During the summer break of Formula 1 Max Verstappen seemed without a chance, now he has heralded his chase with two wins. Suddenly there is something else about the World Cup title? This next weekend in Singapore (race on Sunday at 2 p.m., all sessions from the 1st training session on Friday in the live ticker at Sportschau.de) there are answers.
At the latest on August 3 of this year everything seemed over. The four times-in-series world champion Verstappen was really humiliated at Hungaroring in Hungary, ultimately chugs 1: 12.645 minutes behind the finish line with 1: 12.645 minutes and was able to avoid it.
McLaren celebrated a double victory again in front, Lando Norris narrowly kept the upper hand against Oscar Piatri, and there was actually only one question: Who of the two dethroned the Dutch in 2025?
Piatri for the first time after 34 races pointless
Two months later, the pictures reversed. In Azerbaijan, Piatri remained pointless for the first time in the first round after his embarrassing driving mistake. His teammate Norris only came seventh after a failed pit stop and did not even manage to drive past Yuki Tsonoda and Liam Lawson. And Verstappen, for the second time in a row, treated himself to the winner’s shampus, after he had already triumphed in Monza.
Since the summer break, Verstappen has scored 68 out of 75 possible points thanks to two wins and second place in Zandvoort. His hopelessly inferior Red Bull suddenly received the wings cited in advertising.
Still separate 69 points
Piatri collected 40 points in the same period, Norris comes to 24. Only 69? Or still calming 69? This is the suddenly exciting question that can be answered a little more well after the coming weekend in Singapore.
Mathematical fact is in any case: Make Verstappen and the two McLaren until the end of the season as well as in Zandvoort, Monza and Baku – then the Dutchman will be world champion for the fifth time in a row.
The 27-year-old makes a little bit in understatement: “I don’t rely on hope. There are still seven racing weekends, and 69 points are a lot. So I don’t think about the title, I am going to race for races.” Thinking from game to game, the football professionals in the Bundesliga also tell in continuous loop. The fact that they do not look at the table and calculate should be a similar legend to Verstappen now.
Suddenly the nerves at McLaren flutter
In addition to the miracle healing of his own car, what is allowed to take a look at is the sudden flutter of the competition. Piatri failed not only in racing round in Azerbaijan, he had already shown unusual weaknesses at the start and previously in qualifying.
Norris, who is often considered a boom in promising situations, did not use the error palette of his stable rival at all, and his team also had a capital dropout at the pit stop. It is now only 44 points for Verstappen.
199 points in the pot – but there has never been such a catch -up hunt
A total of 175 points in the Grand Prix races are still in the pot on the remaining seven racing weekends. There is also a sprint race in the USA, Brazil and in Qatar, the winner receives eight points. As is well known, the additional point for the fastest racing round has not existed since this season, but a total of 199 points are still in the pot.
In contrast to his star pilot, Red Bull Motor Sports Advisor Helmut Marko becomes a bit more concrete. He said in Baku, asked about a possible catch -up that has never existed in such a size in 75 years of Formula 1: “Let’s wait and see Singapore. If Max also wins there, I will think about it.”