Max Verstappen remains level-headed as championship heats up

Max Verstappen heads into the United States Grand Prix 63-points behind title contender Oscar Piastri and 41 points behind Lando Norris. 

The Dutchman secured two significant victories in Monza and Baku to remain in the fight for the championship, where he cut the gap down to 69 points. However, he wasn't able to keep the momentum up in Singapore. 

Verstappen was unable to place his car on pole position on the Saturday evening, but started in second, ahead of both the McLarens. He held the position until the chequered flag, slicing the margin to 64 points.

The Formula One world heads to Austin for the 19th round of the season with the final 174 points up for grabs. The upcoming weekend also features the fourth Sprint race of the season, with the Dutchman victorious last time out at the Circuit of the Americas.

Verstappen weighs in on his chances on the Championship fight.

Looking ahead to the weekend, Verstappen hopes to add another race victory to his 2025 accolades, highlighting the month of September as ‘very nice’.

"I will try [to win], for sure. The last three weekends have been very nice, some of it better than others.” 

"I still think that in Singapore, we didn't maximize the potential of the car, but again, you analyze everything right, and you try to do better and that's all try to do again here.” Verstappen added. 

"It's a great track to drive. Sprint weekend, always a bit hectic. Just curious to see what we can do."

"[It's] 50-50. You either win it or you don't. I don't really think about it," 

Verstappen gives his two cents on McLaren politics

In Singapore, McLaren secured back-to-back Constructor’s Championship after wrapping the trophy up six rounds early and 352-points ahead of Ferrari in second. 

The team have collectively won 12 Grands Prix throughout the season, with the Red Bull lagging at the start of the season. 

However, the main story in Singapore was the fallout between the two Papaya teammates over another “Papaya Rules” controversy. Verstappen was quizzed about whether he thinks the McLaren team are favouring Norris over Piastri, to which he joked:

"Absolutely!"

He went on to state he had no opinion regarding the situation:

"I honestly don't know. I don't care also, because it has nothing to do with me, what they decide within the team, how they operate as a team also.” Verstappen said.

"They do whatever they think is right. And they're doing a very good job at it, of course, being this quick and what they have done over the last few years.

He returned the focus to his own championship campaign:

"For me, what is important, that when we get to the racetrack, we just maximize our potential. As long as we can do that, then it's in our control.

"Of course, if you look at the whole season, we didn't have a great start to it, but I just approach it as every race weekend, just trying to maximize everything we can, try to, of course, win races.

"And that's the only thing that we can do till the end.” He concluded.