Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris may no longer need to worry about the constructors’ championship, but their focus must remain sharp as they battle for the Formula One drivers’ title with Max Verstappen looming in Texas this weekend.
The Circuit of the Americas in Austin kicks off the final quarter of the season, featuring the first of three remaining Saturday sprints and marking McLaren’s first race since clinching the constructors’ crown for the second consecutive year.
Australian Piastri holds a 22-point lead over his British teammate with six of 24 rounds remaining, while Red Bull’s Verstappen sits 63 points adrift.
Though a title challenge for the four-time world champion may seem improbable, Verstappen has clawed back 41 points from Piastri over the last three races – and has beaten both McLarens in each of those outings.
Austin is very much to Verstappen's liking. The Dutch driver won there in 2021, 2022 and 2023 before Ferrari enjoyed a one-two finish last year with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
Verstappen still won the sprint in 2024, however, and can never be counted out, arriving this time after four successive podiums.
“While we’d like it [the championship] to solely come down to our two guys, Max is still very much in the game,” said McLaren boss Zak Brown after the team title was secured in Singapore.
There was plenty of talk after that race about the gloves being off between the McLaren pair in their duel for the championship, but team management emphasized that so-called “Papaya Rules” still apply.
“Our strategy isn’t going to change because we’ve won the constructors’, we’re going to approach the remaining race weekends in the same way we’ve approached every one before it,” Brown said.
That means equal opportunities and a “race but do not collide” philosophy.
Norris, who took pole position in Austin last year but finished fourth with Verstappen third, would have the most to lose if he and Piastri do make contact, since the Briton needs to chip away at the Australian's advantage.
Piastri’s best result in Austin is fifth last year, after failing to score in the sprint when he finished 10th from 16th on the grid. This time he risks a third successive race off the podium. In 2023, he retired following a collision with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.
Norris was second that year, when he also finished fourth in the sprint.
Ferrari are the only top-four team yet to win this season, but seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who replaced Sainz at the end of last year, is a five-time winner in Austin.
The 40-year-old returns this time still searching for his first podium with the Italian team and now holds the unwanted record of 18 starts for Ferrari without a top-three finish.
George Russell, winner for Mercedes in Singapore, will be chasing a third triumph of the season with a new contract for 2026 freshly inked, keeping him alongside Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli for at least another year.
