McLaren probe adds heat to Piastri as \u2018deflated\u2019 Aussie responds<\/a><\/p>\n‘Far too close’ – Oscar calls for parity | 03:25<\/p>\n
VERSTAPPEN IS A TITLE CONTENDER<\/p>\n
It was in Azerbaijan, two rounds ago, that McLaren boss Andrea Stella told reporters he wanted it written in capital letters that Max Verstappen was a championship contender.<\/p>\n
It was just after Verstappen took pole in Baku. The margin was 94 points.<\/p>\n
Just three races later Verstappen\u2019s deficit is down to only 40 points with five grands prix and two sprints remaining.<\/p>\n
Stella must hate being right all the time.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re long past the days of Verstappen\u2019s advantage being track specific or pertaining to prevailing conditions, and while McLaren\u2019s didn\u2019t have a perfectly clean weekend, it was hardly dire enough to account for the gulf in pace between the cars on a track that should have offered something for both.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s probably our strongest weekend in a long while,\u201d Mekies said. \u201cOn a burning-hot track where in the past it\u2019s been tricky for us in these conditions, Max kept increasing the gap.\u201d<\/p>\n
That last part is worth emphasising. It\u2019s not just that Verstappen is capitalising on scrappy races from the McLaren drivers; Red Bull Racing is neutralising McLaren\u2019s previous strengths to genuinely level the playing field.<\/p>\n
McLaren traditional tyre advantage today was negligible; it\u2019s no longer the trump card that can save a race.<\/p>\n
Combined with the car\u2019s qualifying pace at a circuit that was originally in the McLaren column, it\u2019s all good news for Red Bull Racing.<\/p>\n
How frightening should that be for McLaren?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s lay it out in numbers.<\/p>\n
Since the mid-season break Verstappen has taken 119 points of a maximum 133 points.<\/p>\n
Piastri has scored 62 points, while Norris has scored 57 points.<\/p>\n
Put another way, Verstappen has scored exactly as many points as the McLaren drivers combined during the last five rounds.<\/p>\n
Verstappen\u2019s deficit peaked at 104 points after the Dutch Grand Prix, the first race after the break. Since then he\u2019s taken 64 points out of Piastri\u2019s lead \u2014 that\u2019s a massive 16 points per weekend. He\u2019s taken 44 points out of Norris for second place.<\/p>\n
If the scores continue on the same trajectory, Verstappen won\u2019t just level the title; he\u2019ll take second place in Las Vegas and the lead in Qatar with a race to spare.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor sure the chance is there,\u201d Verstappen said in the clearest pronouncement of his championship ambitions this season. \u201cWe just need to try and deliver these kinds of weekends now until the end.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll try whatever we can. I think it\u2019s exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘F***** idiot!’ – Sainz & Kimi clash | 00:55<\/p>\n
WHERE\u2019S OSCAR PIASTRI GONE?<\/p>\n
Oscar Piastri needs a podium, but the title leader couldn\u2019t have even bought a trophy at the United States Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
From first practice to the chequered flag the Australian was off the pace, and an anonymous fifth was all that was on offer on Sunday.<\/p>\n
He gained one place from sixth off the line, but he rapidly lost touch with the top four in the first stint. His afternoon quickly became a defensive one to keep George Russell behind him, and while he achieved that, that condemned him to his lowest finish since the Australian Grand Prix, the first round of the season.<\/p>\n
His problems started in qualifying, where his roughly 0.3-second gap to Norris allowed three cars to separate him from his teammate, but his bigger problem was that the race didn\u2019t come to him in the way it would have expected to have done earlier in the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think today race pace could\u2019ve saved you, but I didn\u2019t really have that either,\u201d he admitted to Sky Sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis weekend, apart from Baku, has been the first weekend that\u2019s been a let-down. Even if it\u2019s been sup-bar before, it\u2019s still been pretty good.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething to understand from this weekend because it wasn\u2019t just related to qualifying.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrying to work out why I just didn\u2019t gel with the car this weekend is the first port of call. It was just difficult to get into a rhythm at all. That\u2019s been the big difference compared to other circuits we\u2019ve been to, even more recently.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s worth dwelling on that final assessment, that something about Piastri and this car didn\u2019t click at this circuit.<\/p>\n
Historically it\u2019s not a surprise.<\/p>\n
Over five qualifying sessions at this circuit since his 2023 debut, Piastri\u2019s average deficit to Norris is 0.486 seconds.<\/p>\n
Norris has outscored Piastri 59-20 in Austin over the last three seasons. On average Norris has scored 19.6 points per visit, while Piastri is taking home just 6.7 points.<\/p>\n
By some margin this is Piastri\u2019s biggest bogey track.<\/p>\n
