Verstappen says ‘perfect’ Sprint outcome doesn’t change title calculus

Max Verstappen says he doesn’t have feel his chances of winning the drivers’ championship changed much despite taking another chunk of points out of the McLaren drivers in the Sprint at the United States Grand Prix.

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris both retired at the first corner of Saturday’s shorter race, following a four-car incident that also saw Fernando Alonso retire and Nico Hulkenberg sustain damage. Verstappen went on to win the Sprint to pick up eight points and close the gap to Piastri to 55, but the Dutchman says he remains focused on individual results rather than the title picture.

“It’s not about believing in it,” Verstappen said. “Just take it race by race. I just try to do the best I can. Today, yeah, perfect for me to get those points. It brings me a bit closer, which I think is nice for everyone. Maybe not for them, but in general for everyone.

“But I look into different things. I was not entirely happy with the pace in the race, and I know if we want to win tomorrow, we need to be better. That’s what I’ll just focus on.”

Verstappen was heard complaining about the handling of the rear of his car during the Sprint, and he admits he thinks he would have struggled to win had the two McLarens made it cleanly through the first corner.

“It was OK. The start was good, but then I think the overall pace throughout the race, I expected it to be a little bit better," he said. "So that's something that we need to work on, especially if the McLarens are not out on lap 1 tomorrow.

“I do think that if they would have raced today, it would have been very tough to keep them behind. So that is something that for tomorrow we need to work on. But nevertheless, I take it. We take the points. It's positive. Now we just need to look at how we can improve the pace a little bit.

“Just a bit more grip, better feeling of the balance of the car. Overall, it felt OK, but in the race I felt like we were probably degrading [the tires] a bit too much. We didn't have a proper reference against the McLarens, but for sure they would have been faster than I think I was now in the Sprint. So just thinking ahead.”