Lando Norris and Max Verstappen’s Duel In Austin | Extended Battles

Lando Norris going through on the brakes, or can Verstappen hang on to it? He keeps his foot in, they both go off the road! Think goes ahead of the defects. Let me know if you think otherwise. He needs to give it back. This is more than just the numbers. This is momentum. This is winning a psychological battle that would be so important to him. The top two drivers in the Formula One World Championship are Max Verstappen, the leader by 54 points, and Lando Norris trying to overturn the largest points deficit in the entire history of the World Championship. Started in 1950. That is where we are starting the Grand Prix today. Verstappen went very, very defensive yesterday. Maybe overly defensive into turn number one. If it's in his head to stop it happening, it will definitely be in his head to lunge to the apex. And the US Grand Prix is underway. Max Verstappen is going to give himself an opportunity into turn number one, but Lando Norris is chomping across. There's the late lunge that Max Verstappen was looking for, but he sends Lando Norris wide, and through goes the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. First and second battling each other, and they open the door for the driver in the scarlet car. He rolls through, up three places to take the lead of this one. Lando Norris got a decent launch, but we wondered whether Max Verstappen was going to make that lunge. Come what may, here was the answer. I mean, you never really have to wonder with Max, do you? He's going for it, but it was that strong start from Leclerc that got him on the inside of Carlos going into turn one. And Lando, we've reported the incident in turn one. Any thoughts from your side? Yeah, I mean, he's clearly pushed me out. He had no intent to make the corner. Even he went off the track, so I just had to avoid him crashing into me, but yeah. Yeah, I think it's pretty much what we expected prior to the race. Yeah, the thing is, he overtook me by going in so hard that he went off the track. Same as Budapest, just identical. There is a tyre offset for Lando Norris, but he will not gain track position over Max Verstappen. That 2.2-second stop is exactly what he needed, though. Everything is vital at this stage. As Verstappen goes back past his rival for the title. They're fourth and fifth at the moment. Okay, Max, info. Russell's still out on his hard time, which he started with. Lap 32, he managed a 39.5, so it looks good. Last lap, Leclerc, 39.0. Carlos, 38.7. Lando behind 38.6. These tyres are so good. I can't brake. I can't attack anything. Max is complaining a lot about the tyre. When we catch him, which we will, we just want to make sure we've got tyre to be able to attack him. Just be careful on the exit, look after the rears. Made deficits on the last lap. Max Verstappen's 1.8, 1.8, 15 and 20. Suggest early push and hold. That's 0.5. Cancel the clip if you want to. Lando Norris has a big opportunity here. He's currently losing points to Max Verstappen in the championship, looking to change all of that. The top two contenders for the championship of the world onto the back straight at Kota, looking for the move. The British driver trying to go past. How defensive will Max Verstappen go? How defensive can Max Verstappen go? As we go into the braking zone of turn number two, Norris trying to go around the outside. Is the room? Look now, not from turn 12, but to turn 15. Is there a moment for the McLaren to use the traction? Trying the long way round, there will be no route through, but the up and under might produce itself. This is going to be so fast, side by side at speed. Verstappen's just got enough for the moment. Norris not able to force Verstappen off the racing line. He's still ahead and this battle continues. Okay, 0.55. Last lap it was 4.5. How close can the McLaren man get on the brakes when it matters? When the World Championship is up for grabs here, is there an opportunity this time? No. Is there a chance to force him off the racing line? Slightly deeper Verstappen. A little bit more speed through that corner for Lando Norris, but another opportunity goes by. Can he dive to the inside to try and get that opportunistic move at 15? Not that time. Good lap, good lap for Max Verstappen. And every lap he can make Norris run in the dirty air will be damaging his tyres. At 0.3. Norris goes again. Lining him up again. He's oh so close. Big defensive move from Verstappen into 1. Is this going to allow Norris to get the drive off? Very hard to get it done into 3. Lighting up the rear tyres, leaving some skid marks. It's on the edge. We aren't into the full Brinkman ship yet. 0.4. Another chance. It's lap 50 of 56. We head to turn number 1. Lando Norris was thinking about that move to the inside and he ducked back in. They both go past the Selva. Push and hold still available. He hasn't won a race since the Spanish Grand Prix, but he's got a title advantage of 54 points over Lando Norris. He's trying to extend it further by 3 points. And this is more than just the numbers. This is momentum. This is winning a psychological battle that would be so important to him. The momentum of the McLaren has been interrupted. Is there a second wind for Lando Norris to force his way by? At 0.4. Overtake still available. Here we go. This is it for Lando Norris. It's a wide line that gives initial momentum for Max Verstappen, but he is gaining and gaining and gaining. How brave can he be in the braking zone of turn 12? This is the best opportunity he's had since lap number 1 to take the place. He puts the car on the outside line, tries to duck back through. It's not done yet. Verstappen knew it. Held on to the inside line and now off the racing line that he wants to be. There's an opportunity. The two contenders again separated by hardly anything. Traction race could favour the McLaren. Still it's side by side or very close to it, but still it's Verstappen ahead with 5 laps to go in the US Grand Prix. 0.4 and 5 laps remaining, Max. 10 out of 10 on execution. He's not made a mistake, not one wheel wrong to give Lando the opportunity to make that move. Lando doing everything he can, but Max doing