Verstappen makes clear he is gunning for a fifth world title

Red Bull driver 40 points behind leader Oscar Piastri

AUSTIN:

Max Verstappen made it clear that he is chasing a spectacular fifth world title after reeling off his third win in four races with a masterclass in Sunday's sizzling United States Grand Prix.

After avoiding direct comment on the championship for several weeks, Red Bull's four-time champion said he felt sure he now has a real chance of snatching the title from the grasp of McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

Boosted by cutting Piastri's advantage to 40 points with five Grands Prix remaining, including two more sprint races, a buoyant Verstappen called for Red Bull to maintain their momentum.

"Yeah, for sure, the chance is there," he said. "We just need to try and deliver these weekends until the end. We will try whatever we can."

After winning both Saturday's sprint and Sunday's Grand Prix race, Verstappen has 306 points in the title race, in third place, leaving Piastri on top with 346 points and Norris on 332.

McLaren have already won the constructors' title for the second consecutive year, but have focussed on preparing for 2026 and stopped introducing updates to their car for this year -- leaving their drivers nervously scrambling to keep their title bids on track.

The 28-year-old Dutchman has now collected 119 points from a possible 135 over the last five Grand Prix weekends -- a run that has also coincided with improvements in form from both Mercedes and Ferrari.

Verstappen added: "It was an unbelievable weekend for us. I knew that the race was not going to be super straightforward and I think, if you look at the whole race, the pace between myself and Lando was really close.

"I think on the first stint is where we made the difference. I could eek out a little bit of a gap and that is basically what we kept until the end."

He added: "I am Incredibly proud of everyone to deliver a weekend like this and now we just have to keep the momentum."

Verstappen's late season charge has prompted memories of the 2007 season when Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari went into the final race in Brazil trailing both McLaren drivers, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, but emerged as champion.

Frustrated Piastri calls for calm review

Oscar Piastri called for a calm review of his recent frustrating form and rejected calls for McLaren to prioritise one driver after he finished fifth in Sunday's United States Grand Prix.

The 24-year-old Australian, without a win in four Formula One races since the Dutch Grand Prix in August, admitted he was concerned about both his qualifying and race pace.

"I think it is very important wherever you go to get qualifying right and today I think race pace could have saved you - but I didn't have that eithe," he said.

"So obviously, it's something I want to work on. Apart from Baku, this has been the first weekend where I have felt it has been a real letdown.

"It's been sub-par before, but I felt it was pretty good so I've obviously got some things to try and understand from this weekend. It was clearly not all about qualifying.

"It was really difficult to get into a rhythm in any way."

Asked about the prospect of McLaren deciding to abandon their "papaya rules" system of supporting both drivers equally and instead choosing to back one, he was against that decision.

"I don't know," said Piastri, who leads the drivers' standings on 346 points ahead of teammate Lando Norris on 332 with Red Bull's Max Verstappen snapping at their heels.

"I don't think so. We are so incredibly tight and we both said we want an opportunity to try and fight for the championship because we deserve it.

"I think it is far too close to start picking one or the other."

Piastri has seen his once luxurious lead of more than 100 points ahead of rampant third-placed four time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull cut to just 40 after the Dutch driver's Texas triumph on Sunday.