowing Norris to clinch P2 after a hard-fought battle.

Praying for the McLaren driver to put a foot wrong when it came to one more track limits violation, the Ferrari pit wall instructed Leclerc to “keep the pressure on”, however, by the following lap, the #16 had fallen out of DRS range.

Across the remaining few laps, Norris pulled an interval of 7.4 seconds over Leclerc, with the championship chaser also coming within 7.9 seconds of the race winner.

Also losing significant pace was the second-running Ferrari, with Hamilton reporting a potential front right tyre puncture in the dying stages of the United States Grand Prix, giving Piastri, who had been traveling over six seconds behind, a sniff at two additional points. 

With the seven-time world champion taking an overly cautious approach despite the team’s telemetry showing no concerns, Piastri came within 1.1 seconds of P4 as they took the chequered flag, falling just short of an improved result on a weekend where his championship lead took a major hit. 

Behind, Russell crossed the finish line in P5, running a relatively lonely end to the 56-lap race.

Yuki Tsunoda’s jump from P13 to P7 at the start of the USGP put the Red Bull driver in a strong position for the remainder of the race, allowing the Japanese driver to score six points on an overwhelming position day for Red Bull in the constructors’ standings, seeing the team just three points behind Ferrari, and 10 points behind Mercedes.

Nico Hulkenberg made a return to the points, finishing in eighth place ahead of Ollie Bearman, who, despite spinning across the dirt in his fight with the #22 Red Bull, crossed the line in P9.

Fernando Alonso secured the final point in Austin, leading a three-way fight for P10 between himself, Liam Lawson, and Lance Stroll.

Verstappen’s dominant flag-to-flag victory in Austin brings the Red Bull driver within 40 points of Piastri’s championship lead, and just 26 points behind Norris in second place, breathing more life into his hopes for a fifth consecutive championship victory come Abu Dhabi.

But first, the Dutchman will have to put together a perfect string of results during the final five races and two Sprint events, with part two of the double header taking the grid down to Mexico for this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix. 

Returning to a conventional weekend format, the first hour of practice in Mexico City will take place at 05:30 AEST on Saturday, October 25.

Image: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

United States Grand Prix Race Results:

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