Max Verstappen back in F1 title fight after McLaren’s bad weekend in Austin – Jalopnik

If you assumed that Oscar Piastri or Lando Norris would stage a staged battle for the 2025 Formula 1 World Championship in their dominant McLarens, you were wrong. After winning Sunday’s United States Grand Prix, Max Verstappen is now just 40 points behind Piastri, the championship leader. That gap was 104 points just four races ago. If the 28-year-old Dutch driver were to retain the title, it would be the biggest points deficit to be overcome on the way to the championship.

A McLaren driver has not won a race since the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August. Since his home race, Verstappen has won three of the last four rounds, as well as Saturday’s sprint race at the Circuit of the Americas. While the defending four-time champion can credit an upgrade package for the improved performance of his Red Bull, McLaren’s performance on race day was far from flawless. The final flashpoint within the team occurred during the sprint in Austin. Piastri caused a double McLaren DNF, colliding with Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg while attempting to return an aggressive corner to Norris. After Sunday’s race Signs told Motorsport:

“I still prefer to be where I am than the other two. Obviously this weekend hasn’t been what I wanted or expected. This weekend was very different from the previous weekend: Baku was obviously a bit of a disaster for very different reasons and Singapore was what it was. So I think this weekend was quite the odd one out compared to others.”

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has tried to keep peace in the camp by imposing Papaya Rules, general guidelines that Piastri and Norris can race against each other as long as they do not collide. However, the maligned guidelines have been expanded to require the team to treat its drivers equally. If someone is told to give up something for his teammate’s race, he expects something in return later.

Despite the Papaya rules, the McLaren teammates have collided with each other on the track several times. Norris collided with Piastri while trying to pass him and crashed at the Canadian Grand Prix in June. Earlier this month, Norris hit the wheels with Piastri to pass him on the opening lap of the Singapore Grand Prix. The team said there would be consequences for Norris’s action, but Brown made it clear in an F1 TV interview that this would not be something fans would see on track. The interview took place on the grid in Austin, just minutes before the team’s double DNF at Turn 1.

Title battles between teammates are rarely civil affairs and usually create rivalries throughout their careers. Whether it’s Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso at McLaren, or Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber at Red Bull or Hamitlon and Nico Rosberg at Mercedes, tempers always flare when the sport’s ultimate prize is at stake. If McLaren doesn’t get things in order quickly, Verstappen could end the year as five-time champion against all odds.