WOKING: If four-time world champion Max Verstappen were to quit Formula One, as he has hinted on numerous occasions, it would be a &quot;big loss&quot; for the sport, his McLaren rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri said on Wednesday. The 28-year-old Dutchman, who won four consecutive titles from 2021 to 2024 and narrowly missed a fifth last season, has struggled at the start of this campaign with Red Bull against Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren. Verstappen has repeatedly voiced his frustration at the sport&#39;s sweeping 2026 rules overhaul, which places greater emphasis on electric energy management in qualifying and races, as well as limiting car speeds. &quot;I think it would be a big loss for the sport as a whole. I think for us as drivers we want to race against the best and try and prove ourselves against the best,&quot; said Piastri. The 25-year-old Australian said Verstappen had &quot;shown his calibre in the last 10 years&quot; and added that the Dutchman had been the benchmark &quot;for the last five or six.&quot; Norris, the 2025 world champion, believes Verstappen&#39;s exit would leave F1 a poorer place. &quot;It would be a shame for the sport, it would be a miss for the sport if that does happen, because he probably is one of the best drivers you&#39;ll see in Formula One ever,&quot; said Norris. &quot;He&#39;s always been very open to say what he thinks, whether you agree or not.&quot; Verstappen has openly criticised his Red Bull car and likened the direction of F1 to &quot;Formula E on steroids&quot; or the video game &quot;Mario Kart.&quot; At last month&#39;s Japanese Grand Prix, he spoke of wanting to spend more time with his family and has increasingly turned his attention to endurance racing.

Racing

Verstappen has openly criticised his Red Bull car and likened the direction of F1 to "Formula E on steroids" or the video game "Mario Kart".



'Big loss' for F1 if Verstappen quits, say McLaren rivals 

SUZUKA:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/verstappen-wins-qatar-gp-to-set-up-final-race-title-showdown" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Max Verstappen</a>&nbsp;says that the Japanese Grand Prix is one of his favorite races, but his chances of a fifth straight victory at the weekend look vanishingly slim as his Red Bull struggles with Formula One&#39;s sweeping new regulations. Mercedes drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli will carry their early dominance into Suzuka, with Ferrari&#39;s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton their nearest challengers. Red Bull and Verstappen are scrambling to recover from a disastrous start to the Formula One season, as is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/george-russell-wins-singapore-grand-prix-mclaren-take-constructors-title" target="_blank">McLaren,</a>&nbsp;whose drivers &ndash; world champion Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri &ndash; both failed to start in China with separate technical problems. Verstappen, the four-time world champion, finished sixth in the opening grand prix in Australia after crashing in qualifying. He then limped home ninth and out of the points in the Shanghai sprint before retiring from the main race. Verstappen has raged against the 2026 regulations and new car designs, branding them &quot;anti-racing&quot; and likening them to the Mario Kart video game with their electrical boost and overtake modes. The Dutchman sought a change of scenery by competing at a four-hour race in Germany last weekend, but even that did not lift his gloom as he was disqualified after winning. Verstappen has been unbeaten in Japan for the past four years and he clinched his second world title there in 2022. His problems in China, where he was ordered to retire on lap 46 of the grand prix because of a cooling issue, suggest his Suzuka dominance could end on Sunday. &quot;Getting on top of our problems is not easy,&quot; Verstappen said in Shanghai. &quot;It would help if we would just have a normal start &ndash; I&#39;ve been every time dropping to last.&quot; Antonelli breakthrough Verstappen&#39;s struggles are in stark contrast to the flying start enjoyed by Mercedes, which secured one-two finishes at both grands prix so far. Championship leader Russell triumphed in Australia, and 19-year-old Antonelli picked up the first win of his fledgling career in China. Russell took the chequered flag in the Shanghai sprint, and Mercedes will target a Suzuka triumph for the first time since Valtteri Bottas won in 2019. Antonelli, who became the youngest pole-sitter in Formula One history in Shanghai and the second-youngest race winner after Verstappen, was given a hero&#39;s welcome when he returned to his native Bologna in Italy. The win had &quot;removed a bit of weight from my shoulders&quot;, said Antonellii. &quot;It&#39;s the kind of result which gives you strength and more awareness of what you can do.&quot; McLaren have endured a nightmare start to the campaign under the new regulations, which require battery management and energy harvesting with a 50-50 split between conventional and electrical power. Defending champion Norris, who complained his car &quot;sucks&quot;, is 36 points behind Russell while&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/titlechasing-piastri-takes-pole-for-qatar-grand-prix" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Piastri</a>&nbsp;is yet to take part in a grand prix this season after he crashed on his way to the grid in Melbourne. &quot;We just have to take it on the chin, learn what the problem was and make sure it never happens again,&quot; Norris said in Shanghai. &quot;All of us want to go racing and score points.&quot; The teams will have time to regroup after Suzuka, as there will be a five-week gap until the Miami GP, as the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia races were cancelled because of the war in the Middle East.

