Max Verstappen trails Lando Norris by 33 points in the drivers' championship, and is 55 points behind leader Oscar Piastri
On Saturday morning at the United States Grand Prix, McLaren Formula 1 boss Zak Brown said he expected the climax to the world championship fight this year to be "brutal".
Brown's words were proved right within a couple of hours of being uttered in a manner the American has said many times he expected to happen this year but was certainly not envisaging when he said them.
His drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris crashed out together at the first corner of the sprint in Austin, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen cruised to a comfortable win.
That gained Verstappen eight points on both McLaren drivers, and the four-time world champion champion later rubbed salt into his rivals' wounds with an imperious pole position for the grand prix.
