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Enjoying a late surge out of the final bend, Max Verstappen is looming large in the mirrors of his championship rivals. The Dutchman is a threat beyond his formidable pace. An ominous, unsettling presence whose singular determination carries a weight of its own and at this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix he will be hoping to put the hammer down once more.
Having all but written off his chances by mid-season, Verstappen and team Red Bull have orchestrated a striking comeback. In closing down a 104-point gap to the championship leader, Oscar Piastri, to just 40 points in the space of four races, the defending champion has left Piastri and his McLaren teammate, Lando Norris, as prey in his paws.
It is impossible to imagine they do not feel the pressure given both are in a real title fight for the first time. Indeed, one that for no little time had been but between the pair of them and played to McLaren’s own in-house interpretation of Queensbury rules to keep everything fair.
Verstappen, not party to any such agreement, has very much upset the apple cart and at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Lewis Hamilton, who went toe-to-toe with the Dutchman to the season finale in 2021, issued a stark warning of what Verstappen was bringing to the title fight.
“You really have to be cut-throat and that is what Max is. He is going to take this from them if they don’t do the same,” he said. “Max has won it four times so he knows what it’s like and being the hunter is much easier than being the defender.”
Piastri and Norris, who is 14 points behind his teammate, have said they would rather be in front but it is hard to argue with Hamilton’s observation and its import for the championship, especially given the circumstances.
Verstappen is in fine form and fine humour. He has nothing to lose and is heading into the five-race run-in with a car that is every bit as good as the previously dominant McLaren. He spoke in Mexico of enjoying the “positive pressure” and it was clear he had been absolutely revitalised by the challenge. “I’m loving what I’m doing,” he said. “If the car is competitive, much better to be racing in it than when it’s not.”
Which will not have been lost on either McLaren driver. Not only is Verstappen gleefully revelling in a contest he will fancy himself to win but he has the machinery and he has the momentum.
Red Bull’s turnaround will likely be on display once more in Mexico, where Verstappen has a daunting record, winning five of the last seven races. This weekend he acknowledged that a combination of the new floor applied in Singapore and the new front wing in Monza had been integral in allowing Red Bull to run the car in what he called “a different configuration”.
That was almost certainly a reference to allowing it to run closer to the ground, a fundamental performance differentiator of the ground-effect cars and which has made a huge improvement to the RB21’s previously narrow operating window which made it unpredictable and at times unmanageable from track to track.
The impact has been gamechanging. The car has more pace and better balance, it slides less and is subsequently easier on the tyres but most importantly it has given Verstappen confidence in its handling, allowing him to set up the car with the pointy front-end he prefers. It has brought out the best in him as three wins in four races attest while the McLaren, for which development has ceased, has stood still.
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Mexico City will also likely play to the Red Bull’s strengths. In the thin air of altitude which negates the larger wings required, their car has enjoyed a strong, stable balance on the notoriously bumpy track and the preponderance of slower corners combined with one long straight all favour Verstappen’s ride over McLaren.
If he is on top, the key question for the championship is how close can McLaren come? Norris and Piastri should still enjoy an advantage on the rest of the field but will be acutely aware that any error will leave the door open for Verstappen to further close the gap and that is another level of pressure. Dropping seven points to the Dutchman might be considered acceptable. Any more than that and his charge will only carry more weight into the final meetings of a campaign where any weakness or failure could be decisive.
Verstappen smells blood in the water. He may not have led the championship all season and 40 points is still a major deficit to overcome but he knows that all that matters is he has his nose in front when the flag falls in Abu Dhabi in December.
“When you’re in the lead and someone is chopping away at your lead, that plays on you more than if you’re chasing and you have nothing to lose,” noted Hamilton from experience. “In the lead, you have everything to lose.”
