Verstappen ‘proud’ to have reduced significant points gap in title fight as he assesses victory chances in Las Vegas

Max Verstappen feels that he and Red Bull can be “proud” after reducing the significant points gap that they faced earlier in the season, though the Dutchman acknowledged that the performance level was “not where I wanted it to be” for most of the campaign.

Following the Dutch Grand Prix in August – the first race after F1’s summer break – Verstappen was more than 100 points adrift of then-championship leader Oscar Piastri. However, a strong run for the four-time World Champion saw him win three out of the four next Grands Prix, bolstering his points tally and bringing him back into the title fight.

While the margin is now at 49 points from Lando Norris – who retook the standings lead in Mexico – Verstappen is happy with how he managed to bounce back.

Asked ahead of the upcoming Las Vegas Grand Prix if he would rate this season as his best in Formula 1 in terms of what he has achieved behind the wheel, the 28-year-old responded: “It’s been good, for sure.

“I think every season you want to try and be better, which is not always easy but you try to be more consistent. Otherwise we tried to really optimise everything we can with the car, and I think most of the time we really did that, so I’m pleased with that.

“It’s not where I wanted it to be for most of the season, otherwise you’re fighting all season for the title, which we haven’t really. I enjoyed the highs and the wins that we did score, but at the same time of course the lows were also not fantastic.

“At the same time, in the middle of the season or after the summer break, we were looking at a points gap of more than 100 points and it really looked like it was only going to get bigger, and at one point we were really overturning that by quite a bit. A bit of luck in some places, but I think that’s something we can be proud of, to still score some good results at the end of the season.”

Ahead of the final three rounds of the season, Verstappen insisted that his approach to the championship battle remains the “same as always”, adding: “It doesn’t really change. It’s a lot of points so I’m not really thinking about it too much.

“There’s also not much I can do – we need a lot of luck now until the end to even have an opportunity, so personally I don’t think about that.”

For now Verstappen’s focus is on Round 22 in Las Vegas, a weekend that he arrives into off the back of an impressive comeback drive last time out in Sao Paulo that saw him climb from a pit lane start to a final result of P3.

Pushed on whether he could be in with a chance of challenging for victory should he get a similar feeling from the RB21 as in Brazil, Verstappen said: “Looking back at Brazil, yeah, I guess so, because the race pace was pretty decent.

“Of course I would have liked to start more at the front, but at the same time it was fun. I had a good time out there racing through the pack and fighting until the final lap. Of course it was only for P2, but I had good fun and I hope we can be competitive this weekend.”