Lando Norris, McLaren (SP3, P4, 18 pts): 8/10
Lando Norris headed into Austin looking as though the reality of competing for the world championship was finally sinking in and weighing on his shoulders, or perhaps something has happened behind the scenes over the season intermission to peg back the performance of the MCL36. Whatever the reason this was not a great weekend for Norris: starting the sprint from fourth was a disappointment, and getting wrapped up in a battle with the two Ferraris was not what he would have wanted. A brilliant qualifying lap for the Grand Prix saw him on pole on Sunday but old gremlins with race starts saw him lose out to Leclerc, Verstappen and Sainz in rapid succession. Despite pushing hard he was unable to snatch back the spot lost to the Red Bull, a major blow to his title hopes.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull (SP1, P3, 23 pts): 8.5/10
This is the first time in months that F1 has seen a vintage performance from Max Verstappen, certainly in the sprint race where he claimed an impressive pole ahead of George Russell and was never challenged for the lead once the race got underway. He was on the front row of the grid again on Sunday (he missed his chance for pole due to the early red flag finish to Q3) and battled his way past Norris for the lead at the start only to promptly lose out to Charles Leclerc and later to Carlos Sainz, with Ferrari clearly in better form in Austin. Verstappen then had a fierce battle to stay ahead of Norris, and in the end only did so when the McLaren earned a five second penalty for its closing lap overtake move. A properly combative performance by Verstappen suggests improvement for Red Bull after a recent fallow period, but there's more work still to do.
