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After winning Saturday’s sprint, Verstappen capped off a perfect weekend at the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix with a win in Sunday’s race that has put him even closer to defending his World Drivers’ Championship title.
Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc put Lando Norris to work with his nearly impenetrable defense for P2, while further back Oscar Piastri fought to stay ahead of George Russell and maintain a P5 finish.
With that, Verstappen has collected a grand total of 33 points this weekend, over Norris’s 18 and Piastri’s 10, putting both McLaren drivers under further pressure to fight for the WDC.
On the race itself, Verstappen said to F1 TV reporters, “It's been, for us, an incredible weekend. We really maximized all the results and I think today, in the race, what was key was just that first stint.
“Charles was of course battling with Lando, and that's where I could pull the gap, because I think as soon as Lando was in clean air he was very easily matched, or he was slightly faster.”
Verstappen was very realistic about where he felt the car’s performance was, further explaining the challenges of the grand prix. “Every lap, you know, you could expect something different, so… in that race to be consistent is quite tough, but we managed to pull it off.”
Most impressively, since this year’s Dutch Grand Prix Verstappen has now collected a total 111 points–the most out of anyone on the grid since the summer break–and cut Piastri’s lead over him from 89 to just 40 points.
With that, it is now officially safe to say that the WDC has become a three-way fight, but Verstappen is still keeping a levelheaded approach to the championship fight.
“Yeah, we are having some really good weekends,” he said. “And, of course, we also know that we need to be perfect till the end of the season to have a chance.
“But we will try. And if we succeed, of course, amazing. If we don't, we tried everything we could till the end, and we kept it exciting. And that's, I think, the spirit for us.
“It's positive pressure. We don't feel like it's putting anything on us. We're not stressed about it. We're just going flat out.”
Next weekend, the F1 paddock will visit Mexico, where Verstappen has historically been in excellent shape. But McLaren remain strong, and will continue to put up a formidable fight as the 2025 F1 season continues to unfold into an extraordinarily thrilling conclusion.
The full 2025 United States Grand Prix results are below:
Cover image via Red Bull Content Pool.
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