Martin Brundle heard something in Lando Norris’ onboard that explains Max Verstappen’s title charge

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Max Verstappen took a dominant pole position at the United States Grand Prix on Saturday ahead of McLaren driver Lando Norris. His title charge continues to pick up speed.

Verstappen won the Sprint race earlier on Saturday after the two McLaren drivers crashed. That allowed him to gain eight points, reducing the gap to 55.

And he continued his perfect weekend by lapping almost three-tenths faster than Norris at the end of Grand Prix qualifying. Verstappen held onto pole despite leaving the pit lane too late to set a second lap at the end of the session.

McLaren are on a three-race victory drought heading to the US Grand Prix. Meanwhile, Verstappen has been either first or second at every race since the summer break.

Lando Norris ‘nowhere near’ as early on the throttle as Max Verstappen

Watching one of Norris’ laps onboard during Q2, Sky Sports pundit Martin Brundle noticed a key difference with Verstappen at the high-speed, turn 19 left-hander. He was ‘nowhere near’ as quick to reapply the throttle.

This may reflect the contrasting confidence levels between the two drivers, or simply which car has a stronger front end.

“Just listen to this,” Brundle said in commentary. “I’ll tell you what, he’s nowhere near as urgently back on the throttle as when we were on board with Max Verstappen.”

McLaren were hopeful their dominance would be restored after Verstappen’s wins at the low-downforce Monza and Baku circuits. But they were third-quickest in Singapore last time out, and seem to be a step behind Red Bull here too, over one lap at least.

Red Bull have continued to develop their car at a point where most teams have switched focus entirely to 2026 and the regulation changes. There are growing signs that they have now replaced McLaren as F1’s fastest team.

Martin Brundle has changed his mind about Max Verstappen’s Red Bull

Just last month at Monza, Brundle remarked that Verstappen was ‘delayed’ in getting back in on the throttle. It’s noteworthy that Red Bull seem to have remedied that weakness.

Saturday’s qualifying session was reminiscent of Verstappen’s pomp during the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Now it’s McLaren who seem to have lost their edge.

Verstappen may have played mind games with McLaren in the pre-race press conference when he joked that they were ‘definitely’ favouring Lando Norris. He could be heard remarking as he left the room that he’d created a ‘headline’.