The Biggest Comeback In Formula 1 History.

It's August 31st, 2025, and your name is Max Verstappen. Fresh off the summer break, preparing for your home Grand Prix in the Netherlands. After a miserable performance in Hungary earlier in the month, you arrive looking to put on a good show for the crowd. You get a brilliant start, albeit almost sending the car off to Mars while going through Turn 3, and somehow end up in P2. You manage to hold off one McLaren for a little while, before the inevitable happens and you get overtaken. The race then stagnates and nothing's really happening, until Lando Norris suffers a mechanical failure, promoting you back up to second place. Nice, cool. Not quite a win, but definitely the maximum result has been achieved. A target that you set yourself for the remaining races of the season, because the championship at this stage is a massive long shot. 104 points between yourself and the championship leader, Oskar Piastri. There is simply no way that kind of deficit can be overturned. Well now, there's only one more race left of this season, and the gap between Max and the championship leader currently stands at just 12 points. So how did we even get here in the first place? Not a single race has gone by since the summer break where Max Verstappen hasn't been on the podium. Doubling up in Monza and Baku, clean sweeping the entire Austin Grand Prix and making it back to back victories again in Vegas and Qatar. Ever since Zanvle, he has been hunting those McLarens down like a starved animal chasing its prey. Pressing those papaya cars race after race, pressuring the pit wall into decisions that simply make no sense whatsoever. All the while he's just gradually creeping up behind them, walking them down like Nancy Wheeler. She ain't a stranger to those things, and Max Verstappen ain't no stranger to those two papaya cars. Anytime a McLaren driver checks their mirrors, all they see is that ominous Red Bull liveried number one car with a madman behind the wheel. The Italian Grand Prix was the first race in a long time where Red Bull were actually quicker than McLaren. They took a chance with an extremely low downforce setup that cost them a bit of time through the few corners around Monza, but on the straights they were flying, powering Verstappen to his fifth pole of the season. At the start, he lost a position to Norris, but regained the lead quickly after, a move that was crucial for his race given the importance of clean air. From there, he never looked back and secured his third victory of the season. However, considering the nature of the track, most people expected McLaren would struggle. They typically don't go very well on low downforce tracks where straight line speed is the most important factor, so going into Baku, they were expected to return to their usual form again. However, a disaster in qualifying saw their drivers start down in P7 and P9, while Max, well of course he took a pole. As a multi-world champion, he knows the value of capitalizing when your rivals are in the mud. As a wise man once said, never interrupt your enemy while he's making a mistake, and McLaren made a whole heap of mistakes that weekend. Nonetheless, Verstappen's pace was mighty, dominating the race from lights to flag, and bagging another grand chalem in the process. I mean what more could you ask of him? Max is the type of guy who not only wants to beat his competition, but destroy them. When he smells vulnerability, he turns ruthless. He pushes harder, brakes later, and stretches the gap until it's not a contest anymore. For him, it's always about making a statement. It's about reminding everybody of exactly who they're dealing with. No charity, no mercy, no letting others stay in the fight. When Max senses weakness, he doesn't leave any scraps behind. That weekend was a crucial one for his title hopes. Red Bull were beginning to understand their car much better than earlier in the season, and with Mechia's now as team principal, they found new ways of unlocking more potential out of the RB21. Taking a chance with a trimmed rear wing in Monza, and doing the same in Baku. Overall, they had the fastest package, but at the very least, both McLarens should have been on the podium. Which is why Baku was such a huge turning point. A proper punch in the gut. The kind of punch that turns the fight around in favour of the guy on the back foot. McLaren fumbled, stumbled, crumbled, whatever you want to call it, and Max wasted no time in taking full advantage. Singapore was all about qualifying, and unfortunately for Max, George Russell pulled off the lap of his life to secure pole position. And eventually, he would go on to win the race ahead of the three title contenders. He has been one of the main disruptors in this season's championship fight. Finishing ahead of Verstappen in Canada and Singapore actually helped McLaren, who struggled on both weekends. Max still closed down the gap with a P2 finish, but was still a long way from leading the Drivers' Championship. 