Follow us on Google Discover Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen has won the United States Grand Prix and closed the gap even further in the drivers’ championship.
Oscar Piastri led the drivers’ championship from Lando Norris by 22 points going into the United States Grand Prix, but both McLarens will be looking over their shoulders going into the final five races.
Max Verstappen took another significant chunk out of Piastri’s lead, winning both the Sprint Race and Sunday’s Grand Prix in Austin.
Red Bull have made serious steps forward in recent races, and Verstappen’s US Grand Prix win was his fifth of the campaign.
Verstappen was asked immediately after the race about his championship chances and his pace advantage over Norris.
He’s sounding more and more confident that he could match Michael Schumacher’s record and win five consecutive titles with each passing race.
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Photo by Clive Rose/Getty ImagesMax Verstappen says ‘the chance is there’ to win the drivers’ championship after the United States GP win
Verstappen was interviewed by Martin Brundle immediately after the race, via Sky Sports F1 (19/10 9:46 pm), about the race and said: “It was an unbelievable weekend for us. I knew that the race was not going to be super straightforward.
“I think, if you look at the whole race, the pace between myself and Lando was pretty close.
“I think just in that first stint we made the difference, I could eke out a little bit of a gap, and that’s basically what we kept until the end.
“It wasn’t easy also to manage the tyres for most of the stint, but yeah, I kept it in the lead, and just incredibly proud of everyone to deliver a weekend like this.”
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Verstappen was then asked about his thoughts on the drivers’ championship and continued: “Yeah, for sure, the chance is there.
“We just need to deliver these kinds of weekends until the end! So yeah, we’ll just try whatever we can and I think it’s exciting and I’m just very excited to the end.”
Damon Hill hails Max Verstappen’s ‘absolute masterclass’ at the United States Grand Prix
Verstappen is now only 40 points behind Piastri in the championship with five races and two Sprints to go.
Considering that after a disappointing Hungarian Grand Prix, Piastri had extended the gap to nearly 100 points, it’s an incredible turnaround in such a short space of time.
RANKDRIVERTEAMPOINTS1Max VerstappenRed Bull252Lando NorrisMcLaren183Charles LeclercFerrari154Lewis HamiltonFerrari125Oscar PiastriMcLaren106George RussellMercedes87Yuki TsunodaRed Bull68Nico HulkenbergSauber49Oliver BearmanHaas210Fernando AlonsoAston Martin12025 United States Grand Prix result
Commentating on the race for BBC Sport, 1996 world champion Damon Hill said: “Masterclass, another masterclass. Verstappen is relentless.
“They have got this team working. They have not been derailed. They got the car working to Max’s liking.”
Red Bull suffered a ‘dip’ in form earlier in the year, and there would have been concerns within the team that it could cost the Dutchman the title.
The speed with which he’s catching the two McLaren drivers right now suggests that he’s not got much to worry about when it comes to his championship chances.