How Max Verstappen rates his chances of winning the F1 2025 title

Reigning F1 world champion Max Verstappen has an outside shot of clinching a fifth crown in 2025

Max Verstappen reckons he has “nothing to lose” in the 2025 Formula 1 drivers’ championship battle as he joked about having a “50%” chance of clinching the title.

The reigning, four-time world champion has put himself on the cusp of the championship fight by winning the last two races, Monza and Baku, leaving him 69 points behind leader Oscar Piastri.

He is third in the standings, 44 points adrift of second-placed Lando Norris with seven rounds remaining, and many now see Verstappen as a genuine threat to the McLaren pair.

This has largely been thanks to an upgrade that Red Bull brought to Monza, finally giving Verstappen a car capable of challenging McLaren which until then had won 12 of 15 grands prix this year.

“Nothing to lose,” said Verstappen ahead of this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix. “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, and then we'll see what happens from here on.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Bryn Lennon / Formula 1 / Getty Images

Many drivers on Thursday were asked what chance they’d give Verstappen of sealing a fifth, consecutive title. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, for example, said 20%, Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar claimed “20 is a lot, I would say 10”, while Williams’ Alex Albon gave Verstappen a 15%.

As for the Dutchman, he was more light in his response: “50%, because I do or I don't.”

Although Red Bull’s RB21 is now vastly improved, McLaren is still believed to have the best all-round package and it is for that reason Verstappen is not getting ahead of himself.

“I just see it as a race-by-race thing, 69 points is still a lot, especially if you look at how the season has gone so far,” the 28-year-old added.

“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, and 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.”

It also remains to be seen if Red Bull’s wins were down to its car suiting the low-downforce Monza and Baku circuits, as the high-downforce Singapore track has often cost the Austrian outfit.

Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images

For all of his 67 grand prix victories, Verstappen is yet to win at Marina Bay and in his most recent races at high-downforce circuits, Budapest and Zandvoort, he struggled to challenge for the win.

“Some tracks naturally will be a bit better for us, some probably a bit worse,” said Verstappen. “Maybe this one a bit worse, if we win it, great, if we don't, we don't, life goes on. I'm just not too stressed about anything.

“We are just very happy that we found the last two races much more positive for how the behaviour of the car was and honestly, after a race like Hungary or even Zandvoort, it didn't look too great to win more races, and then you win two in a row, so even if we can win a few more, it would be nice.

“If that means that we don’t win the championship, then so be it. I don't think anyone is too focused on one single goal. But also at the same time, in the constructors’, there might be some places to gain, because we're not too far away from second. So that's also something that we want to look at.”

Red Bull is currently fourth in the constructors’ standings, 18 points off second-placed Mercedes with Ferrari in third and 14 ahead of the Austrian outfit. McLaren, meanwhile, will successfully defend its crown if it simply scores 13 points this weekend.