The 2025 Austin Sprint was chaotic (to say the least). Honestly, it’s probably the most chaos we’ve had since Australia. I unfortunately missed the sprint because I was at the 6 Kings Slam watching Jannik Sinner play Carlos Alcaraz, but after watching the highlights and browsing through r/formula1, I think I get the gist of what occurred during the race.

First lap, there was a small “inchident” with Nico Hulkenberg diving into the inside of turn 1, knocking out himself, Lando Norris, AND Oscar Piastri. To top it off, Fernando Alonso, who’s been at the short end of luck the entire season, was caught in the crossfire and had to retire due to damages after starting P6. He doesn’t call himself the “unluckiest driver in the f###ing world” without reason.

Then, later in the race, George Russell, like a true Mercedes mercenary, pulled a risky dive-bomb onto Max Verstappen, forcing the two off in a manner similar to the 2024 Norris/Verstappen Mexico incident. Towards the end of the race, Lance Stroll also attempted a risky dive-bomb on Esteban Ocon and paid the price, crashing both of them out of the race. Although Lance finally took accountability, it isn’t very surprising that we see him crashing into other drivers entirely on his own. 

The sprint resulted in Max gaining a free 8 points on Norris and Piastri, greatly increasing his chances of winning the World Championship more than ever. Halfway through the season, we knew that either McLaren driver would win the WDC and joked about Verstappen getting his fifth. Now? It’s expected that Verstappen, using his talents, can beat the two faster McLarens. A double-DNF for McLaren right after they won the Constructor’s Championship isn’t the most ideal celebration they could’ve had. 

David Crofty himself put it best: “I keep getting reminded of that scene in Jurassic Park, two people sat in a jeep, trying to escape the dinosaurs, and there’s a T. rex charging after them. And there’s your T. rex, ladies and gentlemen [as the broadcast showed Verstappen exiting his car], and Lando and Oscar are in the Jeep.”

Further corroborating Crofty’s analogy of Max and a T. rex, after getting the sprint pole and winning the sprint, Verstappen, on his own, has more sprint wins AND sprint poles than all other drivers combined. Has this sprint spiced up the championship? Obviously. Will we go crazy if both McLarens crash in the race? YES.