The 2025 F1 United States Grand Prix was not a classic by any means, but there was a plethora of talking points to extract from a critical weekend in Austin.
Max Verstappen crushed all those before him at the Circuit of the Americas and Oscar Piastri continued to suffer through his worst patch of the year.
Lando Norris salvaged second place to keep his title hopes alive and Charles Leclerc put together an exceptional defensive display, despite ultimately racing from third to third.
McLaren had a "tough" weekend across the board, as CEO Zak Brown put it, and COTA got a well-earned extension to 2034.
The FIA presidential elections were effectively decided with Tim Mayer dropping out the race, so there has been plenty to consider.
So, who has made the RacingNews365 list of winners and losers for the 2025 F1 United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas?
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Winner - Max Verstappen
Verstappen is inevitable. Cometh the hour, cometh the four-time F1 drivers' champion. He has been formidable, imperious for since the floor upgrade to his RB21 at Monza, and he is showing no signs of relenting.
He is crashing on the McLaren shores with wave after wave of attack and it is increasingly looking like a case of when, not if, the papaya pair of Piastri and Norris succumb to the Dutchman.
Call him Jaws, call him the T. rex from Jurassic Park, the weekend in Austin underlined and punctuated why there is a chasm in class between him and rest at the moment.
The F1 drivers' championship is going down to the wire and the smart money looks to be on the 28-year-old. After practice at the Circuit of the Americas, no-one looked close to beating the now 68-time grand prix winner.
Reducing his arrears to Piastri in the standings by 64 points — from 104 to just 40 — in four rounds highlights the majesty of the driver; wiping 23 points off his deficit in Texas was potentially game-changing. Phenomenal.
Loser - Oscar Piastri
Piastri is enduring his worst run of form all season and he was undeniably struggling in the Lone Star State. The title charge he has woven together, in only his third season, is impressive, that cannot be forgotten, but his blip in Baku has turned into a full-blown wobble.
If he cannot arrest his slide — and quickly — his championship challenge could well capitulate. He seemed unable to find a footing in Austin and clearly could not get comfortable with the MCL39, something that is highly unusual for him.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella hightlighted that he seemingly could not acquisce with the low-grip conditions and he felt that was costing the Australian a couple of tenths, but Piastri has looked a shade slower than Norris since his superb win in Zandvoort.
At that stage, his advantage over the second McLaren was 34 points. Now, it is a mere 14. And that's not even to mention Verstappen.
Is it starting to come apart at the seams for the 24-year-old? Maybe. But Piastri is a fast learner and his championship destiny is still very much in his hands. Can he wrestle back control of his title tilt?
Winner - Charles Leclerc
Defensive masterclass. Superb. A thoroughly-earned driver of the day, it is difficult to falt his performance in the grand prix.
Credit where credit is due, it was strike of brilliance from Ferrari to opt for a soft-medium tyre strategy, but Leclerc converted on it.
In some ways, you could understand if the Monegasque driver were a little disappointed with being unable to hold onto second place, but the McLaren is superior to the Ferrari and the eight-time grand prix winner did all he could.
Leclerc feels he has been operating at his best this season, despite the painful situation the Italian team finds itself in. And it would be hard to argue against him.
He extracted everything he could from the SF-25 to stretch his podium head-to-head against Lewis Hamilton to 6-0.
Loser - McLaren
A really difficult weekend all round for the constructors' champions. Neither Norris nor Piastri could live with the resurgent Verstappen, but that isn't why McLaren finds itself on this side of the list.
It's handling of Norris' "repercussions" was a PR disaster from start to finish. It was widely pointed out that it needn't have let its drivers reveal to the media there had been sanctions at all. Of course that was going to garner traction and generate unnecessary noise.
Now for consistent questioning over whether the repercussion has been served each and every time something even vaguely interesting happens between the papaya pair on track — for the rest of the season. Was it used during the grand prix when Piastri, running a couple of places behind Norris, was pitted first? Who knows, but everyone will ask.
Aside from the questionable decision to punish Norris in the first place, it has set a dangerous precedent for itself. Does it now have to reprimand Piastri for the Turn 1 racing incident in the sprint, that he was arguably most at fault for — though rightly deemed not 'wholly or predominantly' by the stewards — and was considerably more costly to the team than what happened in Singapore?
Does McLaren say: 'That is now one each, let's just chalk it up as a draw', or will it become a never-ending cycle? The Woking-based squad has made a rod through its own back and opened a can of worms, all at the same time.
As admirably and commendably as it has managed a tricky intra-team title fight at times, it now risks making itself look less than it is.
Winner - F1
Where is Max Verstappen when Formula 1 needs him? Right where it needs him, apparently. The Dutchman has reinvigorated the drivers' championship fight as the insurgent dark horse, disrupting the quiet peace of an all-McLaren affair.
As mentioned earlier, since the floor upgrade on his RB21 was introduced for the Italian Grand Prix, he has been unparalleled. And F1 is a big winner in that.
The title fight now has all the ingredients a series could want. Not to mention a Verstappen who is going to have to win a championship in a new way — for him, at least.
If he does, somehow, outlast the McLarens of Piastri and Norris, it will be his sweetest triumph and richest victory, with F1 able to benefit on all the trappings that come with it.
The final five rounds of the campaign could be box office, and a solid season could be turned into an all-time classic.
Loser - Mercedes
This might be a difficult one for the eight-time constructors' champions to acquisce with, given the Brackley-based team itself did not do a whole lot wrong in Austin.
George Russell brought home a strong second place in the sprint and there was evidently race pace in the W16. Unfortunately for Mercedes, neither driver truly got to use it.
Simply put, had British driver and team-mate Kimi Antonelli — being punted off by Carlos Sainz aside — qualified better, they would have scored more points.
And points are crucial at the moment with the fight for second in the constructors' standings very much alive. Fact of the matter is, Ferrari and Red Bull took chunks out of Mercedes in Texas.
All three teams are separated by just 10 points in the hunt for the runner-up spot. Mercedes lost a lot of ground at COTA, having come into the round 27 and 35 points ahead, respectively. Ouch.
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