Now consider that Piastri was closer to Norris than his average and scored more points than he does on average this year.<\/p>\n
Maybe it\u2019s bad, but it\u2019s not that bad, at least from the historical perspective.<\/p>\n
What might be concerning, however, is that this feels so out of step with Piastri\u2019s season.<\/p>\n
Consider, for example, his 2025 results at some of his other historically weak circuits.<\/p>\n
He won in China and Spain. He was right on the pace in Japan. In Singapore he was in the ballpark too.<\/p>\n
But in the United States we were reminded that Piastri is still in only his third year in the sport. He\u2019s close to the complete package, but there\u2019s still room for improvement.<\/p>\n
On a circuit where tyre grip was low despite high track temperatures, where the car must be leant on but constantly wants to slide out of control, Piastri was found to be lacking some tools in his tool kit.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome things to review on Oscar\u2019s side,\u201d Stella told Sky Sports. \u201cThe pace wasn\u2019t great today, but I\u2019m sure he will come back stronger in Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller crashes out, Fernandez seals win! | 03:39<\/p>\n
COULD NORRIS HAVE WON THE RACE?<\/p>\n
Despite this being the third weekend in succession at which McLaren hasn\u2019t been the topscoring team, principal Andrea Stella was choosing to see the positives after his drivers finished second and fifth.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was important today to bring home some points with both drivers to confirm that we have the pace to compete for the win,\u201d he insisted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think today without having to deal with [Charles] Leclerc for pretty much the entire race it would\u2019ve been an interesting fight with Verstappen for the win.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is positive to confirm after some difficult races recently.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve learnt a few things over the course of these last four races in which we were not scoring the usual results. There\u2019s been good learning. I\u2019m sure this will be important for the finale of this season\u201d<\/p>\n
Leclerc jumping Norris off the line dictated the Briton\u2019s entire race, with overtaking more difficult than usual given the important of managing tyre life to make it to the finish with just one pit stop.<\/p>\n
Had Norris held second off the line, or had the race been a little more conventional for this track, McLaren thinks Norris had race-winning pace.<\/p>\n
Norris, however, isn\u2019t convinced.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was certainly a little bit harder than I would\u2019ve liked,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2018I obviously would\u2019ve liked to have challenged Max, but considering I could barely get past the Ferrari, which wasn\u2019t as quick as Max, then I doubt I would\u2019ve been able to get past anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
But there are mitigating factors.<\/p>\n
The reduction of practice time on a sprint weekend means teams rely on the sprint race for the long-run data they\u2019d usually accumulate during FP2. They learn a lot about tyre life on whichever compound they choose, they learn how the car behaves when it\u2019s loaded up with fuel and they learn where they can push their set-up choices closer to the limit or where they need to dial back for a full grand prix distance.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s particularly important to gather that data in Austin, where the bumpiness of the track surface changes every year. The bumps dictate how low the car can be dropped, and ride height is the most influential set-up choice when it comes to creating downforce with this generation of car.<\/p>\n
Because Norris and Piastri were wiped out on the first lap of the sprint, McLaren lacked all that data and went into the race with a car that wasn\u2019t as honed as it should have been.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you don\u2019t have the data from the sprint race, you have to accept that you\u2019re not going to maximise some set-up parameters which come with a lot of performance,\u201d Stella told Sky Sports. \u201cWe knew that we were a little bit compromised, and in a way this reassured us even more that the pace is in the car, and we need to do a good job of extracting this pace for future races.\u201d<\/p>\n
In other words, McLaren believes its car is more competitive than it was able to show on Sunday.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s of course a moot point that\u2019s impossible to test. It\u2019s also difficult to know how much pace Verstappen had in reserve given he too was managing to make it to the finish. It was interesting too that he felt no desire to end the race with a flourish with the fastest lap in the way he might normally be expected to do.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s perhaps a glimmer of hope for McLaren \u2014 and for Norris and Piastri \u2014 that the disappointment of this weekend is explainable.<\/p>\n
Celebrations all round for Senna Agius | 06:44<\/p>\n
FERRARI\u2019S CHAOTIC FORM LINE CONTINUES<\/p>\n
You wouldn\u2019t want to be a bookmaker offering odds on Ferrari.<\/p>\n