63 points away from off Norris. It would take another incident for him to gain enough points to be considered back in the hunt. With a McLaren double DNF in the Austin sprint, Max clawed back another crucial 8 points against his rivals. And then to add more salt to the wound, took another chunk out of Piastri's lead in the championship, with a win in the main race. From 63 points down, to just 40 against the Australian. Between himself and Norris, the gap went from 41 points to only 26. At this rate, it was looking as though he would be leading the championship by Vegas. So, Mexico arrives. Normally a happy hunting ground for Red Bull. But it's not his finest day at the office. He was very fortunate not to get a penalty for his collision with Hamilton or leaving the track and gaining an advantage thereafter. As was Charles Leclerc. Both drivers controversially finished on the podium that day, but with Norris winning the Grand Prix, it was looking like things were starting to swing back McLaren's way. Red Bull needed a big weekend in Brazil in order to make up for lost ground. They could ill afford to give up more points if they wanted any shot at pulling off a comeback. They turned up to the Brazilian Grand Prix with a decent car, but not quick enough to beat the McLaren. On Friday, for the only practice session of the weekend, they weren't too happy with the setup of their car, which translated into a mere P6 in sprint quality. And since you can't change anything on the park ferme until the main qualifying session, Verstappen was left experiencing the same ride issues in the sprint race, which didn't help him climb up the order very much. So, the team decided to revert to the old floor, raise the ride height and softening the car up to better the experience. And while it did solve their issues with ride quality, it made the car completely undriveable. Max was sliding around a lot more and as a result, he had to underdrive the car, meaning he was eliminated from Q1. They say with high risk comes high reward, but in this case, the risk didn't pay off. It backfired massively. Nonetheless, that didn't change the team's mindset. If anything, they felt even more comfortable taking a risk and completely changing the setup of the car since they had nothing to lose. And after 3 attempts, this time, they got it right. Max was driving like a man possessed to that day. Once the lights went out, he was on a charge. An early puncture forced a premature stop, which ended up being a blessing in disguise, because initially, he reported having no pace on the hard tyre. Red Bull's plan originally was to go as long as possible into the race, but that puncture unironically led to them finding the fastest possible strategy, which was to exploit the medium tyre as much as possible. When Max fitted those mediums, you would see him fly past and then never see him again. His pace was so lightning fast that come the end of the Grand Prix, he was only 10 seconds away from the eventual winner, Lando Norris. Leaving everybody in awe with such a tremendous comeback, but also leaving everybody wondering what could have been. If only Red Bull got the setup right from the start of the weekend, Max easily could have won with that kind of pace. However, at the same time, they probably wouldn't have even found that level of performance had they not made the previous mistakes throughout the weekend. Despite the setbacks though, they still managed to salvage an amazing result. Max Verstappen possesses this mindset of win at all costs. He will never back down from a fight and refuses to ever say die. With Max, no lead is ever safe. That drive we saw from him in Sao Paulo, from the pit lane to P3, is a great example of that very mentality. A drive reminiscent of legends, like Sebastian Vettel in Abu Dhabi 2012. That day, Vettel put together a phenomenal, world-class performance. With the championship on the line, he said to his team principal with confidence, I'll see you on the podium. Then a couple of years later, at the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2014, Lewis Hamilton came back from the pit lane and an early crash at the start to P3 after an engine failure in qualifying. Mind you, around the Hungaroring, notoriously one of the most difficult tracks to overtake on, both drivers went on to win the championship in those years. Could we see it happen again? Well, at that stage, after Brazil, the gap between Max and the guy in first had been extended to 49 points. Despite his best efforts to keep himself in the hunt, Lando Norris' run from Mexico to Sao Paulo saw him take the lead of the championship with just three races to go. Meaning, it would take another out-of-the-ordinary event for Max to still win the title. And so, we get to Vegas. Lando takes pole position once again, with a supreme lap in the wet, and Verstappen joins him on the front row. The lights go out, and the Dutchman gets a better launch off the line. Norris tries to cover the inside, but outbreaks himself and loses a couple of positions. He does manage to recover to second in the end to minimise the points deficit, but Verstappen's faultlessness saw him take his sixth victory of the season, doing exactly what he needed to do. However, the gap between the championship leader still stood at 42 points. We've got some breaking news here in the paddock. McLaren's Lando Norris and Oskar Piastri have been disqualified from the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Like I said, never interrupt your enemy while he's making a mistake. Over the course of the second half of the season, McLaren have built up a highlight reel of self-sabotage. And the disqualification in Vegas was simply the latest addition in a growing pattern of a team cracking under the pressure of leading a championship fight. And Max, he doesn't have to do anything but stand back and let the chaos unfold. Under any normal title campaign, from Verstappen's position, simply winning wouldn't be enough. A 42 point deficit with two races to go, might as well forget it. You only close that kind of gap with a mixture of relentless performances and a good chunk of luck. But as they say, you make your own luck. McLaren are serving him the championship on a silver platter, handing him a lifeline he wouldn't even have against more formidable opponents. Technical infringements, strategy misfires, operational blunders, the kind of unforced errors top teams simply cannot afford. And yet, they keep