And while Verstappen deserves credit, Red Bull has made important steps on and off track to unlock it. A new floor the team brought to Monza helped trigger the massive change in its pace relative to the McLarens, but there has been a notable change to Verstappen in the time since the summer break, too.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen dominated the U.S. Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday, leading every lap to take another significant chunk out of Oscar Piastri's Formula One championship lead.

Oscar Piastri is the man with the advantage at the moment with a healthy but not enormous 22-point lead over his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris.