What Max Verstappen claimed about McLaren after ‘remarkable’ title win

Despite taking points off the McLaren drivers for the third successive race, Max Verstappen downplayed his chances of winning the World title as he says Lando Norris was faster in Singapore, just the nature of the track allowed him to keep him behind him.

Scoring 68 in the three races, Verstappen has outscored both championship leader Oscar Piastri, who brought in just 27, and runner-up Norris, 45.

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His deficit to Piastri is down to 63 points, having been as high as 104 just four races ago after the Hungarian Grand Prix, while he sits 41 points behind Norris.

Red Bull’s recent gains, boosted by a new floor for the RB21 that the team introduced in Monza, have led to suggestions that the title race is no longer a McLaren-only battle, it’s now a three-way fight.

That Verstappen beat the McLarens at the Marina Bay circuit, the only track where he has yet to win a grand prix, bodes well for future races and his chances of retaining the World title for a fifth successive season.

Or does it?

F1 2025: The season’s winners and losers

👉 The results of the F1 2025 championship

👉 The updated Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship standings

The driver suffered yet more shifting issues throughout the grand prix, a problem that has plagued his RB21 throughout this year’s championship.

“I think too many things didn’t go well,” he told the BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast. “We had too many issues with the shift. Shifting and down and up, shifting and balance in the car was also a bit, bit too difficult to manage. So it was really 62 laps of, yeah, management.

“But nevertheless, second is very good, even if, let’s say we had a lot more pace you can’t pass around here, I would have been second regardless.”

Quizzed on whether he could go on to fight for the World title, the Dutchman was cautious about his chances, given not only his deficit in the standings but the pace of the McLarens.

“I think for that, we need to catch up more in a race weekend,” he replied.

“Also, I don’t think you can judge the real performances, because basically Lando was just stuck behind me.

“He was much faster. As soon as I pitted in the first stint he was a lot faster. And that kind of pace I would have not been able to do,

“So they are still very fast, and if it would have been a normal layout, he would have just passed me and took off. So they are still the benchmark. We still have a few things that we need to work on, but it was already a bit better around.”

Verstappen reckons McLaren’s resurgence as the team added a second teams’ trophy on the trot having not won a single title since 2008 should be seen as an inspiration for all the teams in the paddock.

“Yeah, fantastic,” he said in applauding McLaren’s Constructors’ Championship. “I mean, they did an amazing job all year so they fully deserve that title. Very happy for them.

“They’ve worked hard for they had, of course, a few years ago, still, you know, some tough seasons, and how they recovered is remarkable. And also is a lesson for everyone in this paddock that everything is possible.”

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