Jos Verstappen questions McLaren: “Why does Piastri’s car slide while Norris’ doesn’t?”. Jos Verstappen questions McLaren’s approach after Las Vegas.

Max Verstappen’s father applies pressure on title rivals

The Verstappen camp smiles

Leading up to the Las Vegas race, Max Verstappen’s entourage hinted that his championship chances would only become realistic if Lando Norris scored zero in the last three races. Magically, that scenario unfolded with the double McLaren disqualification at the end of the race due to excessive floor wear on both cars. Now, Max Verstappen is just 24 points behind the British driver and is ready to strike decisively between Qatar and Abu Dhabi, although finishing second consistently could still allow Norris to clinch the title.

Jos Verstappen puts pressure on McLaren

In statements collected by Formule1.nl, Jos Verstappen added pressure on Max’s rivals: “McLaren will only get more nervous now; they cannot afford more mistakes. At the start, Norris was too aggressive, focusing solely on Max, Max, and Max again, but meanwhile he forgot to brake for Turn 1. Max braked at least five meters earlier. And Zak Brown, who has often commented on Max’s driving style as being too aggressive at starts, will now have to deal with his driver.”

Jos Verstappen then raised some interesting questions: “The floor wear was a huge error by McLaren, really huge. Why did they push the car to the limit like that? Was it really a mistake, or did the car not perform well and they had to do it? Now the pressure on them is really high. Then there’s also Oscar Piastri, who right now won’t be very happy. You can clearly see the difference between the two McLarens on track, in how they handle the corners. One slides and the other doesn’t, and this raises further questions. It will be an exciting season finale, Max has nothing to lose and he will attack at full throttle.” – he pointed out at the end of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

With Qatar and Abu Dhabi looming, Jos Verstappen’s pointed comments have turned the psychological heat up another notch on a McLaren team that looked untouchable just seven days ago. The title fight is well and truly alive – and the Verstappen family are making sure everyone knows it.