Winner Mercedes' Italian driver Kimi Antonelli celebrates on the podium after the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai on March 15, 2026. (AFP)

Red Bull and Verstappen are scrambling to recover from a disastrous start to the Formula One season, as are McLaren whose drivers – world champion Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri – both failed to start in China with separate technical problems.

Verstappen's Japan GP win streak under threat as Mercedes dominate

ISLAMABAD: Oscar Piastri grabbed pole position for the penultimate race of the Formula One season when he edged team-mate and title rival Lando Norris as time expired in Saturday&#39;s qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix. Piastri had cut Norris&#39;s lead in the championship to 22 points by winning the sprint race earlier in the day. Red Bull&#39;s Max Verstappen, the only other driver who could win the title, qualified third. The defending champion is 25 points behind Norris. George Russell was fourth in a Mercedes. Norris took an early grip on the final qualifying session, which was then interrupted after Carlos Sainz came out of the pits with plastic wrapping around one of the tyres on his Williams and it peeled off on a corner. At the re-start, the drivers had enough time for a flying lap, but Norris abandoned after starting badly. &quot;I just had a bit of understeer and was going to go off so I had to abort,&quot; said Norris. &quot;Which was a shame, but it&#39;s the way that it is.&quot; Piastri made the most of his opening. &quot;That was mega,&quot; the Australian shouted into his radio. The fastest qualifier has won all three previous Qatar Grand Prix, although in 2024, Max Verstappen incurred a penalty in Q3, was demoted to second on the grid but won anyway. Norris said he believed he had a chance. &quot;You never know. The first couple of laps are always opportunities for everyone but after there I think it&#39;s probably going to be pretty straightforward for everyone too,&quot; he said. Piastri, who needs to finish ahead of Norris to take the title race to the wire, said he was looking forward to it. &quot;It will be a tough race. Hard work but incredibly fun,&quot; he said. Earlier, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton continued to struggle, posting the 18th fastest time in his Ferrari in the 20-car first qualifying session and failing to advance. It was his fifth straight early exit in qualifying.

Oscar Piastri claimed pole for the Qatar Grand Prix, edging Lando Norris. Max Verstappen qualified third, while Lewis Hamilton failed to advance, finishing 18th.

Title-chasing Piastri takes pole for Qatar Grand Prix

AUSTIN:&nbsp;Max Verstappen made it clear that he is chasing a spectacular fifth world title after reeling off his third win in four races with a masterclass in Sunday&#39;s sizzling United States Grand Prix. After avoiding direct comment on the championship for several weeks, Red Bull&#39;s four-time champion said he felt sure he now has a real chance of snatching the title from the grasp of McLaren&#39;s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. Boosted by cutting Piastri&#39;s advantage to 40 points with five Grands Prix remaining, including two more sprint races, a buoyant Verstappen called for Red Bull to maintain their momentum. &quot;Yeah, for sure, the chance is there,&quot; he said. &quot;We just need to try and deliver these weekends until the end. We will try whatever we can.&quot; After winning both Saturday&#39;s sprint and Sunday&#39;s Grand Prix race, Verstappen has 306 points in the title race, in third place, leaving Piastri on top with 346 points and Norris on 332. McLaren have already won the constructors&#39; title for the second consecutive year, but have focussed on preparing for 2026 and stopped introducing updates to their car for this year &mdash; leaving their drivers nervously scrambling to keep their title bids on track. The 28-year-old Dutchman has now collected 119 points from a possible 135 over the last five Grand Prix weekends &mdash; a run that has also coincided with improvements in form from both Mercedes and Ferrari. Verstappen added, &quot;It was an unbelievable weekend for us. I knew that the race was not going to be super straightforward, and I think, if you look at the whole race, the pace between me and Lando was really close. &quot;I think the first stint is where we made the difference. I could eek out a little bit of a gap, and that is basically what we kept until the end.&quot; He added, &quot;I am incredibly proud of everyone for delivering a weekend like this, and now we just have to keep the momentum.&quot; Verstappen&#39;s late-season charge has prompted memories of the 2007 season when Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari went into the final race in Brazil trailing both McLaren drivers, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, but emerged as champion.

