The title fight in Formula 1 is unexpectedly exciting again. Max Verstappen believes more than ever in the impossible again.
24.11.2025, 10:06
24.11.2025, 11:37
SDA
That seemed to be it for good. After his performance in his home country, of all places, Verstappen's chances of winning his fifth consecutive world championship crown had approached zero. The title holder's deficit had grown to 104 points after the Dutch Grand Prix. Verstappen may have finished second in Zandvoort, but the winner on the circuit in the dunes was Oscar Piastri.
The young Australian had taken the next step towards winning the title with his seventh victory of the current season. At least that was the general consensus at the time - all the more so as Piastri's first rival in the overall standings, team-mate Lando Norris, had to record a zero in the race in question. An oil leak in the MCL39 forced the Englishman to retire shortly before the end. Piastri's lead over Norris after the first Grand Prix weekend after the summer break was 34 points.
A 34-point lead for this upstart from Melbourne, who can't be rattled by anything and is able to reel off his workload in the style of a veteran on a weekly or fortnightly basis. What could possibly go wrong?
The other world
Almost three months later, Oscar Piastri's world is completely different. He is no longer the carefree driver who has already been compared to Finland's Kimi Räikkönen because of his composure. Piastri has lost his carefree attitude. He is now just a shadow of his former self, barely recognizable. The latest low blow with the disqualification in the Las Vegas Grand Prix will not have helped Piastri's inner life either.
Research into the causes of this unexpected transformation has long been underway. Many observers see the turning point in the Italian Grand Prix. In Monza, Piastri had to let Norris pass shortly before the end at the behest of the team bosses. The McLaren team had taken this decision after Norris' pit stop was botched by the crew. The Briton finished the race in second place behind the superior Verstappen, ahead of Piastri.
The McLaren team bosses acted not only out of a sense of fairness, but probably also on the assumption that the battle for the drivers' title would remain an internal affair until the end. They considered the lead, including the technical lead, to be big enough for something to go wrong.
The other approach
However, the orange team did not take Verstappen and his entourage into account. Everyone in the Red Bull team was clutching at straws, no matter how thin, not giving up hope that the seemingly impossible could still be made possible. The engineers continued to develop the RB21 with great intensity, bringing new parts to the racetrack for practically every Grand Prix weekend and were thus able to visibly rectify the shortcomings of the blue car.
The Red Bull team did this in a completely different way to its rival McLaren. Their technicians presented the last major adjustments during the British Grand Prix at the beginning of July. Team boss Andrea Stella explained the decision by saying that "we had a very balanced car from the start of the season, which no longer offered as much scope for improvement as other racing teams. We would have had to invest many weeks of work to increase the aerodynamic efficiency by even one percent. It wasn't worth it for us."
Stella and his teammates focused accordingly early on the design of the car for the coming season, in which the new, extensively amended technical regulations will be applied. "We also want to build cars that are capable of winning in the future," explained the Italian.
Looking ahead to next year, Red Bull may be willing to take a risk, especially as the investments in the current car are likely to have an impact on work on its successor. The ongoing arms race not only affects capacities in the wind tunnel, but also on the personnel side.
The other perspective
Laurent Mekies, who took over from Brit Christian Horner at the head of the Red Bull team at the beginning of July, looks at the situation from a different perspective. "If we had never found out the problem areas of the RB21, we might have to pay for them next year as well. This is because we might have had the same problems again."
The progress of this year's championship proves the Red Bull team and its actions right. Verstappen has reduced the gap in the drivers' standings by 80 points. The 24-point difference to leader Norris is still too big for him to win his fifth title on his own. However, there is more hope than ever that it could still be enough to turn things around. In any case, nothing is definitive in the current title fight.
