Outpoll | Journalist: Verstappen believes title is still possible but needs unusual events.

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Journalist: Verstappen believes title is still possible but needs unusual events.

Journalist: Verstappen believes title is still possible but needs unusual events.

1 day ago7 min read5 comments

According to journalist Erik van Haren, Red Bull's Max Verstappen hasn't thrown in the towel on the 2025 championship just yet, still clinging to the belief that the title remains within his grasp, though he's acutely aware that it would require a sequence of highly unusual events to swing the momentum decisively in his favor. The Dutch driver's mindset, as revealed in the podcast The Inside Track, is a fascinating study of champion psychology; he's essentially calculating that he needs to pull off a near-perfect run, winning practically every remaining Grand Prix, while simultaneously relying on his primary rivals—the formidable duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at McLaren—to consistently falter, either through unforced errors or unfortunate retirements.Verstappen understands the brutal mathematics of the situation: if Piastri and Norris continue their run of reliable, points-finishing performances, the current gap is simply too vast to overcome, a reality that must weigh heavily on a competitor of his caliber. His recent outing at the Singapore Grand Prix serves as a perfect microcosm of his entire season's struggle; while surpassing both McLarens was an achievement few predicted and one that should have provided a significant morale boost, the weekend was tinged with frustration due to persistent car issues, leaving the driver with decidedly mixed feelings.In his own post-race analysis, Verstappen pinpointed the critical moment where the victory slipped away—a failure to overtake George Russell's Mercedes at the start—highlighting the razor-thin margins that now define his title pursuit. It’s not enough for his rivals to have a single bad weekend; the stars must align for a catastrophic collapse on their side paired with a flawless, dominant streak on his, a task made all the more Herculean by the fact that his Red Bull machine hasn't consistently been the undisputed fastest car on the grid this season. Yet, as van Haren astutely concluded, the very fact that we are even discussing Verstappen's title chances is something of a miracle given the landscape just a month ago, a testament to both his relentless driving and the unpredictable, pendulum-swinging nature of Formula 1, where hope, however slim, is the last thing a champion ever surrenders.