{"id":237137,"date":"2025-10-19T21:28:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T21:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/237137\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T21:28:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T21:28:07","slug":"us-gp-five-quick-takeaways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/237137\/","title":{"rendered":"US GP: Five quick takeaways"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who is stopping Verstappen’s title charge?<\/p>\n

He couldn\u2019t, could he? Well yes, he certainly could, because Max Verstappen<\/a> is properly in contention for his fifth, consecutive Formula 1 world championship – a feat only achieved by Michael Schumacher<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One just needs to look at the gap he has reduced across the last four weekends because Verstappen left the Dutch Grand Prix with a 104-point deficit to leader Oscar Piastri<\/a>. But now, after three grand prix wins and one sprint victory, it is 40 with five rounds remaining in which there are two sprint contests.<\/p>\n

It might seem like a substantial gap, but considering what the Red Bull driver has already chopped away, then there is no reason to think Verstappen doesn\u2019t have a genuine chance because everybody knows what he is capable of when in the best machinery.<\/p>\n

\"Max <\/p>\n

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing<\/p>\n

Photo by: Zak Mauger \/ LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

And right now, Verstappen does have the best car and when that is the case, nobody can touch him – remember 2023?<\/p>\n

– Ed Hardy<\/p>\n

McLaren’<\/a>s fight with Ferrari<\/a> is a worrying sign for papaya team<\/p>\n

The 2025 United States Grand Prix showed that McLaren has got itself into serious trouble. After watching Red Bull \u2013 and Max Verstappen in particular \u2013 pull ahead, the Woking-based team found itself fighting Ferraris in Austin rather than the Dutchman.<\/p>\n

McLaren stopped developing its car earlier than its rivals. While the constructors\u2019 title is already secured, that call may be costly in the drivers\u2019 championship, where Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris<\/a> are seeing Verstappen close the gap.<\/p>\n

The fear of going into each remaining race expecting Verstappen to finish ahead could be compounded if Ferrari (or Mercedes<\/a>) can consistently match McLaren\u2019s pace, as happened in Austin, stripping more points away.<\/p>\n

\"Charles <\/p>\n

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lando Norris, McLaren<\/p>\n

Photo by: Simon Galloway \/ LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

With the title on the line, nerves are fraying. Internal tension and a dip in performance are allowing rivals to close in \u2013 and putting a smile on Verstappen\u2019s face.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Juanjo Saez<\/p>\n

Piastri needs to bounce back after anonymous Austin weekend<\/p>\n

Oscar Piastri has finished off the podium for the third consecutive grand prix for the first time this season. Azerbaijan was a tricky weekend \u2013 and possibly a one-off \u2013 with three crashes, while the race in Singapore became complicated when Lando Norris overtook him with slight contact at the start.<\/p>\n

But this weekend was especially difficult for the championship leader.<\/p>\n

Piastri was, on average, three tenths slower than Norris at the Circuit of the Americas from the very start of practice and was never able to recover. While that wasn\u2019t a real problem in sprint qualifying \u2013 he was third, right behind his team-mate \u2013 it proved extremely costly in qualifying for the grand prix. Norris was again second, but Piastri could only manage sixth, with both Ferraris and George Russell<\/a>\u2019s Mercedes splitting them.<\/p>\n

\"Oscar <\/p>\n

Oscar Piastri, McLaren<\/p>\n

Photo by: Simon Galloway \/ LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Australian admitted that his feeling with the car had \u201cjust not clicked\u201d in Austin, and this became even clearer on Sunday, as he drove an anonymous race to finish only fifth \u2014 his worst result, excluding Baku\u2019s retirement, since opening the season with ninth in Australia.<\/p>\n

Piastri\u2019s difficulties coincide with McLaren\u2019s dip in performance, but the fact Norris finished on the podium \u2014 and well ahead of his team-mate at COTA \u2013 shows the Australian needs to rediscover his earlier form as the title fight heats up.<\/p>\n

– Federico Faturos<\/p>\n

Isack Hadjar<\/a> needs to be better for Red Bull<\/p>\n

Time is running out for Red Bull<\/a>\u00a0to make the final call on who will partner Max Verstappen in 2026 \u2013 and it remains as tough a choice as it gets. Isack Hadjar is having a pretty decent rookie season in Formula 1, with a few highlights along the way in his first year with the junior squad, but overall he is still failing to prove he\u2019s the complete package. And if Red Bull still plans to be a top team next year (some say they\u2019ll struggle), it will need a top driver.<\/p>\n

\"Isack <\/p>\n

Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls Team<\/p>\n

Photo by: Simon Galloway \/ LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The problem remains: across their four F1 cars they have only one truly top driver \u2013 and a bunch of good ones, including Hadjar. The French driver appears to still be on pole for that seat, but the worry is that he\u2019s not yet fully ready for the challenge. Austin was another example. A crash in Q1 on the first flying lap is unnecessary \u2013 and enough to ruin the weekend completely.<\/p>\n

This sort of mistake is understandable for a rookie, but it will be far more visible if and when he steps into Red Bull. There you simply can\u2019t afford it.<\/p>\n

– Oleg Karpov<\/p>\n

Leclerc proves he has the making of a champion<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a shame Ferrari hasn\u2019t stepped up this year, because Charles Leclerc<\/a> is title worthy should he have the machinery behind him. Just look at today from start to finish.<\/p>\n

Firstly, that move on Lando Norris around the outside of Turn 1 was brilliant and the sort of wheel-to-wheel racing one would expect from a world champion, but then look at his defending against the McLaren driver.<\/p>\n

Leclerc made it hard work for Norris, always putting his car in the right places and, quite simply, just had the better of the Briton – even though he eventually made the overtake. But that wasn\u2019t to be the end, as Leclerc regained second with the undercut and the way he initially made the medium tyres work against the softs of the McLaren was impressive.<\/p>\n

\"Charles <\/p>\n

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lando Norris, McLaren<\/p>\n

Photo by: Simon Galloway \/ LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Yes he once again ended up behind Norris, but the McLaren driver took a long time to make the pass. All year Leclerc has been faultless, one of F1\u2019s top three drivers – Verstappen and George Russell are the other two – and would not be making a hash of the title like the McLaren boys seem to be doing.<\/p>\n

– Ed Hardy<\/p>\n

Photos from United States GP – Race<\/p>\n

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\"Max<\/p>\n


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We want your opinion!<\/p>\n

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Take our 5 minute survey.<\/a><\/p>\n

– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Who is stopping Verstappen’s title charge? He couldn\u2019t, could he? Well yes, he certainly could, because Max Verstappen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,31196,1080,3,21,103819,19,22,20,25,131179,24],"class_list":["post-237137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-circuit-of-the-americas","tag-formula-1","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-gp","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-us-gp-five-quick-takeaways","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}