Can Max Verstappen still win the title? How F1 rivals view his chances

Max Verstappen’s F1 rivals have had their say on whether they believe he can still win this year’s world championship.

Back-to-back dominant victories at the Italian and Azerbaijan grands prix have brought Verstappen back into the conversation as being a contender for the 2025 drivers’ world title.

Verstappen is currently 44 points behind second-placed Lando Norris and 69 points adrift of championship leader Oscar Piastri with seven races and three sprints left in the season. A total of 199 points are left up for grabs.

McLaren now view Verstappen as a genuine title contender and even the Dutchman has not totally ruled out the prospect of becoming a five-time world champion this year, despite effectively resigning himself to being unable to defend his crown just a handful of races ago.

Heading into this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, F1 drivers were asked to give their percentage of Verstappen catching the McLaren duo and taking the drivers’ title before the season’s end.

Max Verstappen’s title chances rated

First to be asked was Norris, who replied: “I mean there’s a chance, so more than zero! There’s probably like actual stats, so I don’t know. Yeah, there’s a chance.”

On a more serious note, Norris later added that he sees Verstappen as a “genuine” challenger across the remaining rounds.

Despite the considerable points deficit, Haas’ Esteban Ocon feels Verstappen can never be discounted.

“We all know Max and how dangerous he is when there is something to grab,” the Frenchman explained. “So yeah, there’s a good chance that if he’s got a competitive car until the end of the year he can catch back.”

Mercedes driver George Russell, in a clear playful jab directed at Norris, who was sat alongside him in the FIA press conference on Thursday, said: “100 percent.”

However, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc thinks the prospect of Verstappen being crowned champion is “very unlikely”.

“I’ll say 20 percent,” Leclerc responded. “The gap is substantial and I feel like we’ve been on tracks, low downforce, Monza, Baku - I feel the Red Bull was very, very strong.

“I expect the McLaren to come back at the pace for most of the season here and some of the future tracks. So I see it as very unlikely.

“We never know. Obviously they brought an upgrade at Monza which seems to be working very much, but whether it work on downforce tracks, I don’t think enough to beat the McLarens.”

Isack Hadjar, who drives for Red Bull’s sister team Racing Bulls and is favourite to become Verstappen’s teammate in 2026, said: “I definitely agree with what Charles said, but I think 20 percent is a lot. I would say 10. 10 is still a good number.”

Meanwhile, Verstappen’s former teammate Alex Albon reckons the Dutchman’s odds are slightly better.

“I’ll go with 15 percent,” the Williams driver said, before adding: “You could have one crash between Lando and Oscar and it’s all game on. I don’t know what the odds are at the bookies, but I’ll go 15.”