Verstappen's nonchalance is a mirage...winning F1 title would mean EVERYTHING

Four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen could well become a five-time champion on Sunday and, well, he doesn't seem to care.

His nonchalance around his championship battle with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri has been on display all season long, but even at the title showdown weekend in Abu Dhabi, Verstappen seems indifferent as to whether he wins it or not.

Part of that will come from the fact that the Dutchman has not been expected to be in the championship battle against McLaren, who have had a much more dominant car.

But now he is in this position, surely he will feel some kind of pressure to wrap up a record-equalling fifth consecutive championship title?

Apparently not.

"I mean, trophy looks the same," he told media in Abu Dhabi. "You know, I have four of those at home, so it’s nice to add a fifth. Yeah. I mean, I know my signature, so it’s the same.

"Of course you always try to win it. But at the same time, I’ve already achieved everything that I wanted to achieve in F1, and everything is just a bonus.

"And I just keep doing it because I love it and I enjoy it. And that’s also how I go into this weekend - have a good time out there, try to maximise the result. And even with that, maximising the result? I don’t even know what that means in terms of where you are in the ranking, you know? Because realistically, I don’t think we are the quickest.

"But you never know. A lot of things can happen - like it did also in Qatar. So we’ll just see."

Why is Verstappen so calm?

He may come across as calm - as did all three championship protagonists in the official FIA press conference - but the fact is the chance to win a championship does not come around every year.

While he has won four in a row, it could be several years until he's in this position again, particularly if Red Bull struggle with the 2026 regulation changes.

Sebastian Vettel - who also won four consecutive titles at Red Bull before never winning another one - will be screaming at his TV telling Verstappen to take this opportunity seriously.

The Dutchman could still go down in history as just a four-time world champion, if he misjudges the rest of his career moves as Vettel unfortunately did.

Now, four championships is of course not to be sniffed at, and he will go down in history as one of the best F1 drivers regardless, but what separates Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher from the rest is that they maximised more of their opportunities to win a title than other drivers.

Verstappen has an opportunity to equal one of Schumacher's records this weekend, and he should be taking that extremely seriously.

Why Max is hiding his desire for the title?

Verstappen may be hiding quite how much this title means to him because he does not want it to affect him in future years.

He has seen first hand, for example, how much Hamilton's 2021 title loss at the final race of the season has affected the rest of his career, and Verstappen knows that in two months time the F1 cars are back on the track for the 2026 season.

His relaxed attitude can therefore help him to get over a final day loss, and he will likely portray the point of view in the media that the title was never his to win this year, given the discrepancies in the performance of the McLaren and the Red Bull.

Plus, Verstappen is 12 points behind Norris going into the final race, so it really is Norris' to lose. Verstappen can win the race by 30 seconds, but if Norris comes second or third that will not be enough.

He is deflecting the pressure onto the Brit, hoping Norris will make a mistake that'll leave him unable to score the 13 points he needs for title success.

As Norris said in his press conference, it is better to be the driver in second in these kind of circumstances, rather than the driver who is being hunted down, knowing that one mistake lets the others in.

Why title would mean so much to Red Bull and Verstappen

Red Bull have a had a difficult couple of years, finishing third in the 2024 constructors' championship and looking likely to do the same in 2025.

What's more, they recently axed Christian Horner as their team principal, who had been at the helm for 20 years.

Design legend Adrian Newey and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley have also both left the team in recent seasons for different teams, and it has felt like a breaking up of the old guard.

Therefore, proving they can still win championships in amongst what is now a completely new era for the team under Laurent Mekies would be huge.

Especially given the fact that Red Bull are ditching their Honda partnership at the end of this year, and will instead be producing their own power units with Ford's help. Going into that as world champions would be a huge confidence boost.

F1 HEADLINES: McLaren pull out of Abu Dhabi media duties as driver slams ‘unacceptable’ team orders

Related