Fernando Alonso offers firm reality check on Max Verstappen title hype

Scoring 101 of the maximum 108 points in the last four race weekends, Max Verstappen has laid down his marker as a World title contender, but Fernando Alonso doesn’t believe the momentum swings for this season are over.

With five races remaining in the F1 2025 championship, two of which are Sprint weekends, Oscar Piastri is leading the Drivers’ standings on 346 points, 14 ahead of his McLaren teammate Lando Norris and 40 up on Verstappen.

Max Verstappen in McLaren drivers’ heads? All you need to know

⦁ Fernando Alonso issues ‘the car’ warning to Verstappen and McLaren
⦁ Red Bull driver believes ‘the chance is there’ to win the title
⦁ Verstappen needs to outscore Piastri by eight points on average, 5.2 points on Norris

The Red Bull driver had been trailing by more than 100 points after the Dutch Grand Prix, 104 to be precise, but he has clawed his way back into the fight with an impressive run in the last four race weekends.

Winning in Monza and Baku for his first back-to-back grand prix successes of the season, Verstappen was second to George Russell in Singapore, before returning to the top step of the podium in Austin.

The United States Grand Prix saw the 28-year-old claim two lights-to-flag victories as he won the Sprint from pole position and then repeated that feat the next day in the grand prix.

The results mean Verstappen is just 40 points down on championship leader Piastri with five race weekends remaining, and only 26 behind Norris.

Back in the thick of it, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff believes Verstappen has the mental advantage over the McLaren teammates.

“The underdog has always a little bit of an easier psychological advantage because of the probability,” he said to media including PlanetF1.com in Austin, adding that it was clear in Norris’ actions against Charles Leclerc in the grand prix.

“You can see with Lando, he’s done it at the end but it was tricky at times to decide whether you keep your nose, put your nose in, or not.”

With Norris cautious and Piastri showing his first signs of weakness, it begs the questions, is Verstappen in the heads of the McLaren drivers?

“No, I don’t think so,” Alonso told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets in Austin.

“I think it’s changed – day by day, not even weekend by weekend, day by day.

“There is a feeling that there is a championship, and then maybe tomorrow, Lando wins with 30 seconds, and Oscar is second, and then Max has no chance, because the car is not really up to speed.

“Max’s performance is great, but ultimately the car from now to Abu Dhabi will dictate who wins.”

Verstappen is one of the best drivers in F1 history, says Fernando Alonso

— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) October 17, 2025

Max Verstappen accepts ‘the chance is there’

After weeks, months and grands prix of denying that he could yet win the World title, Verstappen finally accepted that his United States Grand Prix hammering of McLaren put him in the fight.

His fifth grand prix win of the season and second Sprint triumph, had the reigning World Champion declaring that “for sure, the chance is there”. But, he added, Red Bull needed five perfect race weekends to make it happen.

“I know that we need to be perfect ‘til the end to have a chance, so that’s what we just need to focus on. And, I don’t know. I mean, it’s super close, and just attention to detail will make the difference. Trying to get the best set-up on the car every weekend and then try not to make mistakes. So that’s what we’ll try to do.”

Asked if the Verstappen after the Dutch GP when he trailed by 104 points would have believed the title was possible, he replied: “No. I would have told him he was an idiot.

“But, yeah, we found a good way with the car. It’s simple as that.

“Of course, we put some upgrades on the car, but we just understood our car a bit better — where we wanted it to perform better. And, yeah, every weekend we try to achieve it.

“Some weekends, you know, it’s better than others, but in general, it’s been way more straightforward the last few weekends compared to before those races. So that’s what we need to try and extract out of it now every single weekend.”

What Max Verstappen needs to win the F1 2025 World title

40 points. That’s all that’s in it as the title race nears its Abu Dhabi conclusion.

Although Max Verstappen is on the back foot, the longshot for the title if you will, he could still make it five on the trot if he outscored championship leader Oscar Piastri by an average of eight points per race.

Piastri, though, isn’t his only rival as the other side of the McLaren garage is also in the mix.

Lando Norris is currently second in the standings with a 26-point lead over Verstappen. That means the reigning World Champion only needs to outscore him by 5.2 points per race.

Given that Verstappen has outscored Piastri by an average of 16 points in the last four race weekends, and has been up on Norris by an average of 11, the dream is burning bright for the Dutch driver and his Red Bull team.

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