Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took a dominant victory from pole position at the 2025 F1 US GP, capping off what he described as a “perfect weekend” in Austin, after also winning the Sprint on Saturday.
The Dutchman was pretty much unchallenged all race, as Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari didn’t have the pace to keep up, but held Lando Norris’ McLaren at an arm’s lenght for a good chunk of the grand prix.
First stint margin proved “crucial” for victory
Although he never looked in doubt to win the race, Verstappen believes the buffer he created between himself and Leclerc in the opening 20 laps was “crucial” for ensuring he had an easier time in the second half of the race, given Norris’ strong pace when finally released from behind the struggling Ferrari:
“Well, it’s been a perfect weekend for us,” he said. “Today, I think what was crucial was the first stint where I could build a bit of a gap, because I think after that, it basically stabilized pretty much after the pit stops, until the end.“
Red Bull’s tyre wear “still not where I want it” despite dominant victory
The four-time F1 champion said that regardless of the strong performance shown throughout the US GP weekend, there are still some things that need to be worked at – mainly the tyre wear, which Verstappen labelled as not being “where I want it“, after a difficult Sprint and a tougher stint on the soft tyres in the main grand prix, as he reported over the radio to be “suddenly sliding a lot” in the ifinal stages:
“I think tyre management was very important today, and it wasn’t very straightforward,” he added. “There were some laps where you had a very different feeling or balance, grip, a bit weirdly, [for] better or worse.
“So yeah, it’s one of these days where you just need to try and make no mistakes, try to just drive as consistent as you can, drive around the bumps as much as possible. But for us to win again today is incredible.
“I think it was a bit better today [compared to the Sprint], even though I think it’s still not where I want it to be, let’s say like that.
“But nevertheless, yeah, we won the race, which of course is the most important.”
Why he expected a “very close race” had Norris cleared Leclerc quickly
When asked just how different the race would’ve panned out had Lando Norris cleared Leclerc’s Ferrari sooner – or not even falling behind – the Dutchman said he expected a “very close” contest with Norris:
“I think then it would be a very close race, yeah,” he said. “Every time I think that Lando [Norris] was in clean air, we were very evenly matched. Maybe at times he was a bit faster as well.
“So yeah, it wouldn’t have been the gap that it was at the end.“
Verstappen would’ve ridiculed any “idiot” suggestions of championship chances four races ago
After a strong run of races since the summer break, Verstappen is now just 40 points back from F1 championship leader Oscar Piastri, as he clawed back from a 104-point deficit from the Dutch GP to the US GP.
When asked what he would say to someone claiming – at the time of the Dutch GP – he would’ve been in contention for the title just a few races later, the Dutchman bluntly said he would’ve ridiculed it as an idiotic claim,
“No, I would have told him he was an idiot,” he said.
“But, yeah, we found a good way with the car. It’s simple as that. Of course, we put some upgrades on the car.
“But we understood our car a bit better where we wanted to perform better. And, yeah, every weekend we tried to achieve it. Some weekends, you know, it’s better than others.
“But in general, it’s been way more straightforward the last few weekends compared to before those races. So that’s what we need to try and extract out of it now every single weekend.“
