McLaren’s duelling pair of world championship chief Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris will likely be trying warily of their rear-view mirrors this weekend at the US Grand Prix for Max Verstappen.
With six rounds remaining the 2 McLarens are separated by simply 22 factors, with four-time champion Verstappen adrift of Piastri by 63 factors however revelling in his current kind after beating each within the final three races.
Crimson Bull’s Verstappen has turned a seemingly misplaced trigger into an exhilarating late, if sudden, cost for a fifth title.
Jacques Villeneuve, who gained the title in 1997, believes the Dutchman can do it and instructed Italian each day La Gazetta dello Sport that it will likely be his “finest world championship”.
“The 2 McLaren drivers are struggling an excessive amount of from the strain and they should get up,” he mentioned.
This weekend’s race on the Circuit of the Americas will pit the McLaren males in a automobile that has not been up to date in current weeks in opposition to a much-revised and potent Crimson Bull.
That there’s additionally a dash race, the primary of three remaining this yr, solely provides to the potential for shredded nerves.
Verstappen has reeled off 4 consecutive podium finishes and gained three of the final 4 Austin races, solely lacking out final yr when Ferrari claimed a one-two, contenting himself as a substitute with a dash race win.
McLaren’s imperious early season kind has declined however they nonetheless retained the constructors’ crown final day out in Singapore.
Staff boss Zak Brown mentioned: “Our technique isn’t altering as a result of we’ve gained the constructors. We’re approaching this race in the identical method as all of the others.”
Norris took pole final yr in Austin and completed fourth, and is aware of he should beat his 24-year-old Australian team-mate Piastri and Verstappen if he’s to maintain alive his title problem.
Piastri has gone three races with out a podium. His finest lead to Austin was fifth final yr after retiring following a crash in 2023.
The strain at McLaren is more likely to be matched at Ferrari after a fraught few days of media stories suggesting the workforce is in disarray and lining up former Crimson Bull boss Christian Horner as a potential successor to under-pressure workforce chief Fred Vasseur.
And not using a win this yr, Ferrari and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton specifically badly want a outcome to banish the blues.
The Briton has gone 18 races with out a top-three end as he returns to a favorite circuit the place he has gained 5 occasions.
“We all know we haven’t maximised the potential of our bundle in the previous couple of races,” mentioned Vasseur, dismissing speak of inner strife.
“However the workforce is united and absolutely decided to show issues round.”
Mercedes can even be searching success after George Russell’s triumph in Singapore and the belated affirmation that they’re retaining an unchanged line-up, with Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli alongside Briton Russell subsequent yr.
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