Red Bull kept up their momentum at the United States Grand Prix, where Max Verstappen swept both the Sprint and the main race, closing the gap to championship leader Oscar Piastri to 40 points.
With Yuki Tsunoda finishing seventh in both events, Red Bull walked away from Austin with 41 points – roughly equivalent to a one-two finish in a standard Grand Prix. They now trail second place in the constructors’ standings by just 10 points.
Verstappen is on track for what could be remembered as one of F1’s greatest comebacks, closing in on McLaren’s leading pair.
Since Laurent Mekies replaced Christian Horner in July, he has overseen a clear shift in the team’s trajectory.
After the race at COTA, controversy surfaced when it was revealed that a Red Bull team member had removed Lando Norris’ grid tape before the start. This action made it harder for Norris to line up his car correctly. The team were fined over £40k for being on the grid during the formation lap.
David Croft criticises Red Bull for Lando Norris tape incident at US Grand Prix
David Croft did not hold back in his criticism of Red Bull following the grid tape incident involving Lando Norris. Speaking on Sky Sports’ F1 Show podcast, Croft said:
“Grow up. Absolutely grow up. It’s like in football when you give away a foul, and then you go and kick the ball away. Just don’t.
“It really annoys me this sort of thing. There is a word for it, but I can’t say it on the podcast. It’s gamesmanship. Grow up!”
This was not the first time something like this had happened, either. Earlier in the season, McLaren had already switched to stronger material for Norris’ grid tape after similar issues with Red Bull.
Norris lost second place to Charles Leclerc off the line and spent much of the race locked in a battle with Ferrari, despite having shown enough pace earlier in the weekend to suggest he could have challenged Verstappen.
Red Bull’s tape removal brings back memories of tactics used under Christian Horner
This incident is nothing new for Red Bull, who are no strangers to playing mind games, even if Mekies himself is not directly involved.
Looking back at 2021, when Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were locked in a title fight, both Red Bull and Mercedes resorted to leaving cables out in the pit lane to disrupt each other’s stops.
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It was a season full of similar stories. One that stood out was Verstappen getting fined for touching Hamilton’s rear wing during the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The current season has not quite reached those levels yet. The Dutchman only recently re-entered the title mix, but with five races left on the calendar, there is still plenty of time for things to escalate.
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