Jacques Villeneuve pinpoints the moment he realised Max Verstappen was a true 2025 title contender

Follow us on Google Discover

Max Verstappen is well within the 2025 F1 title fight now, and Jacques Villeneuve has pinpointed the exact moment he realised the Red Bull man could spoil McLaren’s drivers’ championship hopes.

Arriving in Mexico off the back of five consecutive top two finishes, including three Grand Prix victories, there is no doubt that the Dutchman now poses a genuine threat to Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris’ hopes of securing a maiden drivers’ title.

Piastri cannot deny Verstappen’s last-minute bid for a fifth consecutive championship, and the Australian has looked increasingly vulnerable in recent races as his lead at the top of the F1 standings has taken hit after hit.

Verstappen’s resurgence in the final stage of the season can be attributed to Red Bull’s aggressive upgrade schedule for the RB21.

Whilst other teams on the grid have switched their attention to F1’s new 2026 regulations, the Austrian constructor has continued to bring new parts to each race weekend, which has been evident in the calibre of results that the Dutchman has recorded.

READ MORE: Juan Pablo Montoya says McLaren star will collide with Max Verstappen and hand his teammate the title

Jacques Villeneuve pinpoints the moment he knew Max Verstappen was a true contender for the 2025 F1 title

After winning just two Grands Prix in the first 15 rounds of the season, the four-time F1 champion enjoyed an emphatic return to form as he beat the front-running McLaren duo by nearly 20 seconds at Monza.

Many thought the rout may have been an anomalous weekend for the papaya-adorned team, but Verstappen proved his victory in Italy wasn’t a fluke with another dominant performance in Azerbaijan two weeks later.

The win on the streets of Baku saw the Red Bull star inch closer to the championship leaders.

What was once a 104-point deficit to Piastri before the race weekend in Monza has now turned into a fairly fragile 40-point gap, and it’s looking increasingly likely that the Australian’s advantage will continue to be eaten into as the season ensues.

Speaking as part of Sky Sports F1’s coverage of the Mexico City Grand Prix, Villeneuve gave his verdict on when he believes the Red Bull driver became a genuine threat to McLaren’s title hopes.

Asked by commentator David Croft on the exact moment he realised, the 1997 F1 world champion replied, ” Monza… Actually, Baku. Well, we’ve been saying it for quite a while. He’s relentless; he never gives up.

“He hardly, hardly ever makes mistakes, and he loves pressure, and he loves putting others under pressure. He’s the master of that.”

READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton tells Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris the ‘key’ to beating Max Verstappen to F1 title

Red Bull have continued to bring upgrades at the Mexico City Grand Prix

In stark contrast to how previous race weekends in the current campaign have been approached, the 28-year-old arrived in Mexico City as one of the favourites to take the chequered flag first at the end of Sunday’s Grand Prix.

Red Bull have continued to bring upgrades to their RB21 in hopes of Verstappen achieving exactly that and eating even further into Piastri’s advantage at the top of the table.

A swathe of aerodynamic upgrades have been included in the Milton Keynes-based outfit’s itinerary for the weekend, with an updated iteration of their Monza-spec floor being reprofiled to cater to more aerodynamic load.

A revised engine cover has also been brought to the South American circuit, as well as larger front brake ducts that will certainly aid the Dutchman with cooling if the lower air density proves to be an issue for the RB21.

The Mexico City Grand Prix is one of the most unique races on the F1 calendar due to the fact that the circuit is situated over 2.2km above sea level.

The differences in aerodynamic performance are incredible. A lot of teams will utilise Monaco-spec wings, which ends up yielding Monza-level aerodynamic load due to the density of the atmosphere.