One of the moments that had the biggest impact on the Dutchman’s standings was the heavy clash with George Russell in Barcelona, which resulted in a penalty that dropped him from fourth to tenth place.

On top of that, the RB21 in the first half of the season wasn’t quite on the same level as the one seen after the summer break, which, thanks to upgrades, managed to keep pace with the MCL39.

“Honestly, if you look back at the season there are always points where you think we could have done a better job, but for sure our first half has not been what we wanted,” the Dutchman told GPblog in Qatar. “If we knew what we know now... it's very easy to engineer like that.

“We were just in a difficult spot at the time. I have to say that lately everyone is working really well together. We have a positive atmosphere in the team. The car for sure is handling better — at times good enough, at times still not good enough. But overall I'm fairly happy with that second half.”

He finally added: “For sure, (there were) lessons learned also for next year, even though of course the rules are changing. But in general, I think the way of working is positive. But then again, you don't know next year how competitive you are going to be. For sure, it is still very important what we learned this year for the future of the team.”

The four-time world champion arrives in Qatar still 24 points behind leader Norris, but with far greater hope of challenging for the title following the disqualification that hit both McLarens last weekend in Las Vegas.

Verstappen has already been in situations where the championship was decided at the final race, like in Abu Dhabi 2021, and he can draw on that experience if any further critical moments arise.