Max Verstappen won’t go down without a fight

Max Verstappen’s fighting spirit was on full display at the Brazilian Grand Prix as he threw in a reminder that even if the world championship is destined to head elsewhere in 2025, he remains – and by some margin – the best out there.

The Red Bull driver raced from the pit lane to the podium, but with Lando Norris claiming the win, dropped 49 points off the lead.

Max Verstappen is going down fighting

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

It’s true what they say, you know: it’s the hope that kills you.

Only a few months ago it seemed Max Verstappen had made peace with the thought of losing his world championship at the end of 2025.

His general demeanour during that miserable series of midsummer races between Austria and Hungary? Somewhere between acceptance, resignation and surrender.

Nobody can win everything all of the time, he would often say. And anyway, I’ve had a pretty good run…

It is a great credit to Max and Red Bull, then, and the resistance they have shown in the face of McLaren dominance in 2025, that the pain of his Q1 exit was felt so acutely on Saturday in Brazil.

As recently as the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August – just six races ago, if you please – nobody remotely thought of Verstappen as a serious contender for this year’s title.

Yet there was Jos making a swift exit from the Red Bull garage, looking as if his world had just come crashing down, as his son qualified 16th.

And there was Max, left to wonder how the RB21 could feel so bad again – the leading theory being that the rear ride height had to be run higher than usual due to the particular demands of Interlagos, taking the car out of its operating window – having convinced himself that Red Bull had finally cracked it.

If, as seems almost inevitable now, Lando Norris does seal a maiden world championship in the coming weeks, Q1 in Brazil will be remembered as the moment Verstappen’s reign effectively came to an end.

What followed on Sunday was Max and Red Bull raging against the dying of the light.

There was more than a touch of Michael Schumacher’s last stand at this circuit in 2006 – faced with an impending title defeat to Fernando Alonso after a disheartening qualifying result was followed by a puncture early in the race – about Verstappen on race day.

If going from the pit lane to the podium was not quite winning from 17th on the grid in the wet, it was not far off either.

Usually a result like can only be possible in the dry with some great slice of good fortune.

Yet Max, like Michael 19 years ago, was doing it purely through the sheer mighty force of his will.

There is always something inescapably noble about the outgoing world champion producing a performance of such perfection and ferocity when staring in the face of defeat.

It somehow would not have felt quite right – or particularly on brand – had Verstappen’s (initial?) stint as world champion concluded in the submissive manner it had threatened to earlier this year.

Trailing Norris by 49 points, there is no expectation left now that Verstappen will overturn such a significant deficit across the final three races.

So Max finds himself back in the same position he started when this mini Red Bull revival began at Monza: throwing in weekly reminders that even if the world championship is destined to head elsewhere in 2025, he remains – and by some margin – the best out there.

He is going down fighting. It’s the only way he knows.

Reader reaction: Is Max Verstappen already an F1 legend?

Steve Halsall: There is a strange aspect to this season, which is that even though for the first time in four years Verstappen will not be champion, he is racing like a legend. On pure driving ability, this is his finest year. What he’s been able to do this season is astonishing, something only a driver of rare talent could achieve.

Arthur: << he is racing like a legend. >>

We don’t see this when he’s in easily the best car, which fortunately for the F1 fans he isn’t at the moment, which means we get to see some great driving. I have said this time and again, watching the best driver in the best car disappear into the distance is not in the least bit interesting to watch. I couldn’t care less who wins the race or the title, less so when it’s like that, but when someone comes from the back and plows through the field to almost clinch (it was technically possible) the win makes it a spectacle worth watching. I agree, Max is the best out there right now.

DaveF1fan: At times when the get the set up right the RB is actually the fastest car on the track. Max has driven well overall, but I would hardly call it the stuff of legends.

Pacific Sonata: Verstappen the moral winner, not just this race, but the season… Very much like he mentioned in his pre race interview, he should be no factor in the title bid, that fact that he is puts him a different category.

Ex Pitlane Monkey: Max was simply brilliant yesterday, that has to be one of the finest performances I’ve ever seen. He might not win the championship this season but he’s been the class of the field.

User 384120488: Max is the best out there right now without doubt, however whilst his achievements at this track for the past two years are legendary, it would be unfair to not concede that both times – he was on the side of simply lovely good luck with safety cars.

Crost: Thanks God we have Ver making races exciting. Had he got the McLaren the WDC would have already been wrapped up.

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