Max Verstappen delivered the perfect Formula 1 Sprint weekend in Austin with a clean sweep across all qualifying sessions and races as a successful Drivers' Title defense seems more probable than ever.
Verstappen won both the Grand Prix and the Sprint Race from pole, while McLaren struggled to challenge him on Sunday, as both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri got wiped out on the opening lap of the latter on Saturday.
The Dutchman, on the other hand, was confident and dominated throughout F1's three days of action in the Lone Star State, extracting the best out of his RB21, which now seems to be a well-honed machine with its new floor and front wing, while Red Bull Racing's new approach in setting it up has paid dividends.
As for McLaren, they couldn't get their MCL39 running as they hoped in Austin and were busy fighting Ferrari rather than Verstappen.
With the McLaren drama during the Sprint Race and all the talk about repercussions of their drivers' contact in Singapore, combined with Verstappen's recent supreme form, the weekend in Austin may prove pivotal in the fight for the F1 Drivers' Crown in 2025.
So let's delve into our Takeaways from the 2025 United States Grand Prix.
Verstappen laser focused on the trophy
After enduring a nightmare of an early season, things started changing for Verstappen, coinicidentially after Laurent Mekies became Team Principal of Red Bull Racing, replacing Christian Horner.
The RB21 has improved with recent upgrades, and the team is now listening to Max more in the way they go about setting the car, which means they are no longer chasing their tails between Fridays and Saturdays, starting with a decent baseline setup for the car and fine-tuning from there onwards.
And that was more than enough for Verstappen, who has taken the initiative, reducing the gap to Piastri from 104 points at one point over the summer break to 40 points after Austin and is now in serious contention with five more races remaining with two Sprints as well as we struggle to find literature fit to describe or praise his talent.
He has won three of the last four races, only missing out on a Singapore victory with George Russell denying him the honors, but the reigning Champ bounced back in style in Austin, winning everything and leaving his rivals fighting for scraps in his wake.
That means Max is now a serious contender for this year's Drivers' Crown, and a fifth consecutive Title is no longer an outlandish prediction, provided Red Bull keep the RB21 at its best behavior, and their star driver will simply take care of the rest, starting from Mexico next weekend, where he has won seven times before.
This must be sending shivers down the spines of the folks at McLaren, drivers and management alike, especially the bosses who are now feeling the repercussions of their application of Papaya rules.
Which brings me to my next Takeaway.
Repercussions, repercussions, repercussions...
McLaren came to Austin on the back of the Lap 1 crash between Norris and Piastri in Singapore, which, according to statements from the team and their drivers, was deemed to be the Briton's fault, as he also admitted he would face repercussions—something Zak Brown was quick to downplay. Piastri must be thrilled.
With the repercussions stealing the spotlight in Austin, Norris and Piastri must have been fed up with that and decided to shift the focus on something else, hence their Sprint Race crash.
Brown and Stella immediately blamed Nico Hulkenberg, whose contact with Piastri sent the latter into his teammate, ending both their races, but the McLaren CEO was gracious enough to retract his criticism of the Sauber driver, which was the least he could do.
The switch Piastri was attempting on Norris would have worked well later in the race but not at the start, and the Australian should've anticipated the presence of another car on his left, which he did not.
That is the latest in a series of errors by Piastri, who has been struggling lately, and here I would hazard a guess that it is all in his head. This happens when you feel your team doesn't want you to win.
I know many may dismiss this as conspiracy theories, but I am convinced that Brown is doing all he can to make sure his investment, aka Lando Norris, bears fruit, and I have said before that I have no issue with that; just don't insult our intelligence by saying that your drivers are allowed to race on equal grounds.
Now it seems Norris is overdriving, confident he can do no wrong in the eyes of his bosses, while Piastri is on the back foot and desperate to respond, which simply explains both crashes in Singapore and the Austin Sprint.
I wonder where Norris' aggressiveness was when he was trying to pass Charles Leclerc in a slowed Ferrari. If he couldn't do that quickly enough, how does he expect himself to fight Verstappen for the win, that is, should he be able to catch him?
For me, if neither McLaren driver wins the 2025 Drivers' Title, there should be repercussions... I think you know on who…
Unites States Grand Prix Quick Hits
- An up-and-down weekend for Ferrari, who struggled on Saturday but bounced back on Sunday. Fred Vasseur was proud of his team's turnaround, but does he or they know why they were bad and why they were good?
- The same can be applied to Mercedes, who came tumbling down after their Singapore highs. But at least they have their classic excuse: it was the heat. But hey, wasn't it hot in Singapore?
Nevertheless, Russell, armed with a new Mercedes contract for 2026, maximized his potential. - The ever-improving Yuki Tsunoda may be actually doing so. Great drives in both the Sprint Race and the Grand Prix. But his pace is still way off Verstappen. I know being knocked out in SQ1 of Sprint Qualifying was not his fault, but he was almost one second off his teammate's pole time in Qualifying.
- Someone please explain the thought process of Lance Stroll. After crashing into Esteban Ocon in the Sprint Race, did he actually believe he could get his Aston Martin back to the pits with the front right wheel sitting on top of the suspension? Remember Sao Paulo last year when he was attempting to rejoin the track after spinning on the formation lap, and did so going through the gravel and getting stuck?
- A decent weekend for Hulkenberg. He had the measure of Gabriel Bortoleto and was fast all weekend. It's a pity how his Sprint Race turned out.
- How fast can someone go from hero to zero? Carlos Sainz went from a podium in the Sprint Race to a DNF in the Grand Prix after tagging Kimi Antonelli. I understand that he tried that move with the Italian, as it worked a few laps before, but then he locked up. To add insult to injury, the Spaniard will have to serve a five-place grid penalty in Mexico.
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