F1 Focus: Norris the Nearly Man, Perez in peril, Hamilton homes in

The first edition of the series focuses on a jam-packed weekend in Texas, with the United States Grand Prix producing talking points aplenty.

Hamilton remains Verstappen's biggest threat

As Max Verstappen cruised to his second title last season, I was starting to feel that when someone was able to challenge him again, it would probably be someone younger than Lewis Hamilton, with the Mercedes man second-best to teammate George Russell and Charles Leclerc throughout 2022. However, in Austin, the seven-time World Champion showed - not for the first time this year - that he's still the Dutchman's biggest threat.

Finally being handed a car capable of challenging Red Bull thanks to upgrades brought to the race by Mercedes, Hamilton came painfully close to claiming his first victory in almost two years, finishing just over a second behind Verstappen. If his team had been able to produce pit stops as fast as Red Bulls, he probably would have won.

In the same car, Russell was comfortably slower than his compatriot in qualifying, the sprint race and the main event, while Leclerc and Lando Norris were powerless to stop their elder beating them on both Saturday and Sunday.

The weekend made it clear that Hamilton remains the man Verstappen should be most worried about getting a car as fast as his next season, and while the reigning champion doesn't have to worry about the 38-year-old this year, the other Red Bull driver does...

Perez gets lucky break but not out of the woods yet

The minimum Sergio Perez should be doing this season is getting second in the standings, but if Hamilton wasn't disqualified from Sunday's race due to a technical infringement, the Mexican would be in serious danger right now of being overtaken by the Mercedes man. Thanks to that disqualification, the gap between the two is 39 points rather than 21, but looking at the form of the two drivers, it feels like the battle for second isn't over yet.

'Checo' produced yet another poor qualifying performance on Friday, only taking ninth, and while his teammate was making his way through the field without too much trouble to win both the sprint and main race, the Mexican spent both battling to just get into the top five, despite having an identical car.

If Mercedes keep improving, he could well fail to take second in the Driver's Championship, but even if he does, Red Bull will no doubt be wondering whether they really want him in their car again next season. At the very least, they need a second driver who can be relied upon to pick up the pieces should things go wrong for Verstappen, and right now, Perez is about as reliable as a paper raincoat.

Back in July, I wrote about how the team should bring back Daniel Ricciardo if he impresses at AlphaTauri, and while he hasn't been able to do so yet due to injury, I'd give him a shot anyway if I were them - there's no guarantee that he'll be better, but can he really be much worse?

I get the feeling that Red Bull will ultimately come to the same conclusion if things don't improve on Checo's end before the end of the campaign.

Norris the nearly man

One of the biggest threats to Red Bull in the second half of the season has been McLaren's Lando Norris, and the Brit looked set to finally claim the first win of his F1 career when he took the lead on Sunday, only to see it escape his grasp yet again.

As was the case in Russia two years ago, he led the race early on and looked comfortable, but once Verstappen and Hamilton caught up with him, he just didn't have the pace to keep them behind or keep up with them once they'd gotten past, eventually finishing a long way behind both.

As a result, he's now scored more points without ever winning a race than any other driver in the history of the sport, and only one driver - Nick Heidfeld - has claimed more podiums without ever tasting victory.

Truth be told, I don't think those unwanted records are particularly damning of him as he's rarely been in a car fast enough to win races. But when opportunities have come his way, he hasn't been able to step up, losing leads in Sochi and on Sunday, being beaten by teammate Ricciardo in Monza two years ago and being beaten by current teammate Oscar Piastri at the Qatat sprint race this season.

I'd happily bet a fair few paychecks that he will stand on the top step of the podium one day, but the longer the wait is, the more the pressure will build and the harder it will get.