World Championship leader Oscar Piastri and his second-placed McLaren teammate Lando Norris, however, experienced another setback. Eliminated on lap one of the sprint race after an accident in which Piastri first collided with Nico Hülkenberg in turn one and then with Norris, Norris at least came in second – albeit almost three tenths of a second behind Verstappen. Piastri only managed sixth place. Charles Leclerc came third in a Ferrari.
Piastri’s lead in the standings over Verstappen, which had already melted to 55 points a good 180 minutes earlier, could continue to crumble this evening (9 p.m. CEST/Sky). The Dutchman, who will be starting from pole in a Grand Prix for the 47th time, is 33 points short of Norris.
Work for the mechanics
The good news for the McLaren duo: Both cars were ready to go again in time after the bitter crash in Verstappen’s sprint victory. The fact that after the clarifying conversation about the Singapore incident, when Norris touched Piastri and he almost landed in the track wall, both of them clashed at the first serious incident is probably a sign of the tension in the World Cup fight. Even if the accident in the first corner of the Circuit of the Americas was more of a series of unfortunate circumstances.
However, it didn’t take long in qualifying for the main race and the drivers were able to cool down easily in the garage with outside temperatures of 33 degrees and the heat emergency that had already been declared in advance. After Isack Hadjar had a serious accident early on, his badly damaged Racing Bulls racing car had to be salvaged. Hadjar himself was fine.
Norris with rodeo ride on four wheels
But Piastri and Norris competed with repercussions. Verstappen in first place in the first period was separated by over six tenths of a second. Norris even had to completely abandon an attempt that was more like a rodeo ride on the Texas course. It remains to be seen whether it was due to the lack of grip on the steering wheel, but in any case Norris demanded a new one from his team.
Verstappen also secured first place in the second knockout round. Norris managed third place, Piastri only eighth. Things didn’t go any further for Hülkenberg, who, unlike in sprint qualifying (4th), didn’t make it into the top ten in the Sauber. The fact that Verstappen only completed one attempt in the decisive round due to poor timing was enough for the defending champion.
