Red Bull driver Max Verstappen may make a major advantage pay during the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend as he challenges McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris for the F1 Drivers’ Championship.
Just a few races ago, four-time F1 champion Verstappen’s hopes of winning his fifth consecutive crown looked all but gone, with Piastri building a healthy lead while Norris took up second place.
In September, following Monza, while eight races were remaining, Piastri was out in front on 324 points, 31 ahead of Norris and 94 ahead of Verstappen.
But with just four races to go – in Brazil, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi - the quest for the championship is well and truly alive.
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Ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix, Norris – who won the Mexican Grand Prix last time out - leads McLaren teammate Piastri by a single point, while Verstappen is still third, trailing the Englishman by 36 points.
But all is not well in the ‘Papaya’ camp with Piastri having failed to win a race since August’s Dutch Grand Prix.
Since then, Verstappen has three wins while Norris has one.
Momentum is certainly with the reigning champion, and he could be set to take advantage of a particular decision made by McLaren’s camp, according to former Team Principal of Haas and Red Bull Technical Director Guenther Steiner.
Speaking to SPORTbible on behalf of Casino.org, the 60-year-old Italian claimed that McLaren are “trying to be too fair” with their handling of the fact that both of their drivers are going for the title.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown was previously accused of being opposed to the signing of Piastri three years ago, according to News 18. He has since rubbished accusations of favouritism towards Norris.
“You start a lot of these conversations because, for a team, the choice should be the guy who is in front in the Championship; they should have the advantage and should be supported to win the Championship, and they didn't do that,” Steiner explained.
“Then the rumour came up that Zak doesn't want that because of favouritism of Lando. I don't think that’s the case. At one stage, I think they were too confident that one of the two will win regardless.”
The Italian then claimed that if two drivers from the same team are going for the championship that one of them will be “unhappy” anyway due to one of them finishing second.
“You cannot be too fair in this situation; they tried to do something which maybe was not possible to do,” he continued.
Steiner then finished by suggesting that McLaren’s failure to favour one driver could be “helping Max” with his pursuit of a fifth F1 title.
The 2025 F1 campaign continues in São Paulo this weekend.
How can Max Verstappen win the 2025 F1 title?
The best thing Verstappen could do is win all four of the remaining races.
If this happens, and Norris and Piastri share third and second places equally, then the Dutchman would have to win two more points than the McLaren drivers across both Sprint Races in Qatar and Brazil.
Mercedes’ George Russell is also mathematically able to win the title as the Englishman sits 99 points behind Norris, although he would need to return perfect results in all four races and the two sprints.
Topics: Formula 1, Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Guenther Steiner
Luke Davies