Max Verstappen wins F1 United States Grand Prix; cuts the lead in the Piastri ranking | Motorsport news

Verstappen’s wire-to-wire victory in Austin narrows the drivers’ championship gap to 40 points behind Oscar Piastri, with six races remaining.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen dominated the United States Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday, leading every lap to take another big chunk of Oscar Piastri’s Formula One championship lead on a perfect weekend in Texas.

McLaren’s Piastri finished fifth with teammate and closest rival Lando Norris, seconds after passing Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, last year’s winner, five laps from the checkered flag.

Piastri now leads Briton Norris by 14 points, with five laps and two sprints remaining, while Verstappen has reduced his gap to the Australian to 40 after being 104 behind at the end of August.

Verstappen also won Saturday’s sprint from pole position at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas, while the McLarens collided and retired, in a maximum points weekend for the four-time world champion.

McLaren has already sealed the constructors’ title.

Verstappen says title chance is here

“Of course the chance is there,” Verstappen said of the title battle. “We just have to try to make these weekends last until the end.

“We will do everything we can. It’s exciting,” he added after his third victory in the last four races and the 68th of his career.

Piastri said he still had full confidence in his ability to become Australia’s first champion since Alan Jones in 1980.

“I still prefer to be where I am rather than the other two,” added the 24-year-old.

Norris lost to Leclerc at the start, then took 21 laps to find a way back as the Monegasque, on faster but less durable soft tires, put on a defensive masterclass.

Leclerc then fought with Lewis Hamilton, who started on mediums, before entering the pits on lap 23 and returning to ninth place, his teammate moving up to third and Piastri to fourth.

Verstappen, at that point, was 10 seconds behind his closest rival.

Once the rest of the leaders made their pit stops, Leclerc was second again on the road – but more than six seconds behind Verstappen – with Norris third and having to overtake again with a track limits warning hanging over him.

Job done, Norris broke away and finished 7.9 seconds behind Verstappen and 7.4 ahead of the Ferrari.

“It was difficult. We did everything we could,” he said of a battle that gave fans some excitement as Verstappen completed lap after lap largely absent from the global TV feed.

“I was expecting a second attempt to be a little easier to get through, but that wasn’t the case. Charles had a very good race. It was a lot of fun, good battles. So we have to take second place. There wasn’t much more we could have done today.”

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella, however, said Norris could have fought for victory had he not been held back by the Ferrari.

Hamilton finished fourth, with Piastri just 1.1 seconds behind and George Russell – winner last time out in Singapore – taking the checkered flag sixth for Mercedes.

Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda finished seventh, ahead of Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Haas’ Oliver Bearman. Fernando Alonso took the final point for Aston Martin.

The virtual safety car was deployed on lap seven when Mercedes’ Italian rookie Kimi Antonelli and Williams’ Carlos Sainz collided, with the Spaniard retiring after attempting to overtake on the inside for seventh place.

Stewards handed Sainz a five-place grid penalty at next weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix, plus two penalty points, for causing the collision.

Sainz’s teammate Alex Albon was also caught in a first-corner collision with Sauber’s Brazilian rookie Gabriel Bortoleto.

The weekend was declared dangerous by the heat, although the air temperature during the race was lower than feared, at around 28.6 degrees Celsius (83.5 Fahrenheit).