Max Verstappen and Red Bull must listen to how Kimi Raikkonen completed his 2007 F1 title comeback

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The 2025 Formula 1 season is starting to mirror one of the most frustrating campaigns in McLaren’s history.

Oscar Piastri currently leads the drivers’ championship from teammate Lando Norris with five races to go.

For the majority of the year, it’s looked like a two-horse race between the two McLaren drivers to win their first F1 championship.

However, after the United States Grand Prix, team principal Andrea Stella will be starting to seriously worry about a familiar foe: Max Verstappen.

Verstappen won at the Circuit of the Americas and has cut Piastri’s lead in the championship down to 40 points.

It would represent one of F1’s greatest comebacks if Verstappen managed to overturn what was at one point in the season a 104-point deficit to the Australian driver.

The man that Verstappen needs to take inspiration from is none other than Kimi Raikkonen.

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were fierce rivals in 2007 and looked set to finish first and second in the championship.

However, the Finnish driver, while racing for Ferrari, swooped in at the last moment to take the crown, and what he said after the final race of the season has to act as inspiration to Verstappen, Red Bull and Yuki Tsunoda.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

How Kimi Raikkonen won the 2007 F1 championship ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso

Raikkonen was 17 points behind Hamilton and five points behind Alonso with two races remaining in 2007, when a win was only worth 10 points.

However, back-to-back victories in China and Brazil earned Raikkonen his only F1 title and Ferrari’s last individual championship.

After the race, Raikkonen was asked, via Grand Prix, about how he thought his chance had gone earlier in the season, and he said: “I don’t remember that I was saying that. I think maybe somebody else was saying it, but for sure we were not in the strongest position at some points of the season, but we always believed that we can recover, we can do a better job than the others, and even in the hard times everybody was sticking together and we didn’t give up.

“It was good because, as we saw in the end, even from a long way behind, we could reduce the gap and go ahead and win the championship, not just Constructors but also Drivers, and I need to thank the team, they did a great job not just today but all year.

“Like I said, we had some hard times with some problems, but we always work hard and improve the situation, and I think we had perfect teamwork, Felipe [Massa] helping all the time also.

“We had a hard fight with him all year, but then he unfortunately didn’t score, and he couldn’t be in the fight any more, so he’s been a big help also, and also the sponsors have been a big bonus for us.

“The team is very close, they’ve been doing a great job for us, improving the fuel and everything to help us with the new regulations, so for sure I’m going to enjoy today and probably the next month, but I’m very happy.”

READ MORE: Why Kimi Raikkonen was ‘very happy’ when he discovered Ferrari were cancelling his contract early

Can Yuki Tsunoda emulate Felipe Massa’s role in Kimi Raikkonen winning the 2007 F1 championship?

Raikkonen mentioned in his answer that Felipe Massa played a crucial role in his defeating Hamilton and Alonso against the odds.

In the final five races of the 2007 season, Massa recorded three podium finishes, beating both McLaren drivers on two of those occasions.

That stole enough points to earn Raikkonen the title, but it’s hard to see Tsunoda emulating that feat.

Tsunoda’s F1 future is in serious doubt, and his best result of the season was finishing sixth at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The Japanese driver has never finished on the podium before, and Helmut Marko has suggested that Tsunoda’s future will be decided after the Mexico City Grand Prix.

If Red Bull think Tsunoda could play a role in Verstappen winning a fifth title, they won’t tell him his fate until after the campaign ends.

However, based on the last few races, it looks like the Dutchman would earn a fifth championship all by himself.