Five reasons why Verstappen can still force his way back into the F1 title fight

While Verstappen still has significant ground to make up in the drivers' standings, there are plenty of reasons to believe his title challenge is not over. Mercedes' biggest strength could become a weakness, while Ferrari and McLaren are both capable of taking points away from the Silver Arrows this season.

Here are five reasons why Verstappen should not be ruled out of winning what would be his fifth drivers' championship in 2026.

Mercedes may have the fastest car on the grid, but having two drivers capable of winning races can also become a disadvantage in a championship battle. With George Russell and Kimi Antonelli regularly fighting for victories, the pair are likely to continue taking points from one another. Verstappen, by contrast, remains Red Bull's undisputed number one and is unlikely to lose points to a teammate if he has a car capable of winning races.

It was a similar story in 2025 where champion Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri took points off each other throughout the season. Verstappen finished just two points behind Norris, but if Piastri had finished ahead of his teammate in just one more race in 2025, the Dutchman likely would have been crowned champion.

Reliability has already played a big part in the 2026 Formula One season, with Verstappen retiring from both the Chinese and Monaco Grand Prix with technical issues. However, Mercedes have also had their issues with Russell retiring from the Canadian Grand Prix and Antonelli suffering a late DNF in the Barcelona Grand Prix.

Mercedes believe they have got over their reliability problems, but should these issues continue over the second half of the year, Verstappen is one of the drivers who could capitalise, particularly if Red Bull maintain its upward trajectory and also avoid more technical issues of their own.

Even if Mercedes remains the benchmark, Ferrari and McLaren have shown they are more than capable of taking points away from Russell and Antonelli. Hamilton will have his own hopes that he can get involved in the title fight after beating Mercedes fair and square in Barcelona.

Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc fought for victory in Australia, Oscar Piastri could have won in Japan and Lando Norris also had a chance of finishing on the top step in Miami. Should any of the four drivers in those teams finish ahead of a Mercedes driver, it could help Verstappen chip away at the deficit without necessarily needing to win every race himself.

Verstappen's performance in Austria was arguably Red Bull's most encouraging of the season and on another day he could have finished on the top step. He was able to match Mercedes for large parts of the race and secured second place after showing genuine race-winning pace.

The Dutchman closed the gap to Russell during the second stint but the Mercedes team were quick to pull an undercut, pitting Russell first with 28 laps remaining. Red Bull opted to extend and Verstappen would come out 11 seconds behind his rival. From Lap 62 onwards, the Dutchman completed only a single lap slower than 1:11.3 and consistently matched similar times throughout the stint, finishing just 1.6 seconds behind Russell.

Red Bull's upgrades in Austria appeared to work and will give Verstappen confidence that he can win races in 2026, as long as they nail their strategy unlike in Spielberg.

Verstappen's 98 point gap to Antonelli with 14 races remaining might seem a huge hill to overcome particularly with Mercedes winning all but one of the races so far this season. However, Verstappen has already shown he can recover from a sizeable championship deficit.

Last season, Verstappen found himself with even fewer races remaining and still mounted a serious title challenge before ultimately falling just short. After the Dutch Grand Prix, which was Round 15 of 24, Verstappen found himself 104 points off the championship lead. He ultimately finished just two points behind Norris after winning six of the final nine races.

With plenty of races still to come in 2026, the Dutchman knows better than most that a championship can change dramatically in a matter of weekends.