Winners and losers from the 2025 United States Grand Prix

Max Verstappen has notched another victory en route to transforming the scope of his F1 2026 season here at the United States Grand Prix, but not everyone had such a good day. 

These are PlanetF1.com’s full spread of winners and losers from the 2025 United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas.

Winners and losers from the 2025 United States Grand Prix

Winner: Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen has looked truly unstoppable at the 2025 United States Grand Prix, and on Sunday evening, it was another win for the reigning champion.

From pole position, Verstappen rocketed into the lead heading into Turn 1, and after that point, any semblance of a battle was over. While there were a few moments in the race where Verstappen reported some instability and sliding, and while his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase instructed him to be gentle on his tyres, it was nearly a flawless event.

Even more critically, Verstappen took another bite out of the championship gap. Now, the deficit between himself and title contender Oscar Piastri sits at just 40 points, which feels like a frankly easily surmountable gap.

Loser: Williams

Had this been a standard race weekend, Williams likely would have scored well within the points; as it stood, the team was involved in plenty of chaos up and down the grid in both the Sprint and the Grand Prix itself.

Carlos Sainz’s race ended on Lap 1 after contact with Kimi Antonelli. As he dove in to pass the Mercedes driver, he locked up and smacked right into him, which ultimately led to the end of his race. And to add insult to injury, he was handed a five-place grid penalty for next weekend’s race in Mexico City.

And then there was Alex Albon. He and Gabriel Bortoleto made contact at the start — something that both drivers deemed a racing incident. However, Albon told media that he didn’t feel the contact did all that much to harm his race, which was going to be a struggle no matter what.

The end result? Neither driver in the points in a disappointing finish for the team.

Winner: Lando Norris

Lando Norris needed a strong Grand Prix Sunday after the COTA Sprint disaster, and that’s exactly what the McLaren driver had.

Now, his start wasn’t perfect, and he lost a critical position to Charles Leclerc that forced him to put his victory push aside in an effort to climb one step higher on the podium.

But the British driver displayed an impressive grasp of race craft as he took the challenge to the Ferrari, sticking close to the SF-25 and waiting to deploy his overtake attempts at moments where he felt most confident. It didn’t always work, but it was hard, respectful racing, and his late-race pass on Leclerc saw him snag a well-deserved second place finish.

And the icing on the cake? He made significant headway over teammate Oscar Piastri as far as the championship is concerned; just 14 points separate the two McLaren drivers with five Grands Prix and two sprint races remaining in 2025.

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Loser: Isack Hadjar

It was a difficult weekend overall for Isack Hadjar, and his US Grand Prix was set to kick off on the wrong foot from the very get-go thanks to his qualifying crash — but things were only made worse by the decision to start the race on hard tyres.

Hadjar was clear in his media availability that the hard was not his choice, but that he didn’t want to go against the team. Unfortunately for him, it meant that much of the race was an uphill battle, and he finished outside of the points.

Winner: Ferrari

The F1 2025 season hasn’t been a particularly stellar one for the Scuderia, but there was a lot worth enjoying in their 2025 outing at the United States Grand Prix. No, it wasn’t a win for either Charles Leclerc or Lewis Hamilton — but the former did snag a podium while the latter came home fourth.

Add in the boon of the Sprint race, and Ferrari brought home a fruitful points haul at the Circuit of The Americas, bolstering their position in the constructors’ standings. With a fresh total of 334 points, they’re sitting just seven points behind second-placed Mercedes heading into the final swing of the season.

Loser: Gabriel Bortoleto

Gabriel Bortoleto walked away from the F1 2025 weekend wondering where his pace had gone. He branded the 2025 US Grand Prix as one of his most difficult weekends in F1 so far, feeling like he was unable to extract enough pace from his Sauber to be competitive.

At the end of the day, the best he could do was 19th — dead last of the cars that finished the race while teammate Nico Hulkenberg managed to sneak into the top 10 to bring home a few strong points.

Winner: Yuki Tsunoda

The 2025 US Grand Prix could be a critical one in determining Yuki Tsunoda’s future, and his P6 finish will do a lot to continue keeping his name in the conversation as the Red Bull program looks to cement its driver lineup.

Earlier this season, Red Bull special advisor Helmut Marko pinpointed the Mexico City Grand Prix — next weekend’s race — as being the point of the season where the program will determine who will compete at Red Bull and who will join Racing Bulls.

Isack Hadjar’s uptick in performance has come to a halt at COTA, whereas Tsunoda helped bolster Red Bull Racing’s points haul; the team is now sitting just three points behind third-placed Ferrari in the constructors’ championship standings.

Will a P6 be enough for Tsunoda to hold onto his seat? That remains to be seen. But there’s plenty that the Japanese driver can be proud of this weekend.

Loser: Alpine

The Alpine teammates of Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly were involved in a bit of a fracas in the closing laps of the US Grand Prix. Both drivers had settled into 17th and 18th place, with Gasly leading a feisty Colapinto.

The team instructed Colapinto to hold position because both cars were struggling; the Argentinian nevertheless decided to make the pass for P17 against team orders. Gasly was left frustrated by the maneuver, staying tight-lipped in front of media. But overall, both drivers remained disappointed with their overall lack of pace.

Race report: US Grand Prix: Verstappen blows title wide open with dominant victory