Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Verstappen: 'From now, we have to win everywhere to achieve the title'

01:08, 27 Oct

Updated: 01:36, 27 Oct

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byKada Sarkozi

Max Verstappen sees he needs to have 'perfect weekends' to have a shot at winning the 2025 drivers' title.

"From now on we just have to win everything. If we don’t, it’s simply not going to happen."

- Max Verstappen

Starting from fifth on the grid, the Dutchman made his way onto the podium, but a late Virtual Safety Car prevented him from challenging Charles Leclerc for second place.

Talking to Viaplay after the race, Verstappen commented: “The second stint went better. But ultimately you compare yourself to the McLarens, not the rest.

"We’re still lacking there, of course. On the mediums they were slower [against my softs], but if you take the average over the whole race, we’re still too slow. It’s been like that all weekend.”

After Sunday’s race, there is a new championship leader — Lando Norris. Verstappen now trails the McLaren driver by 36 points with just four weekends remaining in the 2025 season.

He continued: “It’s a big gap. As I said, I need to have perfect weekends and we didn’t have that this weekend. That makes the task even more difficult."

Is it possible for the Dutchman to still win the title? “Statistically, yes. But from now on we just have to win everything. If we don’t, it’s simply not going to happen," he concluded.

Verstappen waving to the fans after the Mexico City GP - Photo: Race Pictures

The FIA shares statement on VSC

In a statement shared with GPblog, the federation explained why the VSC was deployed on the penultimate lap after Carlos Sainz crashed out in the final corner.

It reads: "[Sainz's] car came to a halt in an exposed position.

"The car subsequently began smoking, and race control received notifications of fire, making it clear that marshal intervention would be required for recovery.

"As is standard procedure when marshals are deployed to recover a car, the race is neutralised, in this case, a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was triggered until the car was moved to a safe location behind the barriers.

"The VSC ended as soon as the car was in a protected position, and the race concluded under green-flag conditions."