Toto Wolff declares Max Verstappen 'ship has sailed'

Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff has declared that the 'ship has sailed' for reigning champion Max Verstappen to be in with a chance of retaining the drivers' title in 2025.

The Dutchman has picked up four consecutive championships with Red Bull in the past four campaigns and is still mathematically in contention for a record-matching fifth, which is currently held by Michael Schumacher.

Verstappen put on a sensational display in Sao Paulo last Sunday which saw him complete a commanding drive from the pit lane all the way up to a podium finish in P3.

But his outings earlier on in the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend produced some of the worst results of his career and on Saturday, he suffered his first Q1 exit since Sochi 2021, which was arguably the first time he has ever been ruled out of qualifying in the first stint purely on pace.

When paired with the fact that current championship leader Lando Norris had a near perfect weekend last time out, Verstappen's disastrous start at Interlagos means that he is now 49 points behind Norris, with his title charge taking a significant hit.

How will F1's 2025 championship battle play out?

Speaking to the media after Sunday's race in Brazil, Mercedes F1 boss Wolff weighed up whether Verstappen could still catch up to the British McLaren driver, but upon hearing that the gap had been extended to 49 points, he declared: "That ship has sailed."

The Austrian's own driver George Russell is now officially out of championship contention following the Brazilian GP, but the Silver Arrows could still play a part in the title race by taking points off of Norris, Verstappen and Oscar Piastri across the final three rounds of the year.

When turning his attention back to McLaren and how they are handling their competitive driver duo, Wolff added: "I think just let them race, make no contact, but the gap that Lando has now is very, very solid. But he can't afford a DNF either, because then it swings in the other direction.

"Obviously, from a spectator standpoint you would want to see that going into the last race, equal points or similar points, but [Norris] was impressive in the last few races, how he held the nerves and how he scored the points."

READ MORE: Toto Wolff 'in advanced talks' to sell Mercedes stake

Related