Verstappen heads to Austin on a winning run, 17 points from second

Update after the United States Grand Prix, 25 October: Verstappen finished third in Austin and is now fourth on 236 points, five behind Hamilton and six behind Russell. At 129 points behind Antonelli with 125 left, he can no longer win the 2026 title. Full United States GP results and what Antonelli needs in Mexico.

Max Verstappen heads into Austin 2026 as the form driver of Formula 1. Two Grands Prix, two wins, and the Red Bull driver arrives at the Circuit of the Americas fourth in the championship on 221 points, 17 behind George Russell in second place.

Start times (local, US Eastern, UK and central Europe) and how to watch: United States GP 2026 schedule. Full championship table: F1 standings 2026.

Thirty-three points from one weekend in Singapore

A fortnight ago Verstappen was level with Lando Norris on 188 points. He won the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang on 4 October, Red Bull’s first win of the season, and then took the maximum in Singapore: the sprint on 10 October and the Grand Prix a day later, with Charles Leclerc second and Kimi Antonelli third.

That weekend was worth 33 points. It took him past Norris (201) and Leclerc (215) into fourth. It was also his first win at Marina Bay at the tenth attempt, it came in his 250th Grand Prix start, and it was the 73rd win of his career.

Formula1.com links the upturn to the updates Red Bull brought to Azerbaijan. Verstappen sees it the same way: “I think the last few races have been really positive for us, and it’s just great to see.”

The getaway is still the weak spot

Not everything is fixed. Verstappen lost places at the start in Malaysia and again in the Singapore sprint, and he said so plainly afterwards, as quoted by the Associated Press: “The start was horrendous again. That’s definitely something that we need to improve on because if you have something like that tomorrow, that’s your race over, if nothing crazy happens.”

On Sunday in Singapore it did not cost him. In Austin, with a long run to turn 1 and the cars around him fighting for points of their own, a poor launch would hurt more.

Eight points to Hamilton, 17 to Russell

The order behind Antonelli (340) is tight. Russell has 238, Lewis Hamilton 229, Verstappen 221, Leclerc 215 and Norris 201. Verstappen is eight points behind Hamilton for third and six ahead of Leclerc, so in Austin he is chasing and defending at the same time.

Russell’s Singapore weekend explains part of the gap closing. After his engine failure at Sepang, Mercedes fitted a fifth power unit in Singapore, which earned him a 40-place grid penalty. He started from the back and finished ninth. That penalty has now been served.

Six Grands Prix remain: the United States, Mexico, São Paulo, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. There are no sprints left, so 150 points are still available. F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali confirmed in early October that Qatar and Abu Dhabi go ahead as planned.

A title that needs six wins and a collapse

Mathematically Verstappen is still in the title fight, but only just. He would have to win all six remaining races, which takes him to 371 points, while Antonelli scores fewer than 31 points over the same six weekends. Antonelli has stood on the podium 14 times this season.

Antonelli can settle it in Austin: he is champion there if he wins and Russell finishes ninth or lower and Hamilton fifth or lower. Verstappen can only push that back by winning himself or by finishing ahead of Antonelli. The full calculation, driver by driver, is on our F1 2026 title permutations page.

Red Bull has turned a season around before

A personal view from our editor, Jakob van Putten.

Last year we saw Red Bull improve the car so much in the middle of the season that Max could mount a huge comeback, one that kept the championship alive until the final race in Abu Dhabi. He won that race and still finished second overall, because Lando Norris stayed in the points and had just enough in hand to take his first world title by two points.

This year the gap is bigger, but Red Bull and Max are showing once again that they can turn things around. It will probably come too late for the championship. Still, after all the problems of the first half of the season, the fact that he is even theoretically still in contention is a victory in itself.

Our hunch: second place is the prize worth chasing

The title is arithmetic, not a prospect. Second place is a different matter. Closing 17 points over six races means outscoring Russell by about three points a weekend, which a driver who has just won two in a row can do without needing anyone else to fail.

Austin is a good place to start. Verstappen has won the United States Grand Prix four times at the Circuit of the Americas, in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025. If the Red Bull has kept the pace it found in Asia, the fight for second could be open by the time the circus leaves Mexico.

A GT3 debut at Portimão in between

Between Singapore and Austin, Verstappen is also making his GT World Challenge Europe debut this weekend at the Portimão season finale, sharing the #3 Mercedes-AMG of Team Verstappen Racing with Ben Barnicoat and Chris Lulham. Our Portimão coverage has the full weekend.

More on his career in Formula 1 and GT racing is on his driver profile, and our Formula 1 explainers cover qualifying, ERS and how penalties work.

Lights out in Austin on 25 October at 15:00 local, 21:00 in central Europe

The United States Grand Prix starts on Sunday 25 October at 15:00 local time in Austin, which is 16:00 ET, 20:00 in the UK and 21:00 CET. Europe turns its clocks back that morning, so the gap to Texas is one hour smaller than usual. All session times are on our Austin schedule page.

Sources: formula1.com (championship standings after round 17, Singapore results and Verstappen’s comments), formula1.com and Racer (Russell’s power unit penalty), the Associated Press (Verstappen’s sprint comments), Bernama (career win total), Reuters (Antonelli’s podium count), Gulf News (Domenicali on Qatar and Abu Dhabi), formula1.com (2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix result).

Does Verstappen pass Russell for second before Abu Dhabi, or do Mercedes keep the top two places? Tell us in the comments.