Verstappen: F1 title within reach after dominant Austin GP

AUSTIN, Texas – Max Verstappen, after the Dutch Grand Prix, would consider anyone who bet on him for the title an “idiot.” However, he now believes that winning the championship is possible if he maximizes his performance in the remaining five races. The current champion secured his third victory in four races at the United States Grand Prix on Sunday, reducing his distance to championship leader Oscar Piastri to 40 points. After his second place behind Piastri in Zandvoort four races ago, Verstappen was 104 points behind the leader, which underlines the change that he and Red Bull have achieved in the last races.

I would have told him he was an idiot.

Max Verstappen

When asked what he would have said to someone at the Dutch Grand Prix if they had told him he would be in contention for the title in Austin, Verstappen replied:

“We found a good road with the car. It’s that simple.” Of course, we made some updates to the car, but we understood our car a little better where we wanted to perform better. Every weekend, we try to achieve that. Some weekends are better than others, but overall, it’s been much easier in recent weekends compared to before those races.”

Verstappen scored 23 points from Piastri over the weekend in Austin after securing victory in both the sprint race and the grand prix. To have the chance to claim his fifth world title at the end of the year, Verstappen said he now needs to maximize every opportunity in the remaining five races. “I mean, I know we need to be perfect until the end to have a chance, so that’s what we need to focus on,” she added. “And I don’t know, I mean, as I said before, it’s very close, and attention to detail will make the difference. Trying to get the best setup on the weekend and then trying not to make mistakes. So that’s what we’ll all try to do.”