everything he needs to. Does Lando have a shot here into one? Defence for Max blocking a little bit. Big defence from Max Verstappen and he knows that he's having to use more of the tyre than he wants to, more of the road than he wants to. 0.4. Norris is close once again. Closer by a long shot. That was a great run off of 11. It's so tempting as a driver to get to the throttle too soon, let up the rear tyres, but he's got it now. Max Verstappen on the defensive. Lando Norris on the attack. Lando Norris going through on the brakes. Or can Verstappen hang on to it? He keeps his foot in. They both go off the road. Norris moves ahead for the first time since lap number one, but he did so with all four wheels off the road. That one surely will not count. He will surely have to give the place back. Is the argument that Max forced him off the road though? He took me outside the track. He needs to get me back. Very matter-of-fact from Verstappen. I'm sure Lando's going to say, hey, he forced me off the track. We've seen both of those called already. It'll be interesting to see which way the FIA looks at this and the stewards want to address it. I can't imagine McLaren will let the risk of a penalty hang over Lando Norris' head. Think I was ahead at the apex? Let me know if you think otherwise. We think you were ahead at apex. McLaren are going to risk the penalty. They're still attacking each other. McLaren are risking a five-second penalty. They've elected to keep track position every single time we've seen a driver off the road like that all the way through this Grand Prix. And this weekend, it's resulted in a drop, but Norris gets by. We are on it, Max. We know. And we've also seen the booming under braking at one. So our opinion is you were ahead at apex. Both cars went off track. Yeah, he also went off, so it was clear. And Lando, so we've had our third strike track limits, which I know you'll know, so no more track limits. No more. Did Lando Norris get ahead on the braking zone? Was he forced off the road? No and yes. He was definitely not ahead at the apex, but I mean, with where Max's car was, he had really no chance but to go wide, whether or not it's worth just taking that risk. This is tense with three laps to go. If that judgment comes from the stewards, that's going to be devastating for Lando. Lando Norris had an opportunity. The stewards have told us. Norris and Verstappen have been noted. The stewards are looking at it, Max. I'm close. PS3 behind me. So PS3 at three seconds. Three qualifying laps, please, Max, from here. Three qualifying laps. McLaren did not tell their driver to give the place back. It is lap 55 of 56. It's a Ferrari 1-2. Norris has track position, but investigations hovering over his head. Verstappen is in fourth, but we'll expect a penalty for his title rival ahead. Okay, that's fully open, Max. Keep pushing, Max. Lando Norris has a penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. He is 3.3 seconds ahead of Verstappen. It will not be enough. It was all about Max with the sprint. Lando took the pole. Lando's got a penalty. So Captain Norris, 3.8. He has been given a five-second penalty. Keep pushing. It's four seconds. Third on the road, but with a penalty applied, it will be fourth position for Lando Norris. Max Verstappen takes points out of his title rival. The swing goes the other way. Verstappen stays ahead on the timing page. Norris pushed for all he's worth. He missed out by nine tenths of a second. Great job. Drove like a lion. And you got a podium. Well done, mate. I have no front. There's no grip. Well done, mate. You drove hard for that. We weren't as competitive as we should have been in the second stint, but you deserve that podium today. My God. That was a hard race. Like I say, you drove like a lion. Nice job. Yeah. I tried everything, with the defending at least. That was fun. It's just a bit weird that you can overtake outside the track. Well, you can't, and the FIA put that right, so there you go. That's all right. Points-wise, this weekend, Max, you've done what you needed to do. I guess I got a five-second penalty. Yeah, they gave you five seconds just at the end there before leaving the track getting an advantage. Not sure why. Oh, yeah. Well, then I should have just gone back behind him, shouldn't I? And the question that hung in the air was, would there be a penalty? There was. And the question then evolves into, why did McLaren take that risk? That's just it. I mean, the camera angle that we saw, it was pretty clear Max was ahead, and as you mentioned, any car that had done that so far in this Grand Prix had received the penalty. Clearly, I didn't give the position back because we thought we were in the right. Clearly, we weren't. I still think we were, considering Max went off the track. Normally, if you defend your position and you go off the track, you have to give the position up. In that case, I was ahead. I kept my position because he needed to give it back. that's the way it is. So, I think I did the correct thing, but I don't make the rules. Max drove well. It was a fun race between us, good battle, and he defended well. He did everything he had to do. We struggled as a team. I didn't do a great job. Both are not what we need right now, so we'll both try better next time. I think overall, it was quite a tough race. I didn't expect it to be that tough, but we just struggled a bit more on the tyres. I just couldn't really attack compared to yesterday. We were just lacking a bit of pace, but I think overall, we just did the best we could. We managed it till the end. Some good battles with Lando out there, hard battles, but fair, and it definitely was a lot of fun. How significant is it for you to be making sure you're just, generally speaking, always finishing in front of Lando? That was definitely a positive weekend, of course, but there's still quite a few points that we need to collect. Of course, very happy to at least extend it now for once compared to the last few weekends. It was a great battle between the top two in the World Championship, but it was resolved in Max Verstappen's favour. 354 points to his name, extending that advantage over Lando Norris who's on 297.