United States GP: Martin Brundle's verdict on the 'very significant' moment in the title race and the rise of Max Verstappen against McLarens | F1 News

Max Verstappen and Red Bull were in fine form in Austin, dominating both qualifying sessions as well as relatively comfortable wins in the Sprint and main Grand Prix.

Sprint weekends seem to suit Max's talent and confidence, where you have a practice session before the relentless competition begins with sprint qualifying, sprint racing, main qualifying and, finally, the race.

There is a result every three days and in many ways they have a cumulative effect. It must be like dropping off the peloton in a cycle race, very difficult to catch up with.

Any problems or incidents in practice limit your car's setup time and driver confidence on an ever-changing track surface. A poor sprint qualifying will likely follow, leaving a driver with a lower grid position for a race that is shorter and where contact is much more likely to occur.

In fact, Saturday's sprint felt more like a demolition derby.

'A very important moment' – Piastri's blame in McLaren Sprint wipeout assessed

Data on tire degradation, driving balance, suspension tuning, legal skid wear under the car and fuel consumption are essential knowledge required for race day preparation.

It was something that hurt McLaren, who were expected to be even stronger in Austin, after Oscar Piastri was clipped and sent over two wheels and into the rear wheel of teammate Lando Norris, eliminating them both on the spot.

Two damaged cars to be hastily repaired before the afternoon's main qualifiers, no points in the world championship and no knowledge gained for the next day.

This meant that the champion McLaren team was on the back foot most of the weekend and would have to be a little conservative on the race setup, particularly in terms of critical ride heights on these ground effects cars.

Piastri's fall in the first round was unfortunate, but I think he is mainly to blame. This corner rises steeply 40 meters, is very wide at the entry point but narrow at the top, and only a little wider at the exit, although with a scruffy runoff space if necessary.

This zone invites and promotes contact, never more than at the start when the peloton is tight.

There are 215 meters between pole position and the first braking point and, of course, further and further for those further down the grid. They start with 1,000 horsepower available as wonderful rear tire heaters, but the front tires and brakes will only have residual heat from the formation lap.

Therefore, with little fuel on board, cars are difficult to slow down because they are all heading toward the same curb.

This first corner is also the best chance to gain positions for the rest of the race, so all the ingredients are there for multiple contacts.

Verstappen had a perfect Sprint start, Norris next to the dirtier side of the track less so, but he still managed to ease off the brakes a bit and take the corner before his faster starting teammate Piastri.

Intending to make the most of Norris' tighter entry, which would inevitably mean he would run wide on the exit, Piastri slowed and then turned hard to get under his championship rival.

These F1 cars are hard to see at the best of times, and they're wide and long with huge, sticky tires exposed at every turn.

What Piastri did was classic driving during a normal first-corner fight, but not at the start because it's virtually guaranteed that there will be one or more cars trying to brake each other in that space. And these cars don't have the ability to slow down further or change direction quickly.

Piastri was very focused on his championship rival and the peloton simply bit him.

The glaring shame for McLaren and Norris is that Piastri, now on two wheels, broke his rear wheel as well as his own front suspension. With Verstappen in front, it was the worst case scenario for them.

Strangely, the only time Verstappen was challenged all weekend was against the Mercedes of George Russell in the Sprint. Max's Red Bull appeared to be lacking rear grip and George, who had weathered the chaos of the first corner well, was in attack mode, even to the point where he launched Max's inside into Turn 12 from a different postcode.

Max impressively saw it coming and calmly held his head. He would trail no one else for the rest of the weekend and win all 33 points available. This first Sprint corner was a very important moment in this year's drivers' championship.

The Leclerc versus Norris duel which livened up the race day

Ferrari also clearly had a much better race car than the one in qualifying, and Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton looked more comfortable in both races and had good pace. Sometimes they were too close for the team's comfort.

Championship leader Piastri had a relatively lackluster weekend, with the ultimate pace just not there at any point, leaving him sixth on the main grid.

He handled the first corner well this time and gained a place, but was unable to move further, unable to catch the Ferraris, although he was close to Hamilton who had a very late puncture.

But he managed to stay ahead of Russell's Mercedes, even though he was half a minute off the lead at flag to flag. Such is the cutting-edge nature of the performance of these latest F1 cars. On a slightly cooler race day with a big change in wind direction and higher fuel loads and ride heights, George went from attacking Max on Saturday to not being able to compete remotely a day later.

The best entertainment of the day was Leclerc versus Norris.

Ferrari had opted for soft tires, although little used, on Leclerc's grid, and the rest of the top 15 were on medium tires. After rounding the outside of a more cautious Norris in the first corner, Leclerc even thought about taking the lead in the second corner, but Verstappen covered him. And so ensued a race-long battle with Norris' McLaren.

In many ways, this was a shame because it's highly likely that Lando could have at least challenged Max up front, but that wasn't to be.

We enjoyed some very tough but fair racing from Norris and Leclerc, with the young Briton having to overtake him twice as, in a contrary strategy, Ferrari pitted Leclerc on lap 22 for new medium tires, while McLaren was forced to wait until lap 32 before pitting his man for used soft tires, which placed him behind the Monegasque again.

Spot another fiery pass in the closing stages.

Ollie Bearman scored points in both races for Haas after a quality performance despite a few mishaps along the way, and Franco Colapinto overtaking Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly against team orders in a desperate duel for what was at the time 17th and 18th rather sums up how intensely competitive F1 is.

What now for the three-way title race?

Verstappen has scored 119 points from a possible 133 in the last five races and has reduced Piastri's advantage of 60 points in the last four events, now to just 40 points.

At this rate he will be champion, but some of the upcoming tracks should ensure that McLaren returns to normal service, although there is no doubt that the Red Bull is now a better all-round car and Max is at the top of his game.

McLaren's advantage is that it's two against one, and they're going to have to play that very well every GP weekend up to and including Abu Dhabi.

The exciting Formula 1 title race continues this weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the Mexico Grand Prix, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime