Paddock Notes: Sainz docked, Verstappen snitches, Herta plots F2, Wolff turns the screws, Ferrari swats Horner chatter
The circus leaves Austin with a few stories still buzzing around the paddock, and not all of them made the world feed.
First up: Carlos Sainz will lug a five-place grid penalty into Mexico City after the FIA added two penalty points to his licence for tangling with Andrea Kimi Antonelli at COTA. The Williams driver and the Mercedes rookie rubbed wheels at Turn 15 in the early laps, a tight squeeze that stewards judged on Sainz. The sanction compounds a frustrating Sunday for the Spaniard and puts a dent in Williams’ points-hunting prospects at altitude, where track position tends to be king.
Speaking of things you didn’t see on TV, unbroadcast team radio from the United States Grand Prix captured Max Verstappen flagging Lando Norris for a track-limits breach while the McLaren was scrapping with Charles Leclerc for second. Norris had already racked up three strikes early on, and when word filtered to Verstappen that Lando had locked up and run wide again, the reigning champ couldn’t resist a cheeky note over the airwaves. Not quite neighborhood watch, but the sort of needle that tells you the title fight’s getting spicy.
On that championship note, Toto Wolff reckons Verstappen holds a “psychological advantage” over McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Norris heading into the final five rounds. The Red Bull driver is only 40 points behind leader Piastri after chalking up a third win in four races in Austin, and he’s sniffing a fifth consecutive crown. Whether you buy the mind games or not, Verstappen’s late-season rhythm is the type McLaren can’t afford to let snowball.
There’s also movement on the 2026 horizon. Cadillac’s freshly signed test driver Colton Herta has confirmed a season in Formula 2 with Hitech next year as he angles toward a full-time F1 shot. The American will leave IndyCar at the end of 2025, and with Cadillac’s entry set for 2026 — and Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez already inked for race seats — Herta’s European campaign reads as a deliberate tune-up. It’s a bold route for a driver who’s spent his career stateside: learn the tyres, learn the tracks, and be ready if the door opens.
Over in Maranello, Fred Vasseur did his best to cool feverish headlines after Ferrari chairman John Elkann’s recent vote-of-confidence messaging stirred fresh speculation about Christian Horner. Vasseur suggested Elkann’s words were aimed at a mysterious “third party,” a diplomatic way of saying Ferrari’s not shopping for a team boss. Horner’s name will inevitably float until his future is nailed down elsewhere, but the signal from Ferrari is clear enough: steady hands, no sudden moves.
Back to Mexico, where Sainz’s penalty could shift the midfield chessboard. Williams have quietly pieced together some strong Sundays this season, and the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez rewards cars that can look after their tyres as much as their brakes. Starting further back will demand a clean Saturday and a sharp strategy call or two to avoid getting stuck in DRS trains.
As for the front, Verstappen’s edge has come from the small stuff — surgical tyre management, calm under pressure, a team that turns pit windows into gains. McLaren’s raw pace is real, and in Piastri they’ve got a driver who’s taken to pressure like a veteran. But the margins are tiny now, and every radio message, every white line, every safety car gamble suddenly matters.
In short: stewards are busy, radios are spicy, the title narrative is tightening, and the 2026 grid is already nudging into today’s headlines. Just another quiet Tuesday in Formula 1.
