Helmut Marko confident Max Verstappen can win despite Red Bull not having the fastest car. Helmut Marko believes Max Verstappen can still claim the 2025 title.

The Austrian manager believes in the championship

From -63 to -40: in just one race weekend, Max Verstappen reduced his gap to Oscar Piastri by a third. With five races and two Sprint events still to come, defending his world title is now a real possibility for Max Verstappen, who after the home Grand Prix in the Netherlands had been more than 100 points behind the McLaren driver from Australia.

The Red Bull driver cannot afford any missteps and must consistently finish ahead of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, while hoping for some help from Ferrari and Mercedes – which happened in Texas, where George Russell finished second in the Sprint and Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were third and fourth in the Grand Prix. According to Helmut Marko, however, the calendar does not include circuits that are ‘tailor-made’ for McLaren. The team now has to face the fact that its car is not the best over a single qualifying lap, and straight-line speed is certainly not a strength of the MCL39, which struggles considerably when overtaking.

Helmut Marko’s confidence in Max Verstappen

“There are no more McLaren or Mercedes tracks on the calendar,” Helmut Marko said, as reported by gpblog.com. “And I don’t agree with Stella, we don’t have the best car, we have the fastest driver, and that is the factor that can make the difference, given that we are talking about gaps measured in hundredths of a second. Is this the moment to bet on Max Verstappen for the title? If someone wants to take the risk, yes.”