The Italian team has been by far the most chaotic performer of the year, and it\u2019s not simply about swings from race to race.<\/p>\n
From session to session this weekend the team rocked from P-nowhere to being a podium contender fast enough to trouble McLaren.<\/p>\n
Consider that in sprint qualifying Lewis Hamilton, the fastest Ferrari driver, was 0.892 seconds off pole.<\/p>\n
Come grand prix qualifying Charles Leclerc was able to get just 0.297 seconds behind Verstappen and just 0.006 seconds behind Norris on the front row.<\/p>\n
It was an almost entirely inexplicable improvement for the Monegasque, who converted third on the grid into the final spot on the podium.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there will be a lot of analysis to understand why we have such a swing of performance at the same weekend,\u201d he said. \u201cI have some clues about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we still need to analyse everything well to understand the full picture, because it\u2019s been a big difference of performance from one day to another.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s beyond doubt, however, is how Ferrari scored its first podium since the Belgian Grand Prix in July.<\/p>\n
Leclerc was the only driver in the top 15 to start on the soft tyre, but what could have been easy fodder for critics of Ferrari\u2019s strategy team turned into a masterstroke.<\/p>\n
The extra grip helped him past Norris, and the need for all drivers to manage their tyres meant second place remained within his reach until the final five laps, when McLaren\u2019s inherently faster car and better tyre management overwhelmed him.<\/p>\n
The execution was slick. The focus was sharp. It was all the things Ferrari needs to demonstrate to keep the faith \u2014 and it arrived poignantly after a week of speculation about team principal Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Vasseur\u2019s position in light of rumoured talks between Maranello and Christian Horner.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did the perfect qualifying and race and I don\u2019t think we can regret anything,\u201d Leclerc said. \u201cI think we were very brave to start on the soft, but I like that because I think we had the right strategy from the beginning, and then others kind of copied and went on the soft later on.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we did a really good job extracting the maximum out of the car.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now back within seven points of Mercedes for second in the championship, Ferrari\u2019s challenge now is to keep it up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019re witnessing something quite extraordinary. That\u2019s Red Bull Racing boss Laurent Mekies\u2019s opinion after Max Verstappen\u2019s total domination…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":212238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[8421,8100,1487,19484,428,7614,5509,91316,91322,91309,91314,7572,19705,91325,21291,91324,14295,49691,91307,1665,891,6539,12191,91319,91323,12192,591,1687,91313,372,6537,9307,8222,91301,32747,21283,91299,14316,386,19579,1693,3302,91310,3006,19884,1735,28491,4051,19889,7618,91311,91318,91305,91306,10040,14291,91297,32748,91312,91308,3718,2946,34712,14297,640,101,37511,91317,91304,12197,3329,91315,28624,28620,12208,91300,91296,91321,91295,91303,91320,91302,56,54,5336,55,91298,21269,21281],"class_list":["post-212237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-f1","tag-america","tag-andrea-stella","tag-asia","tag-austin","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-azerbaijan","tag-bogey-track","tag-bookmaker-offering-odds","tag-burning-hot-track","tag-capital-letters","tag-carlos-sainz","tag-central-america","tag-championship-ambitions","tag-championship-battle","tag-championship-contender","tag-championship-fight","tag-championship-leader","tag-chaotic-form-line","tag-charles-leclerc","tag-china","tag-christian-horner","tag-clive-rose","tag-cuts-deficit","tag-disappointing-weekend","tag-eastern-asia","tag-europe","tag-f1","tag-final-assessment","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-george-russell","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-grand-prix-distance","tag-grand-prix-qualifying","tag-grands-prix","tag-influential-set-up-choice","tag-italian-team","tag-japan","tag-kimi-antonelli","tag-lando-norris","tag-las-vegas","tag-max-closes","tag-max-verstappen","tag-mercedes-rookie","tag-mexico","tag-nevada","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-pit-stop","tag-podium-contender","tag-possible-car","tag-practice-time","tag-qatar","tag-race-pace","tag-raul-fernandez","tag-ride-height","tag-sainz-amp-kimi","tag-set-up-parameters","tag-singapore","tag-sky-sports","tag-south-eastern-asia","tag-southern-europe","tag-spain","tag-sports","tag-sprint-race","tag-sprint-weekend-means","tag-strategy-team","tag-team-principal","tag-texas","tag-title-contender","tag-title-defence","tag-title-deficit","tag-title-leader","tag-title-twist","tag-tool-kit","tag-track-temperatures","tag-traditional-tyre-advantage","tag-trump-card","tag-tyre-life","tag-tyre-management","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-weekend-means-teams","tag-western-asia","tag-world-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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