Verstappen targets improved race trim for United States GP to fend off unknown pace of McLaren

Max Verstappen has targeted improvements for Sunday's United States Grand Prix, to ward off the unknown of McLaren's race pace, despite controlling Saturday's Sprint as he claimed another victory.

Verstappen closed to within 55 points of the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship lead after winning the Sprint at the Circuit of The Americas, capitalising on a dramatic Turn 1 collision that saw title rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri retire.

As a result, despite his success, the four-time World Champion was cautious on his Grand Prix hopes bearing in mind McLaren did not get a chance to showcase what they could do in Austin.

“The start was good,” said Verstappen reflecting on the Sprint. “Then, of course, there was the Safety Car because of the Turn 1 incident, and it took a few laps after the Safety Car to have decent pace, so we need to try to figure out what was going on there.

“Nevertheless, we won the Sprint, which is the most important thing. Looking for tomorrow, I do think we need to be a bit better in race trim to be able to fight the McLarens, because we haven’t seen anything from them.”

He added: “We’ll have a look. Of course, we have some ideas of what we can do, and hopefully, we will just stick a bit better tomorrow.”

George Russell took advantage of the Turn 1 chaos to leap from sixth to second with the Mercedes driver also going on to make a bold lunge for the lead into Turn 12 following the Safety Car restart, but he was unable to keep within the confines of the track.

“I knew you don’t get many opportunities with Max,” he said. “I saw half a chance and sent it. I was probably a bit too far behind, but I was glad I gave it a go. P2, for sure, was better than we could have expected, and some decent points.”

Asked for his view on the race-opening incident, he said: “I was on the outside and I fully sent it, then I realised that everyone on the inside had fully sent it as well. Carlos [Sainz] and I were like, ‘I don’t think that’s going to end too nicely’.

“I’ve not seen it, I’ve only seen it from my perspective, but it looked like it was three cars into one, which doesn’t often go.”

Williams driver Sainz made his first podium appearance of the season last time out in Singapore, and finished third in the Austin Sprint after benefiting significantly thanks to the Lap 1 incident.

“We had a solid race,” said the Spaniard. “We had solid pace from Turn 1 on. The Ferraris were quick behind but we could keep them under control and we brought home the P3, which is really good.

“We’re just getting a bit more lucky and things have stopped happening to us. But I’ve had this pace all year, it’s just the first half of the year, I wasn’t able to show it and to prove it, but now that things are running a lot smoother, I’m just doing everything I was in the first half. It’s just that things are clicking and I’m just happy to show what we can do as a team.

“The car was great yesterday in Quali and today in the race. We lack a bit compared to these guys. Obviously, we cannot fight them, but we are still in the mix, which is good to see.”