Mercedes F1 Team Principal Toto Wolff has said that Max Verstappen winning the 2025 F1 title may be a long shot at this point of time, but things can change quickly in his favor. The Austrian boss also said that one can never rule out the Dutch racer, especially now that he is back in with somewhat of a chance of the title against McLaren racers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
Max Verstappen won his fourth race of the ongoing season at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, making it two from the last two races. The defending world champion was seemingly out of the title race, but with a DNF for Oscar Piastri at Baku, he is now just 69 points behind the Aussie racer in the standings.
Many fans have been thinking if Verstappen can actually pull this off, seeing that Red Bull seem to have found some peace in recent weeks. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff also thinks that he can achieve this, even though it is a "long shot".
"Max Verstappen, you always need to be wary of what he can achieve, especially seeing that that is actually back on the cards. But I think what's the get, 50 plus points, or what is it, 69? Well, that's a long shot," Wolff said while speaking after the Azerbaijan GP. [via GPblog]
"Things need to work in his favour. But you can see a DNF for the championship leader and everything, and Max scoring 25 points. So that can swing quickly," he added.
Max Verstappen and Red Bull will be having significant momentum into the upcoming Singapore GP, having won the last two races. McLaren, on the other hand, had one of their toughest weekends of the season at Baku.
Whether Verstappen even has a car capable of fighting with the Papaya team in the remaining races, let alone overcoming his 69-point deficit to Piastri, remains to be seen.
Max Verstappen reflects on title deficit despite two consecutive Red Bull wins
Verstappen won two consecutive races in Italy and Azerbaijan in aggressive fashion. He secured the pole at Monza and went on to take the victory. In Azerbaijan, he did the same, and with two straight wins, he reduced the gaps as Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris failed to increase the lead.
As of now, the Dutch racer has 255 points to his name in 17 races and three sprints. Compared to him, Norris has 299 points, and Piastri has 324. This means Verstappen requires 70 more points in the upcoming races to take a shot at his fifth F1 title.
"Seven races to go and it's still 69 points, it's a lot," Verstappen said, speaking about his championship chances. "Basically, everything needs to go perfect from my side and then a bit of luck from their side I need as well. So it's still very tough."
"I just go race by race, which I have been doing basically the whole season - just trying to do the best we can, try to score the most points that we can. Then after Abu Dhabi, we'll know," Verstappen further added. (via Sky SportsF1)
Going as per calculations, Max Verstappen needs to get or win maximum points in the future races and sprints, while Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris have to drop points to make it a three-way championship battle. However, it looks impossible.