F1 insider thinks Verstappen will win his fifth title, then leave Formula 1

21:28, 06 Jun

Updated: 21:39, 06 Jun

bySavannah Lenz

After four straight world titles, Max Verstappen may no longer dominate the sport. As it stands, he is 49 points behind the leader. However, former Red Bull Racing mechanic Calum Nicholas believes Verstappen can still clinch his fifth this year.

Nicholas appeared as a guest on Lucas Stewart's Youtube channel. There, he said how many titles he believes Verstappen will get.

"Five, I think Max is going to win this year, and then I think he’s going to call it a day."

Despite thinking that Verstappen will leave, he said, "I definitely don’t know anything.”

Even though he isn't in the garage or on the team anymore, Nicholas said, "To not back Max is just lunacy."

Nicholas misses his time with Red Bull Racing

Nicholas announced that he would leave working in Formula 1 after being with the Red Bull Racing team for thirteen years. He saw Verstappen win the four titles he has so far.

He was also a part of the Guinness Book of World Records for the fastest pitstop, which was 1.82 seconds when they set it.

Callum Nicholas experienced all of Verstappen's titles at Red Bull Racing. Source: Red Bull Content Pool.

Now the record belongs to McLaren for their 1.80 seconds Qatar Grand Prix pitstop in 2023.

Nicholas admitted, "It is nice to not be sweating so much and doing those long hours in the garage, but at the same time, I'm just out there trying to represent the team as best I can."

When asked if he missed the adrenaline of a race weekend, he said, "That's probably my biggest thing. That was the thing that held me back for the longest in terms of making that leap: I really knew that I was going to miss that rush of a pitstop."

This article was written in collaboration with Kevin Doldersum.