Verstappen Pads Points Lead At COTA

AUSTIN, Texas — Despite Scuderia Ferrari’s pure dominance in Sunday’s United States Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas, Max Verstappen and Oracle Red Bull Racing enjoyed a positive performance.

Fresh off a win in Saturday’s sprint race and qualifying outside the front row, Verstappen dueled with title rival Lando Norris on the opening lap in the first corner. Both drivers went wide as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc cleared the front row. 

Leclerc was untouchable the rest of the way. 

Late in the race, Verstappen and Norris fought again on the race track for the third and final podium position, where Norris was handed a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits.

That allowed Verstappen and Red Bull to gap the McLaren driver in the driver standings once again. 

“Today wasn’t the best for us but the most important thing is that we have gained a lead in the championship, which means a lot for the team,” Verstappen said. “I tried everything I could but we just didn’t have the pace that we have had over the last few days and unfortunately couldn’t fight the Ferraris on track.

“We had some balance issues, it was difficult to turn and break and I couldn’t attack the corners because of the tires. The battle with Lando at the end was cool as we were racing hard and it was actually a lot of fun. You cannot overtake outside the white line and I have lost a podium here before overtaking outside the track, so that is unfortunate but it is the rules. We need to analyze a bit more why we didn’t have the same pace as we did yesterday as we did expect to be more competitive, which is a shame.”

Despite not scoring a fourth straight victory at COTA, Verstappen felt the team’s updates prior to the weekend were a positive step in getting back to their winning ways. 

“However, this weekend we have made some positive steps and have had flashes where it looked like we were coming back to the front, so we are going in the right direction,” Verstappen said.

“It is still not enough but we will keep working and improving the car where we can. As we said, ultimately the fact that we have extended the gap is the biggest thing for us.”

Verstappen holds a 57-point advantage over Norris with five races remaining.