Verstappen Wins Sprint; Wolff Admits Mistake

Max Verstappen won the crash-filled sprint at the Circuit of the Americas, took pole for Sunday’s U.S. Grand Prix and, after Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were taken out in a Turn 1 incident, closed to within 55 points of the Drivers’ Championship lead. Red Bull has regained momentum with multiple recent wins, though Verstappen and the team say race trim still needs improvement to challenge McLaren over a full Grand Prix distance. Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko said Verstappen briefly “lost a little bit of interest” during earlier struggles but has since been re-motivated by recent performance. Separately, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff conceded publicly courting Verstappen this year was a mistake that destabilized contract talks and frustrated George Russell, and said the team will learn from the episode. Mercedes confirmed an unchanged 2026 driver line-up, re-signing George Russell and rookie Kimi Antonelli, and Wolff stressed the team's immediate priority is stability while not entirely ruling out future interest in Verstappen.