United States GP: Max Verstappen claims dominant win, Lando Norris salvages second as both reduce Oscar Piastri's championship lead

Max Verstappen claimed a dominant United States Grand Prix victory ahead of Lando Norris as the pair made significant inroads into Oscar Piastri's Drivers' Championship lead.

Verstappen followed up Saturday's Sprint win with a lights-to-flag triumph for Red Bull at the Circuit of The Americas, while Norris made a late pass on Ferrari's Charles Leclerc to salvage second place as his McLaren team-mate Piastri toiled to fifth.

A third win in four races for Verstappen brings the Dutchman within 40 points of Piastri with five rounds of the 2025 season remaining, while Norris closes to within 14 points of the title lead.

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Verstappen, who is chasing a fifth successive drivers' title, has in just four rounds reduced Piastri's lead over him from a seemingly unbridgeable 104 points, with 23 points gained across the Austin weekend after both McLarens were taken out of the Sprint after being involved in a multi-car collision at the start.

Asked about his championship chances after the race, Verstappen replied: "The chance is there. We just need to try and deliver these weekends until the end.

"We will try whatever we can. It's exciting and I'm very excited until the end."

Piastri had appeared on course for a maiden title when his Dutch Grand Prix victory at the end of August took him 34 points clear of Norris, but the 24-year-old Australian has finished behind both his nearest challengers at all four races since, with uncharacteristic errors compounding a general drop-off in pace.

Lewis Hamilton took fourth to complete an improved display for Ferrari, with Leclerc ending a streak of five races without a podium for the Italian team.

George Russell was sixth as Mercedes failed to reproduce the pace that enabled the Brit to win in Singapore two weeks ago, while Verstappen's Red Bull team-mate Yuki Tsunoda claimed seventh.

Russell's team-mate Kimi Antonelli finished outside the points after an early collision with Carlos Sainz when the pair were battling for seventh, which resulted in the Williams driver retiring from the race, and could potentially also earn him a grid penalty for next weekend's race in Mexico.

With McLaren already having sealed the Constructors' Championship, Sunday's result saw Mercedes' advantage over Ferrari in the battle for second reduced to seven points, with Red Bull just three points further back.

Norris salvages second as Piastri toils

McLaren entered the race hopeful that their strength in managing tyres would allow Norris to challenge Verstappen for victory in the hot conditions, but his plans suffered an immediate blow.

The Brit got tucked up behind Verstappen at the first corner, allowing Leclerc to swoop around the outside and earn the inside line on the approach to Turn 2, which would allow the Ferrari to take second.

Piastri crucially followed Hamilton past Russell at the start, which meant the four positions that separated him and Norris at the start were halved in the opening corners.

Norris applied heavy pressure to Leclerc in the early stages but would put himself on the back foot by exceeding track limits on three separate occasions, bringing up a black and white flag warning that meant one further breach would result in a five-second time penalty.

The Brit wasn't deterred and on lap 21 would finally pass Leclerc, but Ferrari immediately pitted the Monegasque, who had been the only front-runner to start the race on the soft tyre compound, with his rivals on the more durable medium.

Norris waited another 10 laps to switch from mediums to softs, by which point Leclerc had undercut him, meaning the McLaren driver would need to pass the Ferrari again to reclaim his starting position.

The pattern was similar to the first stint as Norris cruised up behind the Ferrari before becoming frustrated and seemingly accepting his hopes of second were gone as he complained about tyre wear.

However, the McLaren came on strong in the closing stages, and Norris ruthlessly forced his way through on the inside of Turn 12 with five laps remaining.

"It was a good battle with Charles, he fought hard. It was tough," Norris said. "We did everything we could. I thought we had it in an easier way after we got ahead and we went much longer. I expected a slightly easier second attempt to get through but it wasn't the case.

"Charles drove a very good race, it was good fun. Good battles. So I had to take second, not a lot more we could have done today."

Surprisingly, Piastri never looked like threatening Hamilton for fourth, until the Ferrari driver suffered what he believed was a slow-puncture on the final lap and was only just able to hang on to equal his best grand prix finish of the season.

Piastri said: "(There are) some things to try to understand from this weekend because clearly it just wasn't related to qualifying."

Formula 1's thrilling title race heads continues at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime

(c) Sky Sports 2025: United States GP: Max Verstappen claims dominant win, Lando Norris salvages second as both reduce Oscar Piastri's championship lead