Max Verstappen declares F1 title comeback after US GP winner perfect Austin weekend against McLaren

Max Verstappen admitted the “chance is there” for him now to win this year’s Formula One world championship after his once unlikely title comeback was turbocharged by a perfect weekend at the United States Grand Prix.

Verstappen followed up Saturday’s victory in the Austin Sprint – the mini-race where his McLaren rivals crashed out at the first turn – with a comfortable win over Lando Norris in the full-length Grand Prix for his third Sunday victory in the last four races.

As championship leader Oscar Piastri battled his way to a distant fifth, Verstappen’s maximum points haul from the Circuit of The Americas meant he took a massive 23 points off the Australian’s overall title lead to move within 40 points of the summit.

Verstappen had been 104 points behind and seemingly well out of contention just five races ago after Piastri won the Dutch Grand Prix on 31 August. There are 141 points left this season in the final five race weekends remaining, with the Mexico City Grand Prix immediately following next week, live on Sky Sports F1.

“Yeah for sure, the chance is there,” Verstappen declared of his late-season pursuit of a record-setting fifth straight world title.

“We just have to try to deliver these weekends to the end.

“We will try what we can. It is exciting and I am very excited for the end.”

Verstappen admits Leclerc helped him beat Norris

Converting his impressive pole into a first-lap race lead, Verstappen’s chances of a fifth win of the season were immediately boosted when Norris fell behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc as the drivers exited the first corner.

With Leclerc running an alternative tire strategy to the other front-runners, having started on the faster softs instead of the more durable mediums, Norris had to overtake the Ferrari twice during the race to eventually regain second place.

Verstappen ended up finishing eight seconds ahead of his British rival.

And the Dutchman admitted: “What was key today was the first lap where Charles basically held Lando up quite a bit because that’s where I could manage.

“As soon as Lando was in clean air, he was very fast, matching or faster than us.

“Basically, that gap stayed more or less the same until the end, where Lando again of course had to pass Charles.

“We won today and obviously we had a very, very good weekend. I still think we need to improve a bit in our race pace, but I’ll take it.

“A weekend like this, not quite dominating the race, but we’re still winning and I think that’s very important.”

Mekies hails ‘extraordinary’ Verstappen as Max aims for ‘perfect’ 2025 finish

Any doubts before the weekend that Verstappen was indeed back in contention with the McLaren drivers for the championship were certainly put to rest with his double Austin win as he claimed two pole positions and led every lap in both races.

He has now outscored Piastri and Norris in each of the last four race weekends.

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said: “Max has been driving at an incredible level.

“We must admit that we are witnessing something quite extraordinary and all [with the team]it has created that turnaround.”

Now 40 points back – the equivalent of one win and third place – Verstappen remains the outsider in the title race and insists he has no room for error.

Asked if he thought McLaren would end up prioritizing one driver over the other to try and deny him the crown, Verstappen replied: “It doesn’t matter what they do to be honest, it’s just up to us to be perfect until the end of the season.

“That’s what we need to focus on.”

Formula 1’s thrilling title race continues at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime