For Max Verstappen, this season’s Drivers’ Championship is “not really important” – he is already completely satisfied with his performance this season.
Ahead of the three-way battle for the World Championship in Abu Dhabi, Max Verstappen claimed his seventh victory of the season at the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix. With a flawless drive and a bold strategy, he reduced the gap in the overall standings, which had been 104 points three months ago, to just 12 points ahead of the final race.
Should Verstappen catch up with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, he would not only equal Juan Manuel Fangio’s five world championship titles, but he would also be only the second driver in history after Michael Schumacher to win five championships in a row.
But even though Verstappen has now racked up 70 Grand Prix victories, he is surprisingly calm about the possibility of another title. When asked how he feels compared to his only title showdown so far in 2021, Verstappen replied:
Verstappen goes into the final race without pressure
“I’m much more relaxed now. I know I’m twelve points behind. I’m going into it with a positive attitude. I’ll give it everything I’ve got. But at the same time, if I don’t make it, I still know I’ve had a fantastic season. So it doesn’t really matter.”
“That takes a lot of pressure off. I’m going out there to have fun—just like today. I went into today’s race with the attitude: ‘Let’s see what happens.’”
I know that I always try to get the most out of the car. I’ll do the same in Abu Dhabi. But I also know that we’ll probably need a few external factors to give us any chance at all. But a race like today shows that when you think it’s going to be boring and predictable, it’s not. So I hope Abu Dhabi will be similar.”
For the first time in his career, Verstappen is fighting for the title without having the clearly fastest car, as the Red Bull RB21 was not the dominant package in 2025. Despite a “really tough first half of the season,” the Dutchman rates his season overall as “very strong.”
Red Bull has “made really good progress”
“But after eleven years in Formula 1, I expect that of myself,” he explains. “Every year you become a little more complete. Even in the years when you win the title, there are moments when you look back and think, ‘I could have learned a little more there’ or ‘I could have done that better’. That applies to the setup, how you approach the race yourself, and also how you work with the team.“
”We can be really proud that we’re still in the title fight. Because at the midpoint of the season, it was almost… not that you lose motivation, but you just don’t see a way to win races again this year. You think: Hopefully 2026 will be better.”
“But we’ve made some really good progress with the car. On some weekends, we were really competitive and were able to win on our own merits. At the same time, we also won races that we perhaps shouldn’t have won, like today. We made the right decision at the right moment. In the end, it’s up to me to execute it perfectly. But that’s what real teamwork is all about.”