happening, again and again, right when the stakes are at their highest. And Max is the worst possible driver to give that kind of oxygen to. Because once he senses any cracks in the armour, he will not hesitate to act, rapidly and with extreme precision. He will always be there to pick up the pieces. And suddenly, that 42 point gap came down to just 24 points going into Qatar. A race where McLaren have always gone extremely well, and were expected to secure a pretty straightforward 1-2. Sprint Qualifying. Verstappen makes a mistake on his first SQ3 run by going off the track and damaging the floor. For the sprint race, he recovers to fourth. And for qualifying later that day, he gets his lap together well. It's only good enough for P3, but still a great position from which he can fight. The lights go out and Max moves up into P2. A crucial overtake, as he needed to finish ahead of Norris to keep his title hopes alive. The race then starts settling down. Until Nico Hülkenberg and Pierre Gasly come together, bringing out the safety car. Under normal circumstances, most teams probably stay out, because it's too early in the race to switch from mediums to another tyre. However, given this specific race was made to be a mandatory two stopper, this was effectively an open goal. A completely free, cheap pitstop. The kind that strategists dream of. This wasn't some 50-50 gamble, some bold roll of the dice, it was the easiest call ever. A mandatory two stop race, safety car on track, it was practically a neon billboard screaming BOX NOW. And every team on the grid read the message loud and clear. Except McLaren. Somehow, someway, they managed to miss the open goal from two yards out. While the rest of the field dived in without hesitation, McLaren hesitated, blinked, second guessed themselves, and then did nothing. To me, this was very similar to Hungary 2021, where Mercedes decided not to box Lewis when the track was bone dry. That same jaw-dropping moment of, how on earth did they get that so wrong? It seems like the McLaren strategy team have been cosplaying Ferrari all season long, and in doing so, they lost track position. What should have been a nailed on podium, maybe even a 1-2, evaporated instantly. They handed Max Verstappen another gift. Another silver platter moment, where all he had to do was say thank you very much and drive off into the sunset. Allowing him right back into striking range, with just a 12 point deficit to the championship leader Norris, and claiming P2 in the championship for the first time since Japan. This feels like 2007 all over again. McLaren internally falling apart, which leads to an outside contender taking the title away from both of their drivers. A feat that seems entirely feasible for Verstappen. Slowly by slowly, he's been chipping away at that gap. Weekend by weekend, he's been steadily racking up the points. If he wins Abu Dhabi, Norris will need to finish third at worst in order to win the title, which in theory, it should be doable. But given how everything has ebbed and flowed this year, that's way easier said than done. There's still every opportunity for Max to snatch it from under their noses, especially when you throw him a bone like that. He can now That's one of Verstappen's strongest qualities as a driver, his mentality. Talent can only get you so far, but it takes hard work, dedication and resilience to transform that talent into genius. Often times, I've found that people pedestalise someone's natural gifts more than anything else. But truthfully speaking, what separates those who achieve the heights that none of their competitors can is a certain mindset, a way of thinking and approaching challenges that simply makes them formidable, ruthlessly consistent. It enables them to just show up and deliver. Max Verstappen hasn't led the Drivers' Championship at any stage this season, a similar position a certain Red Bull driver found himself in 15 years ago. The 2010 Formula One season was one of the most hotly contested championships in Formula One history. Throughout the season, we had five different drivers gunning for the title. And going into the final race, there were four drivers who mathematically had a shot at winning. Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel. After taking victory in Korea, things were looking good for Alonso to secure his third world title. His closest challenger was Mark Webber, who crashed in that very race to lose his championship lead. But at the very least, he was still only 11 points behind the Spaniard. Unlike his teammate Sebastian Vettel, who retired with a power unit failure from the lead of the race with just 10 laps to go, meaning he would drop to fourth in the drivers' standings and 25 points away from the championship leader with two races to go. A similar situation to Max this season, who was 24 points back with two races left. As we know now, Vettel went on to win both of the final two races and beat Alonso to the championship from what seemed like an impossible set of circumstances. And the Dutchman finds himself in a similar boat. He's won Vegas, he won in Qatar, he can still win in Abu Dhabi. But once again, it all depends on McLaren. Another backfumble and Verstappen is champion. So picture this, it's December 7th, 2025 and your name is Max Verstappen. Months removed from that summer afternoon where a 104-point deficit made the championship feel like a fantasy, you find yourself here, on the grid for yet another title decider. This is the day that could rewrite the story you thought was already finished. The day where the impossible comeback becomes real. The day that might change the course of Formula 1 history forever. I hope you all enjoyed and as always, I'll see you in the next one.