SINGAPORE — Max Verstappen refused to dwell on if he is an outsider for the Formula 1 title, saying he is taking the final seven events on a race-by-race basis.
Verstappen’s dominant back-to-back wins at Monza and Baku prompted McLaren boss Andrea Stella to say the reining champion is in the title race.
The topic was a popular one during media day ahead of this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, with Verstappen’s rivals asked what percentage they would put on him winning a fifth title this year.
Lando Norris, who is 25 points behind McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri and 44 ahead of Verstappen, said: “I mean, there’s a chance, so more than zero.”
Norris later added: “He is genuinely a challenger.”
Mercedes driver George Russell, who was sitting along the sofa from Norris, later turned to the McLaren driver and joked: “100%!”
In the other news conference, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc put the number at 20%. When the same question was put to him in his own session late on Thursday evening, Verstappen replied with a smirk.
“50%,” he said. “Because I do or I don’t.”
Verstappen has clawed back 35 points on Piastri over the past two races alone. Piastri crashed out of the Baku race, while Norris failed to capitalise, finishing a lowly seventh.
The nature of his victories appeared to confirm Red Bull has made a large step forward since its upgrade at Monza, although the high-downforce Singapore Grand Prix will likely be a litmus test of whether the car can compete with McLaren at all remaining venues.
The reigning champion played down the growing chatter about the title race.
“From my side, honestly, I just see it as a race by race thing. Sixty-nine points is still a lot, especially if you look at how the season has gone so far,” Verstappen said.
“McLaren has been incredibly dominant, that doesn’t suddenly change.
“So for me, I’m not too stressed about anything. I’m just enjoying what I’m doing, having fun outside of it, having fun, and just trying to do the best I can every single time that I jump in the car.
“Some tracks naturally will be a bit better for us, some probably a bit worse, maybe this one a bit worse. If we win it, we win it, great. If we don’t, we don’t.
“Life goes on. I don’t know, I’m just not too stressed about anything.”
He said his approach is not going to change for the time being.
“Nothing to lose really. As a team, we just approach it like that. We try to do the best we can, try to be more competitive, try to hopefully confirm that the direction we took with the car is more competitive, also on a track like this, and that’s what we hope will happen,” Verstappen said.
– Norris says Verstappen still title contender
– Hamilton’s love for Roscoe made F1 superhero relatable, human
– Alonso’s first F1 title, 20 years later: ‘He was just another level’
“And then we’ll see what happens from here onwards.”
When asked if the fact there’s even a discussion about it shows how well he’s been driving this year, he said: “Yeah, maybe.
“Of course, sometimes maybe it was a bit more difficult to show that in the middle of the season, but I think every time that you progress as a driver every single year, you want to become better or at least be similar to what you have achieved in the past, and I think we are doing that.
“The car has not always been nice or easy to drive, but lately it does seem that it’s heading in the right direction, and actually with a car that is a bit more competitive and also a bit more predictable, you can show better things. I think that’s quite normal.
“In general, of course, I’m very happy with the driving side of things throughout the whole season.”
