The collective gasps of the Circuit Of The Americas were heard, as the two McLaren drivers were collected in the turn one melee during the first lap of the US Grand Prix Sprint.
Into the tight uphill hairpin, where overtakes and accidents have been aplenty through the dozen or so years that F1 has raced here, it was Piastri's switchback move that caught out Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso and triggered a double DNF for McLaren and allowed the current world champion to close in yet more.
Verstappen's win, defeating George Russell to the chequered flag, closed his deficit to the points lead to just 55 points. That gap will likely get smaller this afternoon, given that the Dutchman starts the main grand prix from pole, while Piastri languishes down in sixth.
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Although Norris is on the front row, alongside the Red Bull driver, failure to win at Austin would draw the hunter to within 20 points of the trailing McLaren.
If all three championship contenders were to finish where they start today's race, this is how the points table would look, with five races and an extra pair of sprints still to contest.
1. Oscar Piastri 344
2. Lando Norris 332
3. Max Verstappen 306
That would place the Red Bull driver just 38 points behind, which is remarkable given that only four race weekends ago, he was over 100 points away. If he were to continue catching the McLaren drivers at that rate, he would win the championship.
Why the McLaren tangle cost them so much?
Besides the points lost during the lap one collision the consequences went beyond the DNFs, for McLaren. Verstappen was not massively encouraged by the RB21's pace during the rest of the sprint, so maybe that gap should have extended, not cut.
Going slow-mo for another look at *that* dramatic #F1Sprint collision 🎥💥#F1 #USGP pic.twitter.com/YdwhKBPAxk
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 19, 2025
But in missing practically all but one corner of the event means that McLaren are far behind their competitors in terms of the knowledge they have of car setup and general track running time, around COTA.
This showed during the qualifying session where neither driver were at the absolute limit, despite a credible job being done by Norris to place his car on the front row of the grid.
Although the Woking-based team should be a force in the race, being on the back foot at a track where their tyre management should be more decisive, not outscoring Verstappen makes the prospects of them losing the drivers' championship more likely.
It would demonstrate a global improvement from the RB21, not just to be competitive but to actually beat the two leading drivers in the championship, at a variety of circuit layouts, and would be the most crucial weekend in the destiny of the championship since Red Bull turned a corner with their mid-season developments.
But with the prospect of either McLaren strangling back some command or seeing a rival get incredibly close to them, the United States Grand Prix may become the most important race of the season, thus far.
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