{"id":318280,"date":"2025-12-01T11:18:59","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T11:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/318280\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T11:18:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T11:18:59","slug":"why-winning-2025-f1-title-doesnt-really-matter-to-max-verstappen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/318280\/","title":{"rendered":"Why winning 2025 F1 title \u201cdoesn\u2019t really matter\u201d to Max Verstappen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Winning the 2025 Formula 1 title \u201cdoesn\u2019t really matter\u201d to Max Verstappen<\/a>, ahead of a three-way title decider in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n

The Red Bull driver took his seventh grand prix victory of the season in Qatar thanks to an impeccable drive and a decisive strategy call. That success meant he reduced his deficit to the championship lead from 104 points three months ago to 12 points ahead of the final round.<\/p>\n

If Verstappen were to beat Lando Norris<\/a> and Oscar Piastri<\/a> to the title, he would match Juan Manuel Fangio<\/a>\u2019s world championship tally and would be only the second driver to achieve five consecutive titles after Michael Schumacher<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

The 70-time grand prix winner has had his fair share of success over the years, and is therefore not overly fussed as to whether he adds to it next Sunday.<\/p>\n

Asked about his state of mind compared to his only previous title showdown in 2021, Verstappen replied: \u201cI\u2019m a lot more relaxed now. I mean, I know that I\u2019m 12 points down. I go in there with just positive energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try everything I can. But at the same time, if I don\u2019t win it, I still know that I had an amazing season. So, it doesn\u2019t really matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes a lot of the pressure off. I\u2019m just out there having a good time like I had today. I also started today with \u2018we\u2019ll see how it goes\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that when I sit in the car, I always try to maximise everything I can. And that\u2019s what I\u2019ll try to do in Abu Dhabi, but at the same time, I also know that we need to rely on probably some external factors to have a go at it. But a race like today shows that when you think it’s going to be boring and straightforward \u2013 it\u2019s not. So, I\u2019m hoping Abu Dhabi is going to be similar.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Max <\/p>\n

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing<\/p>\n

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro \/ LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

For the first time, Verstappen has led his title challenge with a Red Bull RB21 that clearly hasn\u2019t been the most competitive car overall.<\/p>\n

Despite a \u201creally tough first half of the season\u201d, the Dutchman rated his campaign as \u201cvery strong\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that’s also something that I demand of myself after basically 11 years in Formula 1,\u201d he insisted. \u201cAnd, you know, every year, I think you become a bit more all-around.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven in the championship years, there are always things that you look back at and you’re like, \u2018I could have learned a bit more\u2019, or \u2018I could have done a bit more there\u2019. And this can go from how you set up the car, what you did yourself in terms of execution in a race, or the way that you work together with the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo still be in this fight, I think we can be really proud of it because in the middle of the season, at some point, it was almost \u2013 not like you lose motivation, but you don\u2019t really see a way forward of actually winning again in this season. It’s almost like you have to hope that 2026 would be better.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we definitely made some really good steps with the car, and in some weekends, for sure, we were in a very competitive state, I would say, where we could win races. But at the same time, we\u2019ve also won races where maybe we shouldn\u2019t have, like today, by making the right call as a team. And then, of course, it\u2019s still up to me to execute it in the best way possible. But that\u2019s, at the end of the day, also a proper team effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\nPhotos from Qatar GP – Race<\/p>\n

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– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Winning the 2025 Formula 1 title \u201cdoesn\u2019t really matter\u201d to Max Verstappen, ahead of a three-way title decider…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,138651,576,577,1885,138650,2190,82,141558],"class_list":["post-318280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-f1-qatar-grand-prix-2025","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-max-verstappen","tag-qatar-gp","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-sports","tag-why-winning-2025-f1-title-u201cdoesnu2019t-really-matteru201d-to-max-verstappen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}