Verstappen in overdrive as world title starts to become ‘interesting’
With five races to go, any of three drivers could still win the world title.
If Max Verstappen’s surname means ‘far steps’, that is exactly what he was doing while winning the US Grand Prix last Sunday.
His high rate of knots gave the impression that he was in overdrive and he was uncatchable by anybody.
Even when there was a pace car intervention and the cars concertinaed, he would pull away into a comfortable lead.
I really believe that, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes have caught up with the McLaren secret of running the cars very low to the ground without wearing out the ‘control plank’ which is fitted under the car.
If you can get a car to run very close to the ground it has an exponential effect on the downforce created by the partial vacuum under the car.
You can tell when the ‘low flyers’ quite often leave a small cloud of sawdust in the air when they run over a kerb, that they are skimming the ground.
Back to the race, where we had a great tussle between Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris with the latter taking second place away from the Ferrari towards the end of the race.
This was not easy and took a big effort from Norris.
In fourth position, 10 seconds behind his teammate, was Lewis Hamilton after another very good race.
Hamilton is really getting to grips with his equestrian beast and has become more than a threat to Leclerc.
It is great to see the prancing horses coming back after a difficult period in their development.
They knew they had to run lower to the ground but it took time to know how to do it.
Oscar Piastri (McLaren) finished the race in fifth, less than a second behind Hamilton and George Russell in the first of the Mercedes, another four seconds behind.
So, it was exciting stuff and extremely close racing.
Yuki Tsunoda did better than usual by taking his Red Bull past Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber, followed by Oliver Bearman ninth and Fernando Alonso home in the last point scoring position.
It was a great race and I believe the world championship this year could be a close chase right to the end.
Norris and Verstappen will be doing their utmost to close the gap on Piastri.
I think it will be a difficult task but is just within the realm of possibility. (For example, if Verstappen wins all five remaining races, Piastri would have to finish second in four and third in the other to beat him by a point).
There are five races left between now and the season end – Mexico on October 26, Brazil on November 8, Las Vegas on November 22, Qatar on November 30 and Abu Dhabi on December 7.
It really should be a wonderful end to the current season before a completely new set of rules, technically and from an environmental point of view, come into being in 2026.
We can only hope that the increased competition next year makes it even better than 2025.
DRIVERS
1 Oscar Piastri 346
2 Lando Norris 332
3 Max Verstappen 306
4 George Russell 252
5 Charles Leclerc 192
6 Lewis Hamilton 142
7 Kimi Antonelli 89
8 Alexander Albon 73
9 Nico Hulkenberg 41
10 Isack Hadjar 39
CONSTRUCTORS
1 McLaren 678
2 Mercedes 341
3 Ferrari 334
4 Red Bull 331
5 Williams 111
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