Verstappen dominates as he hunts down McLaren: Austin Grand Prix

Max Verstappen took home the chequered flag at the Circuit of the Americas this weekend (19th October), with the Dutchman’s near flawless weekend bringing himself to within 40 points of Driver’s Championship leader Oscar Piastri, resulting in renewed calls of a potential comeback in the final five races of the season.

In a pivotal race weekend that included the fourth out of six sprint races this season, Saturday’s viewing did not disappoint. 

After a strong start off the line by Verstappen, Piastri and Norris met into turn one with an attempted switchback by the championship leader on Norris resulting in a shunt from behind by Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber, sending the Australian careening into his teammate's car, and ending all hopes for McLaren's sprint race, and further closing the gap to the four time championship winner.

Piastri’s attempted switchback on Norris going into turn one was foiled by the Sauber of Niko Hulkenberg, who sent the Australian careering into the back end of his teammate, ending both the McLaren’s involvement in the sprint.

It wouldn’t be the final collision into turn one that afternoon however, after Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll locked up into the sharp left hander and collided into the midriff of Esteban Ocon’s Haas, at their home GP.

Sunday’s race was less dramatic but by no means uneventful. 

The key battle of the race was undoubtedly the seemingly endless scraps between Leclerc and Norris; each of which trading places and tyre strategy, with the Ferrari starting on softs while the rest of the grid started on the longer-lasting medium tyre. The Monaquesque pitted on lap 23, replacing his worn soft tyres for mediums in a bid to last until the end of the race, while the Brit would pit ten laps later, culminating in a fantastic move on lap 51 to snatch second place from the jaws of Leclerc, whilst boosting his own title hopes to within 14 points of his teammate.

While the season end is undoubtedly upon us, the championship race is very much still alive, with five races left in the season. With two being sprint race weekends in Brazil and Qatar respectively, it will be interesting to see both decisions within the McLaren team, an issue of stress and controversy in earlier points in the season, as they look to keep the flying Dutchman away from an incredible fifth championship in a row.