Can Verstappen still win the title? The scenarios with four races left

The four-time world champion arrived in Mexico hoping to follow up his dominant Austin performance with another win — but that proved impossible against an unstoppable Lando Norris and a rejuvenated Charles Leclerc in his Ferrari.

Verstappen ultimately had to settle for third, unable to challenge the Monegasque in the closing laps due to the VSC.

Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri couldn’t find a way past Bearman for fourth, losing the championship lead to his teammate and now trailing Norris by a single point.

Although the title is still within reach, Verstappen’s third-place finish has made his championship chase more complicated.

With 116 points still up for grabs (across four Grands Prix and two Sprints in Brazil and Losail), the Dutchman now needs to outscore Norris by an average of 9.25 points — and Piastri by 9 — per round to be crowned world champion in Abu Dhabi.

That means the Dutchman will effectively need to win every remaining race to keep his title hopes alive until the very end — while counting on the two McLaren drivers to take points off each other, and on at least one rival finishing ahead of them in a few races, as Bearman did to Piastri in Mexico.

The most striking case is the 2007 season, when Kimi Räikkönen in a Ferrari was third in the standings, 17 points behind rookie Lewis Hamilton and also behind Fernando Alonso, with just two races to go.

At that time, the old points system awarded a maximum of only ten points for a win. Räikkönen pulled off a historic comeback, winning the last two races while Hamilton faltered, making a surprising error in China by getting stuck at the pit entry and encountering technical problems in Brazil.

Räikkönen ultimately won the championship by a single point over Hamilton and Alonso, who finished level on points.

In 2010, the year Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull won their first world championship, the German started the final race in Abu Dhabi third in the standings, behind Fernando Alonso in a Ferrari and teammate Mark Webber.

On the eve of the race, Alonso led Webber by 8 points and Vettel by 15, and his strategy focused on keeping the Australian in check.

However, Alonso got stuck behind Vitaly Petrov’s Renault and was unable to pass, remaining trapped in traffic until the checkered flag. Vettel took full advantage, winning both the race and the championship, overtaking both rivals in the process.