Last Updated on October 23 2025, 10:33 pm

Following his victory in the Sprint and the Grand Prix in Austin, Texas Max Verstappen is now just 40 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri. The improvement in the RB21 since the Monza floor upgrade has not only been demonstrated by Verstappen winning three of the last four Grand Prix, but by the fact Yuki Tsunoda has scored half of his 28 points tally across the last three race weekends.

Of course the gap to the championship leader remains large meaning Verstappen needs on average to outscore Piastri by eight points on each of the remaining five weekends. That said before the US GP, that incremental number of points required was closer to 11.

Andrea Stella suggested after the race that he was content that Lando Norris had the pace to win the race had he not been stuck behind Charles Leclerc for most of the 56 laps. Yet his optimism seems misplaced, given the fact Norris could not pass a Ferrari in the searing Texas heat should be of a concern.

 

 

 

Verstappen finally talks about championship possibility

Since Monza, Verstappen has been asked each week whether there come back in the drivers’ title race is a possibility and each time he has dismissed the question out of hand. Yet something changed after victory in the lone star state with Max revealing, “If you’d told me after Zandvoort that I’d be back in this position, I’d have called you an idiot,” whilst grinning. Max even described the run in as “exciting” and his demeanour suggests its game on between him, Norris and Piastri.

Yet not everyone is backing Verstappen to pull of the biggest comeback in F1 history as ex-F1 racer and Sky commentator Martin Brundle believes McLaren have the upper hand. 

“McLaren’s ace card is that it’s two against one,” wrote Brundle in his Sky column, “and they are going to need to play that very well on every GP weekend until and including Abu Dhabi.”

Yet Brundle is missing the obvious, George Russell and Charles Leclerc are now regularly in the nix at the front. Russell won in Singapore and Leclerc battled all race with Norris to claim his sixth podium of the year, in the heat of Texas where the SF-25 is supposed to be weak.

Has F1 Lost Its Edge? Red Bull Mind Games Prove It’s Alive and Kicking

 

 

 

Brundle is wrong, Max has ‘two team mates’

In effect Max has two team mates in the Ferrari and Mercedes drivers who have and will take points from the McLaren drivers over the remains race weekends. Even though Russell finished behind both of the McLaren drivers, even Lewis Hamilton managed to haul his Ferrari ahead of Piastri costing him a further two points.

Tsunoda was P7 at the circuit of the America’s and he too may well come into play during one or two of the upcoming Grand Prix. The days of the expected McLaren 1-2 are over as was signalled in Texas, and there are even more factors which mitigate against one of the McLaren duo claiming their maiden F1 championship.

Toto Wolff believes the momentum is with Verstappen. And with Piastri struggling in his two previous outings in Mexico this is a huge weekend ahead. Oscar has managed just two P8’s in Mexico City, while since the revival of McAren in 2023 Norris has a P5 and a P2.

Alpine announce big driver change

 

 

 

Wolff claims psychological advantage with Max

Having experienced a number of title fights during his time at Mercedes, Toto argues that Verstappen’s underdog status gives him a big advantage. “I’ve been in a similar situation with two drivers fighting for a championship, and the threat of another one catching back in the day was Max, I believe, and then it was Sebastian [Vettel] in that hunt,” Wolff said after the US Grand Prix.

“So the underdog has always a little bit of an easier psychological advantage because of the probability. The odds are definitely against Max. If you look at the probability that’s very low, one DNS can change everything, and I think that affects the driving also.

“How aggressive can you actually go for an overtake? You can see with Lando [Norris] today, he’s done it at the end but it was tricky at times to decide whether you keep your nose, put your nose in, or not.”

Rookie Faces Shock F1 Race Ban After Chaotic Austin

 

 

 

McLaren have looked operationally shaky

Despite suggesting he may have been wrong to pursue Verstappen so openly in the summer, Toto is effusive over how the Red Bull driver is performing presently. “I think Max is great, but I wouldn’t be able to say whether any other driver [could make this come back],” he added.

“They’ve just turned the car out, and that guy is the most competitive at the moment, and he’s scoring the big points. He’s as good as he gets as a driver,” concluded the Mercedes team boss.

Since the summer break, McLaren have looked shaky. Lengthy pit stops have crept in to both drivers detriment, but the team say the problem is one they can’t fix until next season. The team have also lost their superior tyre wear advantage which at times saw them almost half a second a lap quicker during the Grand Prix than the rest of the field.

Closing the gap to Piastri across the last four race weekends, the 64 points clawed back represent 16 points a race weekend. Of course pastry out it into the wall in Baku, where Max won, but he was nowhere again in COTA where F1 observers expected McLaren to be strong.

Franco Colapinto’s quiet resurgence

 

 

 

McLaren had made a strategic mistake with Oscar Piastri too, he has so far only handed over his MCL39 once to a junior driver for FP1. Lando Norris will be handing over his car in Mexico first practice to Mexican star Indyc ar driver Pato O’ward. Piastri will have the advantage over his team mate of an extra practice session, yet his form at the Autodromo Hermanes Rodriguez in Mexico City has been poor.

Looking forward, Oscar will not give up his FP1 seat in either Brazil or Qatar which are Sprint weekends, leaving him only the tricky circuit under the lights in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi as the opportunities to fulfil the FIA regulatory stand down.

The chances are Piastri will leave it to Abu Dhabi before he hands his car over to a McLaren junior. What pressure that will create if the title is on the line as the sun sets over the waters of the Persian Gulf on December 7th.

 

 

 

McLaren boss ‘delusional’ as Red Bull have a “trick” up their sleeve

The numbers have been flowing in torrents since Max Verstappen’s dominant win at the Us Grand Prix in Austin Texas. Across just four race weekends the world champion has outscored championship leader Oscar Piastri by 64 points closing the gap to just 40.

There’s more than enough points available for Verstappen to pull off the biggest comeback in F1 history and he’s within two points of being able to win a record fifth consecutive drivers championship should he win all the Grand Prix and Sprint races remaining.

It’s just two years ago, the Red Bull ace won 19 of the 22 races that year and his biggest winning streak of ten consecutive Grand Prix had never before been achieved. To win five Grand Prix and two Sprint’s is more than doable as Max’s muscle memory from 2023 will surely kick in…. READ MORE