AUSTIN — For the third year in a row, the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) hosted a sprint race weekend for Formula 1 on the track just outside of Austin, Texas. For the third year in a row, Max Verstappen led every single lap of the COTA sprint race in his Red Bull. This year, he also led every single lap of the feature race, maximizing his point haul.

As the 24-race season goes into the final five races, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri mitigated the damage to his lead as best as he could, now leading his teammate Lando Norris by only 14 points, and leading Verstappen by only 40 points. There is a lot of hype around the significant contrast between Verstappen’s stellar performances and Piastri’s lackluster ones of late, and here is where I stand.

Hype No. 1: Max Verstappen has made this a three-w

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