Racing Veteran Puts Faith in Max Verstappen to Defeat McLaren Drivers in 2025 Title Fight

IndyCar star James Hinchcliffe asserted that Max Verstappen is the only driver who can win the championship from his current points gap to Oscar Piastri.

Racing Veteran Puts Faith in Max Verstappen to Defeat McLaren Drivers in 2025 Title Fight

Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris (via Getty)

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Max Verstappen has turned things around in the 2025 F1 world championship. The Dutch driver was going through a mediocre campaign in the past few months. However, Verstappen has once again got himself back in the title fight against Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri after winning two races in a row. Now, IndyCar star James Hinchcliffe believes that the Red Bull driver may be able to win the title.

The reigning world champion took the fastest victory in the history of Formula 1 at Monza. The following race, Verstappen dominated to clinch the sixth grand slam of his career in Baku. The 27-year-old now trails behind championship leader Oscar Piastri by 69 points with 7 races to go. While second-placed Norris still has a lead of 44 points to Max Verstappen.

This has definitely made things interesting this season. Fans now want to see Max Verstappen put forth a title charge against the two McLarens. But this will not be so easy. According to James Hinchcliffe, Verstappen might be the only driver who even has a chance of winning the title from this stage.

The IndyCar star pointed out that the current scenario over the Dutchman’s title prospects is quite similar to Lando Norris last year. The British driver had won a handful of races midseason in 2024, while Verstappen was going through a winless streak. Fans and pundits wondered whether Norris could end Max Verstappen’s dominance. Although, the Red Bull driver fought in the ending stages of the campaign to win a fourth title in a row.

To me, talking about Max and the Drivers’ Championship sounds a lot like last year around this time when we thought, ‘oh, well, is Lando now, you know, momentum’s on Lando’s side. Does he have a shot at it?‘ … If anybody can do it, it’s Max

James Hinchcliffe said on F1 Nation podcast

Max Verstappen’s 2025 title charge good for F1’s ‘entertainment value’

The four-time world champion has arguably one of the biggest fanbases in F1, with the Orange Army. Max Verstappen fans fill grandstands in seas of orange for the 27-year-old’s Dutch roots. Undoubtedly, Verstappen’s chances to win the title will only add more excitement in the coming races.

Max Verstappen (via Red Bull)
Max Verstappen (via Red Bull)

Hinchcliffe pointed out that last year, the Lando Norris scenario was played around more to add entertainment value to the sport. He highlighted that despite Norris’ attempts, Max Verstappen managed to wrap up the championship easily with multiple races remaining. While James Hinchcliffe admitted that this could become the case again, he understands that Verstappen is the only one who can actually make this possible.

And we like to play it up, and we like to believe that maybe, you know, for the sake of the entertainment value, it could happen. But Max still wrapped it up with three races to go or whatever it was. It wasn’t really… I don’t think anybody really believed it.

James Hinchcliffe added

Certainly, Max Verstappen will not find it easy to battle for the championship in the last 7 races. The reigning world champion has already downplayed his chances. Instead, he’s focusing on a race-by-race basis. However, if McLaren have another couple of bad races, Verstappen could indeed be one step closer to a fifth title.

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