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AUSTIN: Time is running out on Lando Norris’ Formula 1 title chase of Max Verstappen.
Norris and McLaren leave Texas for the Mexico City Grand Prix further adrift from Verstappen after a disappointing United States Grand Prix weekend. The Red Bull driver won the sprint race, then took the final podium spot in the Sunday main event when Norris was penalized for leaving the track to pass him in the final laps.
The penalty will be debated in the garages and paddock until next season. That won’t help Norris in the standings now.
Verstappen is chasing a fourth consecutive season championship. Norris is trying to win his first, and Texas gave him another taste of just how hard, if not impossible, it can be to take the title from the Dutch driver.
Norris had the faster car in the late stages Sunday. He got stuck behind a stubborn Verstappen who refused to yield the place as the drivers battled over every inch of the track.
When Norris finally made his move to third with about four laps to go, race stewards determined he improperly left the track to gain the position. He was given a five-second penalty.
Norris crossed the finish line in third. Officially, he was fourth and Verstappen took the final podium spot.
The penalty and the head-to-head battle with Verstappen, left Norris clearly frustrated.
“He defends by going off-track, he overtakes by going off-track. But I’m not going to complain. Max drove well and he defended well, we had a good race together. But the rules are the rules.” Norris said.
At least he finished the race this time. When those two tangled in Austria, a late-race collision knocked Norris out of the race and dropped Verstappen from first to fifth.
That tussle proved to be a taste of things to come.
Norris has been in a months-long charge after Verstappen, who hasn’t won a grand prix since June after a dominant start to the season. Norris and Verstappen finished 1-2 in Singapore, but Norris won the race by 21 seconds just before the four-week autumn break.
Red Bull and Verstappen appear to have at least closed that gap.
Verstappen won the Texas sprint race for his first victory of any kind since the sprint race in Austria. And even if Sunday’s finish had been reversed, Norris would have have come out of the weekend just a single point closer in the championship.
Yet Verstappen’s weekend wasn’t as good as he had hoped it would be. Red Bull brought a trove of upgrades to a car that Verstappen has alternately called “undrivable” and “a monster” this season.
The car looked good in the sprint and again in qualifying when Verstappen barely missed out on pole position, which Norris won.
But the sprint race victory proved a bit of a mirage. The Red Bull had nowhere near the pace of the Ferraris over a regular race distance, and was passed by Norris at the end.
It was still good enough to squeeze the title chase just a bit tighter. And Verstappen had no sympathy for McLaren’s complaints Sunday about losing the podium.
“They complain about a lot recently.” Verstappen said. “The battle with Lando at the end was cool as we were racing hard and it was actually a lot of fun. You cannot overtake outside the white line and I have lost a podium here for overtaking outside the track.”
And he’ll take any result that stretches his lead in the championship.
“We are going in the right direction. It is still not enough,” Verstappen said. “Ultimately the fact that we have extended the gap is the biggest thing for us.”