Red Bull star Max Verstappen is held in the highest esteem throughout F1.

Red Bull star Max Verstappen is held in the highest esteem throughout F1 (Image: Getty)

Max Verstappen appeared to be well out of this season’s F1 title race at the end of August. The Red Bull star was a staggering 104 points adrift of then-championship leader Oscar Piastri after finishing second to the Australian at the Dutch Grand Prix. At the time, Verstappen was struggling to get a tune out of his car and was unable to keep pace with McLaren duo Piastri and Lando Norris.

The McLaren car was dominant and the team’s two drivers looked certain to be in a two-way battle between themselves to land the title. But Verstappen refused to be beaten and battled back during the early stages of the autumn as he won three races in four attempts.

Verstappen’s fightback began in Italy at the start of September as he overcame podium finishers Norris and Piastri. And a fortnight later in Azerbaijan, the Dutchman stormed to victory, while Norris ended the afternoon in seventh and Piastri failed to finish.Verstappen then came second to George Russell in Singapore, before beating Norris to victory in the USA in mid-October.

Norris appeared to have stamped out Verstappen once and for all with back-to-back victories in Mexico and Brazil. But the result at the Las Vegas Grand Prix means Verstappen could yet steal what would perhaps be the most unlikely of title victories in F1 history.

Verstappen won the Las Vegas race and was then handed an improbable boost when Norris and Piastri were disqualified. The 28-year-old is now level pegging with Piastri, with the duo just 24 points behind leader Norris ahead of the final two races.

Lewis Hamilton has won a joint-record seven world titles and is one of the greatest F1 drivers ever (Image: Getty)

Verstappen has shown time and time again that he is one of the very best F1 has ever seen. But this year he might just prove that he will end as the GOAT.

To fight back from such a deficit in a car that is clearly inferior to the McLaren package should be impossible.

Yes, the result of the Las Vegas race was fortunate for Verstappen, but it is down to him that he is even in a position to benefit from such circumstances.

And the Red Bull driver is turning the 2025 season into another all-time classic, four years after he found himself at the centre of one of the most dramatic endings to an F1 season ever when he got the better of Lewis Hamilton on the final day of racing in Abu Dhabi.

Hamilton and Michael Schumacher are considered the two main all-time F1 greats, with the duo both winning a joint-record seven world titles. Verstappen, meanwhile, is also held in the highest esteem after claiming the last four titles.

If the Dutchman somehow manages to win a fifth this year against the odds, he should be held in higher regard than both Hamilton and Schumacher in the GOAT debate due to the magnitude of the achievement. And he would still have plenty of time to move beyond the pair and set his own record in the all-time title standings.