Is Max Verstappen about to settle the F1 GOAT debate?

Max Verstappen and Red Bull are out of the darkness and back into the light.

Having trailed McLaren’s Oscar Piastri by 104 points as recently as the Dutch Grand Prix, Verstappen now sits just 40 behind the championship leader with five rounds of the F1 2025 season remaining. He couldn’t, could he? He could.

Can Max Verstappen upset McLaren to win the F1 2025 title?

A version of this article originally appeared in PlanetF1.com’s conclusions from the 2025 United States Grand Prix

The lowest point of Max Verstappen’s season?

Undoubtedly it came with his spin just before the safety car restart at Silverstone.

So lost were Max and Red Bull that weekend that they ended up taking a gamble on the setup, turning to the sort of low-downforce rear wing you might typically see at Monza.

It was a desperate move – a last resort – yet in Verstappen’s brilliant hands it was enough to deliver pole, Max relying on all his skill and judgement to hang on for dear life through the fast corners in qualifying.

But in the rain of race day? Even he was rendered defenceless in the conditions in which he invariably excels.

And his spin on acceleration out of Stowe, while somehow running as high as second place, had the air of a cry for help.

What’s the point, you could almost hear him mutter as he rejoined somewhere between the Williamses on the fringes of the top 10. It’s all over.

Max Verstappen vs Yuki Tsunoda: Red Bull head-to-head scores for F1 2025

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

And it did look all over at that stage, coming seven days after his retirement on the first lap in Austria, that itself coming a few weeks after his late-race meltdown in Barcelona.

How decisive, you wonder, might the points lost in those three races prove in Abu Dhabi seven weeks from now?

For make no mistake: Verstappen, almost out of nowhere, is now a serious contender in this title race.

Securing a fifth consecutive championship at the end of a season dominated by McLaren would seal Max’s place in the eyes of many as the greatest driver in history.

If his victories at Monza and Baku had the feel of a corner turned by the team, such dominance at a more conventional circuit in Austin has confirmed that Red Bull and Verstappen have regained their status as the most potent combination in the pit lane.

The change in Verstappen compared to days like Silverstone – the energy, the body language, the way he talks about the car and its behaviour on track – could not be more stark.

It is as though a switch has been flicked over recent races and Max has been transported back to his dominant days of 2023.

Having relied on Verstappen for much too long since the start of the team’s mid-2024 slump, driver and team are now back on the same wavelength, a process no doubt assisted by the fresh engineering focus brought by Laurent Mekies.

Mekies made an interesting comment after the last race in Singapore, admitting that Red Bull is effectively compromising the development of its 2026 car to keep upgrading the RB21 late into this season.

Doesn’t say a whole lot about Red Bull’s hopes under the new regulations, you might say.

But it reveals everything about the scale of the opportunity opening up before Verstappen against an increasingly nervy McLaren in the closing weeks of 2025.

Max Verstappen back in the mix? How the F1 2025 title race has developed

👉 Azerbaijan GP conclusions: Piastri SOS, Lando’s big problem, Max’s post-Horner wavelength

👉 Singapore GP conclusions: Norris corners Piastri, Russell’s big chance, double Red Bull exit?

In the early months of this season, as the team pointedly refused to impose team orders on Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to prevent Verstappen from winning at Suzuka and Imola, it seemed that McLaren was taking a calculated risk.

It was willing to lose the occasional race to Verstappen, it appeared, on the assumption that its own dominance – combined with Red Bull’s ongoing struggles – would take McLaren’s bogeyman out of title contention sooner than later.

Even then it seemed quite bold to dismiss Verstappen as a serious threat and bank on him, the most fierce competitor of all, effectively giving up.

There were times, particularly in the first half of 2025, when he came close.

But now? Now, with Max smelling blood, it smacks of tempting fate.

Be afraid, McLaren. Be very afraid.

Reader reaction: Max Verstappen’s F1 2025 title chances rated

Haze: “Congratulations to Max Verstappen the easy win 2025 champion. Just give him the trophy now.”

Fire Storm: “This is the only proper Drivers Championship fight we have had in this ground effect era.

“Was this set of rules a failure? Not quite. The problem has been Max Verstappen. In the best car he is untouchable. In a dominant car he won 80-90% of the races like nobody else before. In a competitive car he is always up there. If not winning, then a podium for sure.

“I am going to love the remaining part of the season. Three drivers going for it, when was the last time we had anything alike? 2010

“Would never imagine it at the summer break, I was glad to even have that Norris vs Piastri fight, despite the boring Papaya Rules (however fair they may be).”

Erik Langelius: “When are Mclaren going to wake up? They are handing this championship back to Verstappen. The strategy is lacklustre and I don’t get any sense of urgency from the driving!”

Racing Guru father of Fangio: “Max is on high spirit, there is very high chance for WDC. Obviously in better car and position now to finish this the way he likes. What’s wrong with Oscar! Struggling with tyre and pace!”

Rudolf Rudolf: “It looks like Mekies has made the difference.”

Robert Legault: “Mekies brought some discipline at RBR and technical experience.

“Horner had fantastic years with Newey but after his departure with some other engineers, the team was really in trouble. Add to that his personal problems and you can understand that his focus was not on the team.

“There are no news, no declarations about Mekies. He is doing his job consciously and ensure to have improvements for the car.

“Horner was thinking about the next year and had already decided to stop improvements for 2025. Max seemed to be the only one thinking about to win races in 2025. That’s the major difference.”

Downforce: “Another display of greatness in Austin by the one and only Verstappen.

“His teammate almost a minute behind him and takes victory in front of the two McLarens – again. Norris’s pathetic attempt to pass Leclerc, clearly in inferior machinery was embarrassing. Norris and Piastri are not champ material and they demonstrated this to the motor racing world yet again.”

# 44 Facts: “The WDC leader was just too slow this weekend.

“22 seconds of his teammate and 30 seconds of Max in the fastest car in free air. If it keeps up like this Norris will blast past him in a race or 2 to the lead of the championship.

“I can see him even finishing 3rd in the championship with Verstappen in the hunt.”

John Bruce: “A few weeks ago I thought Max would catch Lando but would never catch Oscar. But now I’m not so sure. The way it is going the WDC could come down to the last race.”

Read next: PF1 verdict: Can Max Verstappen pull off McLaren upset and win the F1 2025 title?