AUSTIN, Texas — Max Verstappen’s sweep of the United States Grand Prix has upended the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship race and captured the headlines here at the Circuit of the Americas as the paddock is broken down around us.
But one should not lose sight of what Lando Norris did today in the United States Grand Prix.
Verstappen’s strong weekend, where he took the maximum 33 points available by winning both the F1 Sprint race as well as the United States Grand Prix less than two hours ago, pulled him within 40 points of championship leader Oscar Piastri and just 26 points of Norris in second place.
But a “patient” drive from Norris saw him recover after losing a place to Charles Leclerc at the start, and come across the line in P2 to inch closer to Piastri himself. As the paddock is torn down around me, Norris is now just 14 points behind his teammate in the title chase.
As for that patience, after losing a place to Leclerc off the start, with the Ferrari driver opting for the C4 soft tires to begin the race, the McLaren driver settled in behind him, working his C3 medium tires to close the gap to Leclerc in front of him. Norris closed the gap to Leclerc several times over the first stint, particularly at Turn 12, but could not get the overtake to stick.
Then on Lap 21, the Black and White flag came. Norris had exceeded track limits three times, and one more infraction would incur a five-second penalty. At this point, Norris was down in P3, facing a potential penalty, with Verstappen driving away at the front of the field.
Yet on that lap, Norris finally made the overtake stick, getting into second ahead of Leclerc.
He would need even more patience this afternoon.
McLaren called Norris into the pits on Lap 32, removing the C3 medium tires to bolt on a set of softs for his final stint. But a slow pit stop — 3.8 seconds — saw Norris rejoin the fight in fourth.
And behind Leclerc, now on a set of medium tires.
By Lap 33, what had been a three-second gap from Leclerc back to Norris had been cut in half, but the McLaren driver was putting his C4 soft tires to the test. He trimmed that gap to less than a second by Lap 38, but by Lap 40 he was on the radio, telling his team that the tires were “gone.”
As the laps ticked down, Norris grew frustrated, but radio engineer Will Joseph gave his driver a boost of confidence. “OK, mate, I understand, like, the car feels s*** right now, but the pace is really strong,” said Joseph over the radio.
“There’s 12 laps to go after this. We’re under no threats from behind. When the car just gets cooler, we go and get Leclerc.”
After fading back a bit — at one point Norris was nearly two seconds behind Leclerc — the McLaren driver then picked up the pace. By Lap 49, that gap was down to 1.1 seconds, and he was within DRS range on the following lap.
At the start of Lap 51, Norris edged by Leclerc at Turn 1, but the Ferrari driver quickly regained the position. But it was Turn 12 yet again where Norris finally eased in front of Leclerc and made the position stick.
Bringing home a P2 that he desperately needed after what was a difficult Saturday.
And he did it all knowing that one more slip-up, one more instance of running wide, and the five-second penalty was coming for exceeding track limits.
“Finally. Finally. It took long enough,” said Norris trackside after the race. No, it was a good battle with Charles. He fought hard. It was tough. We did everything we could. I thought we kind of had it in an easy way after we got ahead, and then we did the overcut — or we went much longer. I expected a slightly easier second attempt to get through, but it wasn’t the case.
“So, no, Charles drove a very good race. It was good fun, good battles. So we have to take second. Not a lot more we could’ve done today.”
Asked about that exchange with his race engineer, Norris walked through what he described as “good strategy.”
“Yeah … out the box, when the tires are the freshest, then you want to push because you have the best chance. But it’s also when the tires get the hottest,” described Norris. “So when I had my first try, I just really started to struggle with the tires, and Charles was probably already in that kind of consistent point. So I backed off quite a bit for a few laps, went again, and it worked. So, yeah, good strategy, some good driving, and, yeah, a fun race.”
Speaking with the media after the session, McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella called Norris’ drive at the United States Grand Prix “performance at its finest.”
“Well, for me today is one of the Lando races. He’s very good when there’s a high degradation. He’s good when you have to run long stints. He’s good when there’s not much grip, it’s hot,” began Stella. “I think he kept a level head. We needed to be fast in overtaking shots, but we also needed to make sure we finish the race.
“And I think from this point of view, he showed some patience, but it was not possible to overtake.”
Stella then pionted to Norris’ patience in the second stint, when he backed off Leclerc to cool the tires, before taking another run at the Ferrari driver.
”I’m not sure how much this was visible. Something that ultimately might have been decisive in the second stint is when he decided to just step off, completely cool down the tires, and then go again.
“So I think we have seen Lando’s performance at its finest.”
Verstappen’s strong weekend here in Austin has many believing that a fifth Drivers’ Championship is not only possible, but inevitable.
But Norris is lurking as well, just 14 points behind Piastri. And if we get to Abu Dhabi and it is Norris who takes home the title, a patient Sunday in Austin might be the reason why.
