Max Verstappen crushed in the United States and at McLaren there are already doubts

The Dutchman achieved his third win in the last five races, was second in the remaining two and left Texas 40 points behind Oscar Piastri, when he had reached 104 points.

Right at his home race, Max Vestappen seemed to be out of any chance of fighting for the title. His second place in the Dutch GP, 15th round of the year, behind Oscar Piastri seemed like the final dagger for the four-time champion’s hope of fighting for another crown. He left Zandvoort 104 points behind the Australian (309 to 205). The chance of reaching the fifth star seemed to be gone definitively, especially because his Red Bull could not against the powerful McLaren. However, in just four races, the story began to change.

From Milton Keynes, the base of the energy drinks team, they played the last card: debuting a new flat bottom on the RB21 for the Italian GP. And that almost chronic indocility that Red Bull had suddenly disappeared. And Max started to fly. That second place for Zandvoort was followed by two successes in a row: Italy and Azerbaijan. And Singapore arrived, the cuckoo for the Dutchman, the only track in which he never achieved a victory. There, the Woking girls hoped to bring out their potential and bury any vestige of the arch-rival’s resurrection. But Max took second place with a taste of triumph because the winner was George Russell. Thus, their onslaught operation continued. And the United States GP arrived, the 19th date, one of the six with a sprint race. What did Verstappen do? He won everything, took 33 points and, now, the World Cup is on fire.

Max’s thing was overwhelming throughout the Austin weekend. He won both classifications (the sprint and the main race), won the short competition and took the main event from start to finish, without giving the slightest loophole to any rival. Behind him took place the most interesting battle of a rather unremarkable race, in the fight between Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris. The Monegasque beat the Englishman in the rush and held him off for 21 laps. After the pit stops, the Englishman from McLaren was behind the Ferrari again and only on lap 51 of the 56 to be second.

Verstappen was on another planet throughout the race, with an overwhelming dominance like that of yesteryear. Maybe like he hasn’t had since the first half of 2024, because since the second part of that World Cup everything cost Max a little more. He sealed the title of the previous season based on the advantage he had achieved in the first ten races and the final blow was the unforgettable triumph of San Pablo.

That lead of 104 that Piastri had was reduced to 40 after passing through Texas. The Australian was only fifth in the United States and his granite walk demonstrated until the summer holidays disappeared. Double blow in Baku (qualifying and first lap of the race), fourth in Singapore, and in the United States he left the sprint at zero after a wrong maneuver that ended up dragging Norris to the double abandonment of McLaren.

If you take the last five races, in which Max achieved three successes, won in a sprint and two second places, he added 119 points, against 37 for Piastri and 57 for Norris. The final stretch of the World Championship enters its last five races in which there will be 141 in dispute. And it comes at the best moment for Red Bull and Verstappen and at the worst for McLaren, who did not win again after the holiday break (five dates).

“It was an incredible weekend for us. The title opportunity is there. We just have to try and perform at our best these weekends. We will try everything we can. It’s exciting and I’m very excited until the end,” said Max, bad news for McLaren. Because in the forces of Woking he can make a double reading of the internal situation. On the one hand, it is very good to have your two drivers fighting, but it can also be complicated because giving an order when they are only separated by 14 points in favor of Piastri does not seem like an easy task. McLaren arrived in the United States with doubts and left in a tension unthinkable just a couple of months ago. Because the one following them is not only Verstappen, it is a team that is used to fighting for the drivers’ title. It hasn’t happened in the English team since 2008 and there is no one left from those times. Only the numbers are on the papaya’s side at this point in the World Cup.