Max Verstappen said his chances of winning a fifth Formula 1 world title this year are “50/50.”
Verstappen stands third in the drivers’ championship, 63 points behind leader Oscar Piastri with six races remaining.
Ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix in Austin, Verstappen said of his chances: “It’s 50/50. Yeah, you either win it or you don’t. I don’t really think about it.
“[We go] race by race, you know, so we’ll try to do our best here and then we’ll move on and we’ll see what we get,” he added.
Verstappen emerged as a title contender after the summer break when a surge in performance saw him bridge the points gap to the McLaren drivers in the championship. He has nine podiums and four wins so far, including back-to-back victories in Monza and Baku.
The 28-year-old Dutchman has finished ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris in the past four races, including Norris’ DNF at the Dutch Grand Prix due to an oil leak.
Although McLaren wrapped up the constructors’ championship at the Singapore Grand Prix, the team still see Verstappen as a threat in the drivers’ championship, though the Red Bull driver has refused to dwell on how high his chances are.
“Well, I don’t really think about it too much, simple as that,” Verstappen said. “I mean, I come to the race weekend, I try to do everything that I can in the car. It doesn’t matter for me if I’m behind or in front. Naturally, of course it’s nicer to be in front because it means that you’re leading the championship.
“But I just see every opportunity, every race weekend, the opportunity to try and win, if possible. If we don’t, we don’t, life goes on. It’s not really that dramatic for me. Doesn’t put [on] any pressure. I guess it helps if you’ve already won.
“So I think also as a team we try to understand the car still a bit more, try and see what we can learn a bit more also to what’s [coming] next year from the car. Because it’s not like you completely start over next year. And that’s it.”
