Wolff: ‘Ship has sailed’ for Verstappen in title fight

19:00, 18 Nov

byDrew Murphy

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has claimed that Max Verstappen’s ‘ship has sailed’ and it is now a two-horse race between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

Heading into the final three rounds of the 2025 season, Norris leads his teammate Piastri by 24 points and Verstappen by 49 points.

Toto Wolff. Photo: RacePictures

With the Las Vegas Grand Prix up next, the fast street circuit has not been kind to McLaren in the past, so that the championship may get flipped on its head once again, but Wolff disagrees.

Wolff was asked after the Sao Paolo Grand Prix about his expertise on how to handle an inter-team fight for the Drivers’ title and the infamous ‘papaya rules’.

He said: “I think how they handle it is very well. It's very good, letting them race. I don't see a situation where they take each other out.

“How many points is Max behind? [49 off Lando, and 25 off Piastri] Okay, that ship has sailed.

“I think just let them race, make no contact. But the gap that Lando has now is, I mean, it's very, very solid, but they can't afford the DNF either. Because then it swings in the other direction.

Lando Norris. Photo: Race Pictures

“Obviously, from a spectator standpoint, you would want to see that not going into the last race equal points or similar points.

“But he was impressive in the last few races, how he held the nerves and how he scored the points.

“Does it get more tense within the team though? Absolutely. But as a team principal, as a team boss here, you just need to hold the grip on it.”

Verstappen did not fare much better than the McLarens in last year’s Las Vegas Grand Prix, finishing fifth, and Norris and Piastri in sixth and seventh, respectively.

However, the Dutch driver was much closer to the winner George Russell than the Woking outfit, finishing just over 16 seconds behind the Mercedes, whilst Norris was 43 seconds behind.

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