Max Verstappen knows what it’ll take to win in 2025 – absolute perfection from him and his Red Bull Racing team.
“As a team, it needs to be perfect till the end to have a chance,” the four-time world champion told reporters during the Mexican Grand Prix weekend.
Despite being in a fierce championship battle, Verstappen seems remarkably relaxed about the outcome.
“It’s still the same, worst case, I finish P3, right? Nothing really changes. I just want to try and win races till the end of the season.”
The Dutch driver has been on an incredible hot streak lately.
“I hope it’s possible every weekend, but it’s impossible to know at the moment. We are on a good run, and we also know as a team that it needs to be perfect till the end to have a chance. If it works, great – unbelievable comeback. If it doesn’t work, you just continue.”
He’s keeping his focus on the present, not dwelling on what might happen in the season finale.
“You can be proud of the end-of-season performance and the upswing in form, but don’t worry about that in Abu Dhabi.”
Since the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, Verstappen and Red Bull have found another gear. The 28-year-old has slashed the championship deficit from over 100 points at summer break to just 40 points now.
## Chasing the title as an underdog
Being the hunter rather than the hunted is a new experience for Verstappen. After dominating recent seasons, he’s now the one playing catch-up.
“It doesn’t really change a lot. Naturally, you want to win, you want to win the championship, and I’ve won championships very early and very late. Now this one is very different because, for most of the season, it was much harder for us.”
He admits the current situation has exceeded his expectations.
“To be honest, to still be in this fight is very surprising, but I take it. Like I said before, we need to be perfect, but for me, it’s just positive pressure. I’m loving what I’m doing. If the car is competitive, it’s much better to be racing in it than when it’s not.”
The pressure is mounting with each race, but Verstappen believes his team thrives in these situations.
“Every race we do, I know that till the end we can’t afford any bad luck or mistakes. But this team has shown in the past that we normally perform really well under pressure anyway, and that’s what we’ll try to do till the end.”
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