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.

Oscar Piastri will need to bounce back quickly from crashing out on the opening lap of the sprint race at the United States of America Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

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.