Red Bull picked up a win in the sprint race as part of the US Grand Prix in Texas, with Max Verstappen taking the win in the Saturday race.
A chaotic sprint saw both Verstappen’s championship rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri taken out in a lap one crash, and Verstappen was able to capitalise with a victory that sees him gain on the two McLarens in the championship, taking the 8 points for a sprint win on a day when the top two in the standings both failed to score points.
It would be double points for Red Bull in the sprint, as Yuki Tsunoda managed a flying start to recover from 18th on the grid to take a 7th place finish, earning 2 points.
Ahead of the full United States Grand Prix later today (19/10), Verstappen remains third in the championship with 281 points. He is 55 points behind championship leader Piastri, with 25 on offer for a win in the main race. Teammate Tsunoda is 16th with 22 points.
In the Constructor’s Championship, the combined 10 points brings Red Bull up to 300 points. The Milton Keynes-based team remain in a close fight for second in the championship, with Red Bull 7 points behind third place Ferrari and 33 off second place Mercedes.
The sprint race at the US Grand Prix had seen Verstappen start from pole after setting the fastest time in Friday night’s sprint qualifying session, while Tsunoda was knocked out in the first part after hitting traffic and being unable to set a second lap.
Lap one of the sprint would provide huge chaos. While Verstappen nailed his start and had no bother, there was chaos behind. A collision at turn one between Piastri’s McLaren and the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg caused a major chain reaction, with Piastri hitting Norris and both McLarens out on the spot.
Tsunoda would also be involved in his own drama, with the Japanese driver making a dive into turn one that saw him make slight contact with a Racing Bulls, but also saw him navigate his way through a situation with cars all over the place to jump up. In that, Tsunoda also collected the front wing of Hulkenberg’s Sauber, which it then shed later on in the lap.
The Red Bull had briefly got up to 7th, but was leapfrogged by Alex Albon’s Williams just before the safety car was deployed with Piastri, Norris and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso all out.
The safety car ended on lap 5 and on the first lap after, Verstappen did get a challenge. Mercedes’ George Russell, who had got up to second after the initial trouble, made a huge move into turn 12 at the end of the back straight, with both the Red Bull and Mercedes having to go off the track. Verstappen came back on ahead, and duly established a gap back to Russell over the remainder of the race.
Tsunoda meanwhile remained in situ, with the second Red Bull unable to match the pace of Albon and the two Ferraris ahead but able to stay clear of the squabbling Ollie Bearman and Andrea Kimi Antonelli behind.
Both Red Bull’s positions looked like being set before the final laps were held under a second safety car of the day, with it deployed after Lance Stroll collided with Esteban Ocon at turn one, breaking both the Aston Martin and Haas in the process.
That duly saw Verstappen take the win, earning his second sprint race win of 2025 after winning the race in Belgium in the summer.
Red Bull’s attention now quickly turns to the full US Grand Prix, also taking place at the Circuit of the Americas later today (19/10). After Saturday evening’s qualifying, Verstappen will again start from pole position, with his first lap in Q3 being enough to take pole despite a miscommunication seeing him unable to do a second lap. Tsunoda meanwhile starts 13th.