David Coulthard explains why Max Verstappen now looks so much happier at Red Bull, ‘he’s exceptional’

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Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen finishing second at the 2025 Singapore Grand Prix just about keeps him in contention to win this season’s drivers’ championship.

For the third race in succession, Max Verstappen cut McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s lead in the drivers’ championship.

Verstappen is now 63 points behind Piastri with six race weekends remaining, and another DNF for the Australian or his teammate Lando Norris would make things very interesting.

Red Bull will hope that Verstappen and teammate Yuki Tsunoda can help them catch Mercedes in the team standings.

Ferrari were struggling at the Singapore Grand Prix, but George Russell’s win has given the Silver Arrows a 25-point lead over the Scuderia, with Red Bull a further 10 points back.

The biggest change that’s happened at Red Bull this season is Laurent Mekies replacing Christian Horner as team principal.

Mekies has allowed Verstappen to take more control over his setup during a race weekend, with Red Bull no longer holding back during practice.

Not only that, but Verstappen has now won his first endurance event away from Formula 1, and David Coulthard believes this is all contributing to the Dutchman’s mood change in the paddock.

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David Coulthard says Red Bull progress is putting Max Verstappen in his ‘happy place’

Coulthard was speaking on Channel 4 about the changes in Verstappen’s life this year after becoming a father and starting his adventure in GT3.

He explained: “He’s exceptional. There have been other exceptional drivers in Formula 1 over the history of the sport; the others are merely great at what they do.

“It’s like he can see the grip before the others feel the grip.

“I think he’s sort of put himself in a state of mind, and I think he felt very comfortable with you [Lee McKenzie, referring back to the previous feature], and happy to do that chat for Channel 4.

“He’s kind of mentally gone, ‘Well, I’m probably not going to win the world championship this time, but that’s fine.

“‘I’m in a happy place with the way the car’s being developed,’ he was not happy earlier in the year when it looked like they weren’t making progress.

“And I think that’s what a race driver wants, you just want to feel that you’re part of a movement and clearly, he’s moving himself ever closer to being part of this championship battle.”

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Jolyon Palmer tells Max Verstappen he needs George Russell’s help to win the 2025 F1 title

Verstappen will know that he needs to win either the United States or Mexico City Grand Prix to put the pressure on Piastri and Norris.

There’s every chance that the in-fighting could begin at McLaren now that they’ve wrapped up the constructors’ championship, but even if Piastri finishes third at every race, Verstappen winning the next six Grand Prix won’t be enough to win a fifth consecutive championship.

Jolyon Palmer has told Verstappen he will need George Russell if he wants to become champion again this season.

Russell is too far back to be in contention himself despite a dominant performance in Singapore.

But if he can continue to take points off both McLaren drivers, then it’s possible that Verstappen could still be in the mix by the time this season’s finale in Abu Dhabi rolls around.