How Max Verstappen outfoxed Lando Norris in most riveting 10 laps of F1 season

So often a figure of joviality in the Formula One paddock, Lando Norris did not muck around at the end of the US Grand Prix. Blood no doubt boiling beneath his yellow race helmet, the McLaren driver made his way straight to the media pen and, to his credit, did not entirely lash out. Instead, he laid out the key events in his mind’s eye.

What was striking, though, was one particular phrase used to describe Sunday’s grand prix in Austin. “It’s a momentum killer,” he said. Deep down, the Bristolian knows there may be no coming back from this. Was this the day any glimpse of a first F1 world championship slipped away for Norris? Yes, in all likelihood.

After a three-week autumn break, McLaren dropped from the quickest on track to third-fastest, behind Ferrari and Red Bull. Norris lost the lead from pole – for the eighth time in his career - and dropped horrifically down to fourth after turn one. The possibility of a race win long over, he then came out second-best in an intoxicating late squabble with Max Verstappen; a six-point swing the wrong way which could spell the end for his title dream.

The ramifications of this sprint weekend in Austin – where a maximum of 34 points were up for grabs – are enormous. Before this race, Norris needed to beat Verstappen by an average of nine points per race to catch the Dutchman by the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi. Norris and his team needed to be near-faultless. Now, with the Red Bull driver extending his lead by five points to 57 with five rounds remaining, it is closer to 12 points a race.

In reality, it will take a Verstappen retirement to allow Norris back in the hunt. Norris’ hold of second place, with Ferrari’s race winner Charles Leclerc just 22 points behind, is in danger now.

The initial signs from practice on Friday were concerning for McLaren, who have been the quickest team since June but have failed to make it count in the drivers’ standings, amid contentious team orders and missed opportunities.

The papaya’s table-topping pace simply wasn’t there. Norris’ stunning lap at the end of qualifying – as well as a stroke of good fortune with George Russell’s late crash halting a Verstappen lap which was likely to beat Norris’ time – meant he started from the front. But it was papering over the cracks.

Still, the start had nothing to do with raw speed. It was simply race guile which, not for the first time, let Norris down.

Norris actually reacted quicker than Verstappen in second, who had the natural inside line. But the McLaren did not shift his car to the inside quickly enough, leaving a clear Red Bull-sized space for Verstappen to surge through. Norris was forced off track, Verstappen lost his racing line too – and Leclerc stormed ahead to take the lead.

In the McLaren corner, protestations took place over the radio but the incident was not even investigated by the stewards. There is more leniency for off-track manoeuvres at the start due to the proximity of all the cars and there was no case to be answered. At a time when Norris needed to thrust his elbows out, he shrunk. That was the moment a race win – and a much-needed 25 points – slipped away.

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In a typically self-critical manner, Norris admitted: “If I defended better in turn one and wasn’t driving like a muppet, I should have led after turn one – and then we shouldn’t have this conversation in the first place."

Fast-forward to the battle for third in the final stages of the race – with Leclerc and Carlos Sainz a good distance down the road – and Norris catching Verstappen at a rate of knots.

This was 10 laps of riveting racing, perhaps the best wheel-to-wheel combat we’ve seen all season. Norris was attempting dummy moves with DRS down into turn 12 while Verstappen was weaving left and right, placing his car in the optimum position to stay ahead, throughout the rapid third sector that followed. Lap after lap, it was a masterclass in defensive driving.

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By lap 52 of 56, Norris’ patience had reached its limit. Closer to his rival than ever, Norris stormed down the outside ahead before Verstappen closed the door on the inside. Both cars skidded off track, with Verstappen braking late, yet Norris overtook Verstappen outside the white line before re-entering the racetrack.

It was wily race-craft from Verstappen. The Dutchman’s late braking forced Norris off the circuit, but the McLaren should have then dropped back behind the Red Bull – and tried again the next lap. Will Joseph, Norris’ race engineer, should have been clear in this instruction but, instead, McLaren left it for the stewards to decide. Put simply: there was no way Norris wasn’t going to be punished for taking a podium in such a manner, clearly outside the borders of the racetrack.

McLaren’s well-spoken team principal Andrea Stella was vociferous in his criticism of the officiating afterwards, telling Sky F1: “The way the stewards interfered with a beautiful piece of motorsport was inappropriate.

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“It cost us a podium, we stayed patient and were pushed off in [the] first corner [at start]. This kind of decision from the stewards, it can’t be appealed, we move on to the next race. We double-checked that both cars went off track [on lap 53], so there was no doubt that the manoeuvre was correct.”

But Verstappen knows the rulebook. Article 33.3 in the FIA sporting regulations states: “Should a car leave the track the driver may re-join, however, this may only be done when it is safe to do so and without gaining any lasting advantage.”

Norris’ five-second penalty was the correct call; Verstappen had outfoxed his rival and friend.

A day after he lost a point on the final lap of the sprint race after locking up at turn one, it was a bitter blow for Norris and his title hopes. More so than any on-track shenanigans, however, was the starkness in which McLaren’s pace advantage has plateaued. Ferrari, who are now serious contenders for the constructors’ championship sitting just 48 points behind McLaren, were the clear winners of the weekend at the Circuit of the Americas. The Scuderia’s upgrade worked decisively.

But the driver of the weekend, who won the Saturday sprint as well, was Verstappen. It could be the decisive round, in his bid to win a fourth consecutive world title. McLaren will have to get their act together, and fast, to give Norris even the faintest hope of a revival ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend.