Lando Norris overtakes Charles Leclerc to finish second
Piastri manages fifth with rivals closing in on title lead
Dominant, untouchable and bearing a broad, beaming grin in the Texas sunshine, the transformation in Max Verstappen after he took victory at the US Grand Prix could not have been starker.
The disillusioned and dissatisfied driver who felt his title defence was long over has, against all the odds and indeed his own expectations, restaked his claim as a genuine contender in a deliciously tight Formula One world championship battle. Little wonder there were smiles, Verstappen knows he is back in the fight.
Verstappen beat title rival Lando Norris into second and with Norris’s McLaren teammate, and championship leader, Oscar Piastri managing only fifth from sixth on the grid, the meeting in Austin has set up an enormously tense run-in as the season enters its final five meetings. Norris has now closed to within just 14 points of his teammate.
