Max Verstappen now believes only one thing can stop him winning the 2025 F1 championship

Follow us on Google Discover

Max Verstappen finds himself back in the fight for the 2025 Formula 1 championship with four races to go.

The four-time champion looked out of the running, by his own admission, as he sat 104 points behind Oscar Piastri after his home race in Zandvoort. However, thanks to a resurgence from Red Bull, Verstappen is back in the title hunt.

Winning three of the last five races and finishing on the podium in the last six events, the Dutchman now sits 36 points behind new championship leader Lando Norris. With 116 points still up for grabs, he is taking the fight to the McLarens.

Under the guidance of team principal Laurent Mekies, Red Bull are giving Verstappen the tools he needs to fight for the championship. The team have continued to develop and upgrade the RB21, while their rivals have shifted focus to 2026 and the new regulations.

Red Bull are planning more upgrades in 2025 if it means that Verstappen can win his fifth consecutive title. If he achieved that feat, it would mark one of the greatest comebacks in F1 history.

Max Verstappen thinks ‘bad luck’ is the one thing that will stop him winning the 2025 title

Verstappen’s mindset has changed drastically in recent races. He has gone from saying he is out of contention with Norris and Piastri, to now believing the momentum is with him and he has a realistic chance of winning the title.

Speaking via The Inside Track, journalist Matt Majendie says the 28-year-old believes that only ‘bad luck’ could prevent him from beating the McLaren to the title.

He said: “And he’s got amazing self-belief as well. I spoke to him in Mexico and [I] asked him what’s the one thing that could stop you winning the title? And he just said: ‘Bad luck’, which I think sort of sums up, he didn’t mention the McLaren drivers. I thought that was sort of him in a nutshell.

Fellow journalist Rebecca Clancy added: “With Verstappen, I thought it was interesting because I think it was Austin, obviously an unbelievable weekend for him in Austin, winning the sprint and the race.

“And he just came out and said: ‘Yeah, all the momentum is with me. I could probably win this championship. Why not?’

“And you think it’s really interesting because in the run-up to that race, he had been sort of, not saying race by race, because he doesn’t play by the PR handbook as is well known.

“But he was kind of like: ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, look, the McLarens are doing a good job. We’re there or thereabouts. I’ll go out, I’ll race, I’ll see what happens’. And then in Austin, the language changed and he very much felt like he was in it.”

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

Red Bull are delaying 2026 driver decision to not distract Max Verstappen’s title charge

Ralf Schumacher says Verstappen must be ‘flawless’ in the last four races to win the title. While the momentum may be with him, he still has to beat the McLarens, and with a 36-point buffer to make it, it is no easy task.

It explains why Red Bull are now delaying their decision on their 2026 driver line-ups. Verstappen’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda is out of contract at the end of the year and faces dropping out of F1 after scoring just 25 points in 18 races for the team.

The feeling is that Isack Hadjar will replace him at Red Bull, while Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad will make up the pairing at Racing Bulls, leaving Tsunoda without a seat for 2026. However, the team’s bosses are yet to make a final decision, and they are not in a rush.

Red Bull do not want to distract Verstappen in his bid to win the drivers’ championship. They also want to secure P2 in the constructors’ championship – they will want Tsunoda performing at his best and in the right frame of mind to beat Mercedes and Ferrari.