The one stat that shows Max Verstappen will become the F1 GOAT if he wins the 2025 title

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Max Verstappen will stand as the greatest Formula 1 driver of the current generation and one of the best in history, and 2025 will certainly prove that.

The Dutchman has dominated F1 with Red Bull in the 2020s, winning four consecutive championships between 2021 and 2024. During that time, he won 53 out of the 90 races held across the four seasons.

Lando Norris thinks Verstappen is F1’s best driver ever, having raced against him for the title in 2024. The two rivals are locked in battle again in 2025, with Oscar Piastri leading the standings by 14 points over the former and 40 points over the latter.

Verstappen looked out of contention for the title after his home Grand Prix at Zandvoort, sitting over 100 points behind. However, thanks to Red Bull’s resurgence in technical development, guided by Laurent Mekies, he has put the pressure on McLaren with three wins from the last four races.

With five races to go, winning the title would mark the greatest comeback in F1 history and highlight Verstappen’s skill even when he does not have the fastest car for most of the season. 2025 would not be the first time he would be victorious with inferior machinery.

Max Verstappen will become the first F1 driver to win three titles without his team winning the constructors’ title in 2025

Verstappen’s first title in 2021 was a tense battle with Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes. The Dutchman won the title in highly controversial fashion, with Ted Kravitz thinking Hamilton was ‘robbed’ due to the infamous events of the Abu Dhabi GP.

Mercedes beat Red Bull for the constructors’ title by 28 points, before the latter went on a tear in 2022 and 2023. Come 2024, the Milton Keynes outfit regressed in performance, leaving them finishing third behind McLaren and Ferrari.

Nevertheless, Verstappen still won the title, having built up enough of a gap by winning seven of the first 10 races. In 2025, if the Dutchman wins the championship, it will be the third time he has won the title without Red Bull becoming champions – a first for an F1 driver in history.

Nelson Piquet has also won two titles without his team winning the constructors’ championship. Sealing his first two F1 crowns with Brabham in 1981 and 1983, Williams and Ferrari were the champions respectively.

It is a rare feat in F1 for a driver to become a champion without their team doing the same, but it shows the raw talent that the individual possesses. Verstappen has not had the fastest car since 2023, but even then, he is still able to fight at the front – he will surely stand as the F1 GOAT with the 2025 title.

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What McLaren think about Max Verstappen’s 2025 title chances

Red Bull would not have thought that they would be fighting for the title after the summer break, given that Verstappen was struggling to finish on the podium. But now, with recent performances, they are prepared to give the Dutchman everything to try and spoil McLaren’s party.

Norris and Piastri have not beaten the four-time champion in the last four races, while he has finished in the top two in all of them. Damon Hill thinks McLaren see Verstappen as a ‘problem’ as the pressure starts to mount in the final races.

Insiders say McLaren have lost their ‘lightness’ since Verstappen emerged back in the title picture. The Woking outfit are no longer winning races and are now scrambling to beat their rival.

It would be an incredible achievement for the Red Bull driver to come back and claim his fifth consecutive title. But it would also be a monumental failure for McLaren to suffer defeat – they must get their act together.