Red Bull's four-time champion reignited his title hopes with victory at the US Grand Prix, closing in on McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris as he targets a fifth world championship with five races remaining.

Verstappen gunning for fifth world title

AUSTIN: Red Bull&#39;s Max Verstappen cruised to an easy victory Saturday in a crash-filled United States Grand Prix sprint race that saw McLaren teammates and championship leaders Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris both knocked out in the first turn when their cars collided.&nbsp;The loss of both McLaren cars early that could have a huge impact on the season championship as McLaren mechanics now face the challenge of fixing both cars before qualifying for the main event.&nbsp;Verstappen started Saturday&rsquo;s sprint on pole with Norris second and Piastri third. Kick Sauber&rsquo;s Nico Hulkenberg tried to make a dive under Piastri into the first corner and instead bumped cars and sent Piastri crashing into Norris.&nbsp;Norris&rsquo; car spun and bounced, and a rear wheel was knocked off. Piastri&rsquo;s car suffered suspension damage.&nbsp;A late-race crash between Aston Martin&rsquo;s Lance Stroll and Haas driver Esteban Ocon forced the 19-lap event to finish behind a safety car.&nbsp;The result allows Verstappen, who is making a late-season charge at a possible fifth consecutive Formula 1 championship, to pull within 55 points of leader Piastri with six grand prix and two more sprint races on the season.&nbsp;Because both McLarens were taken out of the race, Piastri maintains his 22-point lead over Norris. Both drivers are chasing their first season championship.&nbsp;It was the second straight race with contact between the two McLarens. They nearly crashed in Singapore when Norris bumped tires with Piastri on the opening lap.

Max Verstappen dominated the United States Grand Prix sprint after McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris collided on the first lap. The crash ended both drivers’ races and dented McLaren’s title hopes ahead of Sunday’s main event.

Verstappen wins dramatic US Grand Prix sprint, McLarens crash

Reuters

SINGAPORE: George Russell drove a flawless race from pole position to win the Singapore Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday ahead of Red Bull&#39;s world champion Max Verstappen. Briton Russell took the chequered flag under the lights of the Marina Bay street circuit 5.4 seconds clear of Verstappen to claim his second victory of the season. Lando Norris put pressure on Verstappen towards the end of the race but had to settle for third ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri, the pair earning enough points to seal a second consecutive constructors&#39; title for McLaren. Piastri&#39;s lead over Briton Norris in the drivers&#39; standings was cut to 22 points, while Verstappen is 63 points behind the Australian with six races remaining in the season. The celebrations for the constructors&#39; title in the McLaren garage might be muted, however, with Piastri fuming at the way Norris forced his way past his teammate on the opening corner. Kimi Antonelli was a distant fifth in the other Mercedes with Charles Leclerc sixth ahead of his Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton. Fernando Alonso was eighth for Aston Martin, while Haas driver Oliver Bearman and Carlos Sainz, who started at the back of the grid after the Williams cars were disqualified from qualifying, took the final points in ninth and 10th. Russell got away to a clean start from pole with Verstappen behind him but Norris, who started fifth, clipped the back of the Dutchman&#39;s Red Bull as he forced his way up the inside of Piastri on the first corner. Norris sustained some damage to the front end of his car and Piastri expressed his discontent on the team radio at his teammate&#39;s manoeuvre, accusing the Briton of &quot;barging him out of the way&quot;. The stewards gave the incident the all clear and McLaren said they would look at it after the race with Piastri again railing at what he said was the unfairness of the decision. Verstappen was the first of the leaders to pit and tore around the track to ensure Norris would not be able to undercut him when the Briton changed his tyres seven laps later. Norris asserted his right as McLaren&#39;s lead driver to pit ahead of Piastri, whose discontent with the team would not have been improved by a notably slower stop than his teammate. Verstappen was 3.5 seconds behind Russell at the halfway stage and ended the race clinging on to keep second place from Norris rather than chasing a third straight race win.

October 5, 2025 McLaren celebrate after winning the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship for Constructors (Reuters)

George Russell won the Singapore GP from pole, ahead of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, while McLaren secured their second consecutive constructors' title.

Articles tagged with "Max Verstappen"

'Big loss' for F1 if Verstappen quits, say McLaren rivals

Verstappen's Japan GP win streak under threat as Mercedes dominate

Title-chasing Piastri takes pole for Qatar Grand Prix

Verstappen gunning for fifth world title

Verstappen wins dramatic US Grand Prix sprint, McLarens crash

George Russell wins Singapore Grand Prix, McLaren take constructors' title