Analysis

Max Verstappen versus Lando Norris: the data behind the “crazy” last corner in Austin

The Dutchman claimed pole for the F1 sprint race in Austin as the team reveals it experimented with different set-ups during the only practice session

Max Verstappen topped the times at the Circuit of the Americas on Friday in the first of two Formula 1 qualifying sessions this weekend – another sign of Red Bull's recent progress with the RB21.

Heading into the race weekend, team boss Laurent Mekies suggested that Austin’s medium-speed corners would suit McLaren better, saying McLaren “killed” Red Bull in Zandvoort, but Verstappen’s performance in Texas underlines the step that the team has made.

It applies not only to pure performance, but also operationally. In earlier parts of the season, Fridays have often been a weakness for Red Bull. More often than not, the team had to overhaul its setup overnight before finding an acceptable compromise for qualifying. This time, with only one practice session, the RB21 was immediately competitive. Above all, it is confirmation that the team understands its 2025 car better than in the first half of the season.

Red Bull’s practice approach: Tsunoda’s set-up provides a direction

Because of that limited practice time at COTA, Red Bull split its programme between the cars of Verstappen and team-mate Yuki Tsunoda to gather two different data sets.

“During any qualifying session we are trying to maximise the performance of the car by trying to go as low as possible on set-up,” technical director Pierre Wache explained. “During FP1 we tested two types of set-up across the two cars, and we realised that Yuki’s set-up was a little bit better.”

That insight was then applied to both cars ahead of sprint qualifying, which “helped the high-speed bottoming that we have in the corners here,” Wache added.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Laurent Mekies, Red Bull Racing Team Principal

Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images

"It achieved performance in the car without losing out in the low speed,” Wache said. “Then it was a very good performance extraction from Max today. He really put it all together to get pole.”

Where Wache mentions Verstappen's pole lap, others at Red Bull were mostly looking at the Dutchman’s final sector. Helmut Marko told Motorsport.com that Verstappen went “sideways” in Turn 1 – which Verstappen referred to on team radio – but recovered all of that in the last sector. Team boss Laurent Mekies singled out the very last corner in particular.

“Honestly, he manages to surprise us every time he gets into that car. It’s unbelievable,” Mekies told Sky Sports F1. “It’s great to see all the hard work he’s putting into it in the background to get to that; it doesn’t come by coincidence.”

“It’s true to say that on that lap you nearly felt that he would – and he did – pull a crazy last corner in order to beat Lando. Obviously, he doesn’t have that information in the car, but he sent the car in the last corners and managed to create that small gap. It’s great for the team to have that sort of driver, and today it proved decisive.”

Data confirms Marko and Mekies' analysis

A look at GPS data backs up Marko and Mekies’ words about the last sector. In the graphics below, Verstappen and Norris’ fastest SQ3 laps are compared. It shows that Verstappen was 2 km/h faster than Norris at the end of the main straight – 311 versus 309 km/h – but McLaren had slightly better traction out of the final corner to start the flying lap.

This gave Norris a 0.026 second advantage at the first braking point. Verstappen’s small slide in Turn 1 – the one that Marko mentioned – then increased the gap to just over a tenth by the corner exit.