Laurence EdmondsonOct 19, 2025, 04:21 PM ET
- • Joined ESPN in 2009
• An FIA accredited F1 journalist since 2011
AUSTIN, Texas -- Max Verstappen's remarkable pursuit of a fifth world title continued at the United States Grand Prix after an assured victory further cut the gap to championship leader Oscar Piastri.
Piastri could only manage a fifth-place finish after struggling all weekend with his McLaren, meaning Verstappen outscored the championship leader by 15 points and reduced the gap in the standings to 40.
Lando Norris also made inroads on Piastri's championship lead with a second-place finish, meaning his gap to his McLaren teammate now stands at 14 points with five races remaining.
The result means Verstappen has closed the gap to Piastri by 69 points over the last four rounds and is now 26 points behind Norris in second place.
To underline Verstappen's momentum, it was the Red Bull driver's third win in four grands prix, and followed victory in Saturday's sprint race, which both McLaren cars failed to finish.
Verstappen's Sunday victory never looked in doubt after Norris, who started second, was passed by Charles Leclerc in the first corner and then became bottled up behind the Ferrari for the vast majority of the race.
Norris initially overtook Leclerc on Lap 21, but lost the position again when the Ferrari driver made an earlier pit stop for fresh tyres and undercut the McLaren.
Norris quickly latched onto the back of the Ferrari but struggled with his tyres overheating, meaning he had to back off and create a gap to Leclerc around Lap 40.
After cooling his tyres down, Norris resumed his pursuit of Leclerc and passed the Ferrari on Lap 51 with another clean move at Turn 12.
After winning in Austin last year, Leclerc had to settle for his sixth podium finish of the season in third place ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton in fourth.
Behind Piastri in fifth place, George Russell took sixth for Mercedes ahead of the second Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda in seventh.
After crashing out of Saturday's sprint race along with the McLarens, Nico Hülkenberg secured points for Sauber with eighth place ahead of the Haas of Oliver Bearman and Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin in tenth.
