The Lion Stalks His Prey: Max Verstappen closes in on McLaren after back-to-back wins over the United States Grand Prix weekend
Updated: May 2
The United States Grand Prix gave way to the additional sprint on Saturday, giving more opportunities to gain more points towards the Driver’s Championship. With Max quickly catching up to the McLaren duo, the Championship seems to be slipping away from Piastri slowly, Verstappen right on Lando Norris’ tail.
Max Verstappen was already on a high after a very successful last few rounds, winning two of the three races recently, after previously stating that he would never win a race again. The jam-packed weekend started with the sprint qualifying on Friday after a very short free practice, Verstappen storming to pole, with Norris in P2 and Piastri in P3. While not ideal, the duo were projected to pick up some vital points to separate themselves from one another as well as widen the gap to the hungry Red Bull driver threatening their Driver’s Championship.
However, Saturday’s sprint was less than the glamourous point-puller McLaren hoped for. Verstappen cleanly broke away from the back to cruise to yet another win, gaining a valuable eight points and ever inching closer to Lando Norris. He avoided the chaos that ensued behind him, right into turn one that took out both Norris and Piastri, also damaging Hulkenburg, leaving the rest of the grid to scramble and avoid the debris left by the three cars.
Leaving the sprint race scoreless after what was ruled as an unfortunate race incident, it was all to play for later in the day, where McLaren needed to qualify on the front row. George Russel and Carlos Sainz drove calm races, finishing off the podium in P2 and P3, Russel trying to extend Mercedes’ lead on Ferrari in the Drivers’ Championship. Ferrari also struggled at the beginning of the weekend, problems with the car offering no help in the one practice race, to qualifying near the back of the top ten, their battle with Mercedes for P2 in the Constructor’s championship seemed to put them on the back burner for the races after a P5 and P6 in the Sprint, all to play for in Sunday’s race.
Qualifying for the main events at the Circuit of the Americas again emphasised Max Verstappen’s capabilities, comfortably finding himself yet again on pole for Sunday. Lando Norris followed closely behind in P2, with a 0.2 second gap between the pole sitter and himself, with Leclerc just 0.06 seconds behind in P3. Ferrari’s qualifying put them in a good position, both cars starting higher up on the grid, and the Mercedes drivers falling short, qualifying in P4 and P7. Pressure might be building for the Championship leader Oscar Piastri, who could only clinch P6, having his work cut out for him. Ollie Bearman shocked the grid with a stunning P8 qualifying, putting the Haas in a good position to pick up a few vital points.
Sunday’s United States Grand Prix went entirely smooth sailing for Max Verstappen, breaking away immediately and cruising his way to yet another win, leading every lap with an eight second gap from P2. Norris not having a great start opened himself up to Leclerc, who kept P2 right until the last few laps of the race, the Briton having to overtake Leclerc on two separate occasions. His incredible defending prevented Norris from getting anywhere near Verstappen once he overtook him, also giving Ferrari thirty additional points after Hamilton finished in P4, closing the gap Mercedes to just seven points. The weekend comeback from Ferrari had Hamilton say that he was “finally getting on top of the car”, and Leclerc being pleased at his podium finish, because “it has been a tough second part of the year”.
There were still big moments of disaster for some drivers in the grid, adding to the already unexpected and chaotic weekend. Carlos Sainz, after a brilliant P3 finish in the sprint on the Saturday, was handed a five-second penalty post-race for Mexico after colliding into the side of Kimi Antonelli, ruining his chances of scoring points for himself and to aid the Mercedes battle against Ferrari in the standings. While he did finish P13, he did take away Verstappen’s chances at a Grand Slam, stealing the fastest lap from underneath him. George Russel also struggled to gain positions this race, finishing P6 which allowed Ferrari to heavily catch up to the Mercedes team.
After a great qualifying, Bearman finishes the Grand Prix in P9, taking home some great points for Haas, the rookie determined to show his place and performance in F1 is strong and deserving, impressing many in one of the slower cars on the grid. Fernando also quietly kept himself in the top 10 this weekend, having a calm and clean race, undisturbed, taking home a much-needed point for Aston Martin, Stroll just not able to progress further up the grid.
There were also battles towards the back of the grid, Colapinto butting heads with the team when being told to hold position and not overtake his Alpine teammate Gasly, claiming that he “is too slow”. He did eventually overtake him after being allowed to do so, but he could be facing repercussions post-race from Alpine.With Max Verstappen climbing his way back into the title race, he is just forty points away from Piastri, who finished the race in P5 after not being able to catch the rest of the grid.
Verstappen is even closer to Norris, just twenty-six points separating them, and Norris’ gap to Piastri being just fourteen points. It would take just one DNF or finishing outside the points from Piastri and finishing in the top 5 for Lando Norris to overtake him in the standings, and the exact same scenario for Verstappen to overtake Norris in the standings.
Verstappen, after the race, took to the Media and found himself saying he could potentially win the Championship this year:
“For sure, the chance is there.
“We just need to try and deliver these kind of weekends now ’til the end. We’ll just try whatever we can. I think it is exciting and I’m just very excited to the end.
“It was an unbelievable weekend for us, but 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 really close. I think just in that first stint, that’s where we made the difference. I could eke out a little bit of a gap, and that’s basically what we kept ’til the end. It wasn’t easy to manage the tyres on both of the stints, but we kept it in the lead. I’m just incredibly proud of everyone to deliver a weekend like this.”
With McLaren discussing that Norris would face repercussions after the previous race, it really is all to play for. What does it mean for Norris? Will Piastri hold onto his race lead a little longer? Will Max come from behind and potentially win a fifth title? We head to Gran Premio De La Ciudad De Mexico this coming weekend for the twentieth round of the 2025 season.
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