Verstappen takes it all in Texas. Ferrari third and fourth
Just hours before the start, Formula One announced the renewal of its agreement with the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, which will guarantee the presence of the United States Grand Prix on the world calendar up to and including the 2034 season
Weekend plusquamperfectum for Max Verstappen: not so much for the verbal time but because he really is "more than perfect". Pole position and victory both in the Sprint and in the super hot Sunday of the Grand Prix of Austin 2025. More heavy points and the Drivers' Championship more and more reopened. Norris second, Leclerc third with Hamilton fourth and Piastri "only" fifth close an embarrassing order of arrival for McLaren and, at the same time, sparkling for the public. A guarantee of an unexpected season finale, therefore, that makes you want to follow the last stages of 2025 waiting for surprises that were absolutely unpredictable only two months ago.
With the lights off, Verstappen takes an even better start than everyone else: Leclerc overtakes Norris but is unable to trouble the Dutchman, who got off to a good start without skidding his wheels. The Monegasque has made the most of the soft tyre compared to the medium ones of Norris and the others. Russell is bad, losing a position on the world leader Piastri.
Nothing or almost nothing happens until lap 7, when Sainz crashes into Antonelli, damaging himself above all and ruining the race for both: Virtual Safety Car, but only the Spaniard's Williams is retired.
A quarter of the way through the race, the leading "train" is still made up of Verstappen, Leclerc and Norris, while progressively Hamilton, in fourth, is pulling away, losing the right to use the infamous DRS boost which, from lap to lap, helps to keep the gap between two consecutive cars from widening too much. Luckily for him, Piastri suffers a tyre problem in the first stint, which is also noticed by his immediate pursuer Russell: a temporary relief for the seven-time champion in red.
The same cannot be said for Leclerc, who tenth after tenth began to lose ground to Norris, who was increasingly pressing, until a series of duels starting on lap 15: a very important second place for McLaren, which fears the growth - unthinkable a few months ago - of Max Verstappen.
Grande resistenza, grande precisione nella scelta delle traiettorie per non lasciare spazio a Norris, molto attaccato per lungo tempo. Una lotta per riprendersi la posizione persa in partenza che si conclude a danno del ferrarista al ventunesimo giro, nonostante un avvertimento sul superamento dei track limits dell’inglese, generati a ben vedere però da manovre di difesa aggressive del monegasco. Un giro dopo, fra l’altro, un duello si accende anche contro Hamilton, che sembra averne di più. E così la scuderia lo toglie dagli impicci chiamandolo per primo al pit stop, togliendo le soft a favore delle medie: un cambio a breve ripetuto da tutti (come mescole invertite) nel secondo stint eccetto piloti fuori dalla zona punti come Stroll, Hadjar e Gasly. Malgrado le intenzioni della Pirelli di stravolgere la strategia dei team, purtroppo, già i primi tre quarti di partenti erano partiti con la stessa mescola e in assenza di eventi meteorologici gravi, a meno di safety car, a metà gara suonata sembrava in
