That there is a real title fight on the cards still to come this season was illustrated in the finest fashion of the kind Formula One deserves with a gripping, dramatic and controversial wheel to wheel contest between the two protagonists Max Verstappen and Lando Norris at the US Grand Prix. But pity then poor Charles Leclerc, whose dominant victory in Austin and Ferrari’s resurgence with a one-two alongside Carlos Sainz was all but overshadowed in the Texas sunshine.
The season, a two-horse fight between Red Bull’s Verstappen and McLaren’s Norris, has long demanded a full-on head to head between the pair and they finally delivered with a humdinger, albeit not for the lead. After vying for over 10 laps at the close, with nothing to choose between them, Norris had finally passed Verstappen for third place on track when the flag fell with Verstappen in fourth.
However with Norris given a five-second penalty for going off track to make the overtake the positions were reversed, leaving Norris unhappy that his team had not told him to give back the place to avoid the punishment but with McLaren equally convinced the decision by the stewards was fundamentally wrong.
It was a somewhat unsatisfactory conclusion to what had been a well-fought and fair scrap after Norris, who had lost the lead at the very start of the race from pole, had come back strongly to take the contest to Verstappen. It was a valiant effort but in the bigger picture Verstappen emerged from the weekend the winner in the title fight.
He has extended his lead to 57 points, a net five-point loss in Texas for Norris, far from what the British driver needs although the pace he showed at the close as the Dutchman struggled will give him optimism for the final five meetings.
Nonetheless it had been a thrilling conclusion that illustrated how closely matched the two drivers are. When both had opted to one-stop, Norris had gone longer and came at his rival on fresher tyres in the final third, furiously hounding him. The pair vied across corner after corner, but Verstappen held his nerve and defended with no little vim and skill as the British driver looked for every angle in a riveting fight.
On lap 52 Norris finally found his way past at turn 12 but with Verstappen late-braking on the inside line both drivers went wide off track, as Norris made the place.
It was illegal by the letter of the rules but raised questions as to whether Verstappen was deliberately not slowing sufficiently through the corner to push them both wide, knowing an overtake would then be overruled.
Verstappen was aggrieved that the British driver had gone off and Norris felt he already had the place through the corner. McLaren could have told Norris to give back the place but convinced that their man had the lead through the corner and that both cars had gone off-track, the team told him to hold station, rather than ceding position and being able to come back at the Dutchman again.
Both drivers were convinced they were in the right but the stewards found against Norris, in what the Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, suggested was another example of inconsistent decision-making, all of which will stir a debate over the rules and their interpretation that will not fall silent swiftly.
In the bigger picture in terms of pace it closed more or less honours even between the two title contenders but Verstappen will be happier. Five meetings remain, including two sprint races, and while the task facing Norris remains challenging, he does at least remain in the fight.
For all the attention then on the world championship rivals, a fascinating late-season variable was also thrown into the mix with Ferrari now poised to play a part in the title fight, a cracking ratcheting up of the tension for the final run-in.
The day had comprehensively belonged to Ferrari, indicative of the fact that they have turned their car around and the Scuderia will be buoyed in their belief that they still have a shot at taking the constructors’ title. Leclerc had taken the lead at the start and did not relinquish it after Norris lost the spot from pole as Verstappen dived up the inside and pushed him wide, allowing Leclerc to shoot though and pass both to hit the front from fourth on the grid.
It proved enough for Leclerc’s third win of the season and the gap at the end to Verstappen in third place was 19 seconds. An immense lead and one both Norris and Verstappen cannot ignore as they consider that Ferrari are set to be very much in the mix when they face off next week in Mexico.
