Max Verstappen makes 'idiot' comment as Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris put on notice

Max Verstappen 'would have told them they were an idiot' if someone told him in Zandvoort that he would be in title contention with five races remaining. The Dutchman closed within 40 points of the Drivers' Championship leader Oscar Piastri with a commanding victory at the United States Grand Prix on Sunday.

Verstappen executed a perfect weekend in Austin, starting by turning P1 in the sprint shootout into victory on Saturday after a battle with George Russell. Both McLaren drivers were taken out in an opening-lap crash involving Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso.

Then, on Sunday, Verstappen fended off Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris into Turn One before disappearing off into the distance. He managed his tyres to perfection, cruising across the line to clinch his fifth Grand Prix victory, and his third in the last four races. With Piastri languishing in fifth place, the title race was reignited with that result.

Verstappen's run is even more impressive given that he was over 100 points behind the Australian just a couple of months ago. "I would've told him that he was an idiot," he said when asked what he would have said if he had been informed of the current situation back at the Dutch Grand Prix in early September.

"We found a good way with the car. It's as simple as that. Of course, we put upgrades on the car, but we understood our car better, where we wanted it to perform better. And every weekend we try to achieve it.

"Some weekends it's better than others, but in general, it has been way more straightforward the last few weekends compared to before those races. So that's what we need to try and extract out of it every single weekend."

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Verstappen's returning presence in the title fight has raised the question of whether McLaren need to prioritise one of their drivers in a bid to get both World Championships over the line. However, with Norris now only 14 points behind Piastri, that would be an extremely uncomfortable decision for Andrea Stella to take.

"I mean, I don't know," Piastri replied when asked the question by Sky Sports F1. "I don't think so. We're still so incredibly tight, and we've both said we want an opportunity to try and fight for the Championship because we deserve it, so I think it's far too close to start picking one over the other."

The Melbourne-born driver will be desperate to arrest his slide when McLaren arrive in Mexico City next weekend. Piastri has failed to outscore either of his title rivals in the last four Grand Prix weekends, and with the RB21 now at least as competitive as the MCL38, the advantage granted by the machinery underneath him has been eliminated.