Max Verstappen’s faint championship hopes evaporated in the Texas heat on Sunday as the four-time world champion admitted his tyre strategy was all wrong in a frustrating third-place finish at the United States Grand Prix. The Dutchman hung on for a podium at the Circuit of the Americas but was left to rue strategic mistakes that left him powerless to challenge runaway leader Kimi Antonelli.
Also read: Antonelli two points from destiny after dominant Austin triumph
Starting from second on the grid, Verstappen’s race unravelled early as two opening stints on soft tyres condemned him to a two-stop strategy whilst rivals executed superior one-stop races. The tactical misstep handed the initiative to Antonelli, who cruised to a dominant ninth victory of the season for Mercedes ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
The 20-year-old Italian now stands on the brink of F1 immortality, needing just two points in Mexico next weekend to become the sport’s youngest-ever world champion. Verstappen had hoped to at least make Antonelli work for it, but Red Bull’s pace deficit proved insurmountable.
“I think our overall pace was not good enough and probably the tyres that we had available were not the right ones,” Verstappen conceded after the race. “It’s something that we have to understand because I think in the last few races it was always working well for us.”
The Dutchman’s frustration was palpable as he dissected what went wrong. “For whatever reason it didn’t work out here. And this choice of tyres also meant everyone knew we had to be on a two-stop race. We still managed to get on the podium, maybe a little bit luckily with the VSC at the end, but I’ll take it.”
That Virtual Safety Car intervention late in the race proved fortuitous for Verstappen, who might otherwise have slipped further down the order. It was scant consolation for a driver accustomed to controlling races rather than salvaging results.
The result marked a disappointing comedown after consecutive victories at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia and Singapore had reignited Red Bull’s season. Those triumphs showcased Verstappen’s ability to maximise machinery that has fallen behind Mercedes and Ferrari in recent months, but Austin exposed the limitations of that approach.
More significantly, the third-place finish mathematically ended Verstappen’s slim hopes of claiming a fifth world championship. With Antonelli’s coronation now a formality barring disaster in Mexico, Red Bull must regroup and focus on salvaging what remains of their season.
