Sprint victory from pole, Grand Prix victory from pole, start-to-finish in both cases: What were the essential ingredients to Max Verstappen’s perfect weekend around the Circuit of the Americas as he continues to transition his title challenge from very unlikely to perfectly feasible?

RB21’s speed

It’s been seriously quick ever since its bigger, more flexible, front wing was combined with the Monza floor. The balance window has opened up, it can be run lower. It’s always been great through the sort of high-speed curves we see in sector 1 here, it’s now a lot better under braking than the McLaren, especially over the bumps. This place has a lot of bumps. Verstappen was revelling in it here on Friday, delighted with how the rear felt so planted that he could add as much front end as he wished and still it would stay in balance. He put it on Sprint pole like this, 0.077s faster than Lando Norris’ McLaren.

But the gusty, hot Austin track is a capricious place and come Saturday’s Sprint race, Verstappen wasn’t so happy with it. The rear ride, he said, was poor (certainly it looked something of a handful over the kerbs) and the rear tyres were degrading fast. He was pushed hard by George Russell’s Mercedes and doubted whether he would have been able to hold the McLarens off had they made it through Turn 1.

So between the Sprint and GP qualifying just over three hours later the same day, the simulator guys back at the factory were working flat out on a better set up. With the car like this Verstappen set pole over 0.35sec faster than Norris.

McLaren dramas

There was a hangover from Singapore’s ‘Turn 3-gate’. McLaren’s attempts at ensuring fairness between their drivers had resulted in Norris being given ‘consequences’ for his contact with Piastri two weeks ago: Piastri would henceforth be given preference for Q3 running order. Which meant Norris joining the track for SQ3 in Sprint qualifying 20sec before Piastri and 40sec before Verstappen. Which on a cooling track had lap time implications. Whether that slot cost Norris as much as the 0.077sec by which he trailed Verstappen is impossible to call. But it certainly didn’t help. Piastri, despite his better running slot, could qualify only third for the Sprint, just not at all at home on the low-grip track, especially into the slow corners.

So as Verstappen converted pole into an uncontested lead of the Sprint, Piastri was preoccupied with out-fumbling Norris on the exit of Turn 1. Trying to cut back suddenly around the back of the other McLaren, he collided with Nico Hulkenberg, got tipped onto two wheels and from there took out Norris. Which meant an easy eight-point gain for Verstappen and, more seriously, no consecutive data-gathering laps for McLaren and its drivers.

Which were sorely needed. So different were the track conditions of Saturday – pole was 0.367sec slower than the day before – because of the change in wind direction on what is a track requiring total confidence and commitment, the lack of running in the Sprint really hurt the McLaren drivers’ performance in Grand Prix qualifying. From just 0.1sec adrift of Verstappen the day before, Norris this time trailed the Red Bull by over 0.35sec.

Strategy & tyres

The strategic implications of the very high thermal tyre deg were unusual. It was so extreme that if you tried to push beyond a one-stop pace in order to buy the extra 21sec pitstop loss of a two-stop, the tyres were 1s slower within four laps. Therefore there was no point in trying for a two-stop.

The soft (C4) tyre was good for around 15 laps but would be slower than the medium (C3) after around 10 laps. The medium could run over 40 laps. The hard (C1) was just too slow on race day. It had looked ok in Friday practice, but the direction of the wind on Sunday meant a tailwind into the crucial slow turns (T12, 15 and 19) requiring the most help from a grippy compound. It made the hard disastrously slow (as demonstrated by the hard-starting Ocon, Albon and Hadjar).

Almost everyone started on mediums, intending to switch to the hards late in the day. But once it was realised just how slow the hards were, it became necessary to extend the medium stint so as not to give the softs too long a final stint.

Why was this good for Verstappen? Because…

Leclerc’s starting tyre

Ferrari opted to start Charles Leclerc (who had qualified third) on softs. The thinking was he might be able to take the lead and get into the clear air which the car really needs to perform well. He didn’t get by Verstappen but he did exit Turn 1 ahead of Norris.

Which allowed Verstappen to escape as Norris was stuck behind the slower Ferrari. It took 21 laps for Norris to find a way by, by which time Verstappen was 11sec up the road. Norris’ subsequent pace was a close match for Verstappen’s. But that only suggested what might have been. Norris couldn’t even try an undercut on the Ferrari as he was obliged to run long so as to get onto the softs for the final stint. Stopping 10 laps later than Leclerc, he came out behind and was stuck there again for another 20 laps before finally finding a way by with a great committed move on the marble-infested inside line into Turn 12.

Meantime Verstappen was in wind-down mode for what might possibly become a championship-crucial victory.