Max Verstappen earns major support in five-time F1 champion bid

Max Verstappen has been given fervent backing in his bid to become
a five-time F1 champion this year. Back-to-back grand prix
victories for the first time in 15 months have propelled the Red
Bull driver back into a title fight with McLaren duo Oscar Piastri
and Lando Norris that he appeared to have no hope of just over
three weeks ago. After finishing second behind Piastri in his home
race in the Netherlands, Verstappen trailed the Australian by 104
points. But wins in the last two races in Italy and Azerbaijan,
coupled, in particular, with Piastri crashing out at the Baku City
Circuit, have seen the Dutch driver slash 35 points out of his
rival's advantage to cut the gap to 69 points. Norris, meanwhile,
is only 44 points ahead of Verstappen after failing to take
advantage of Piastri's travails in Baku, whilst he is 25 behind his
McLaren team-mate. Whilst history would suggest that Verstappen's
task of overhauling both drivers seems improbable, with 199 points
still on the table from the remaining seven grands prix and three
sprints, it means anything is possible. It led to us here at
RacingNews365 to ask you, our loyal readers, whether you now felt
the battle for this season's F1 title was a three-way scrap, or
whether that was fanciful, and it was still a fight between the
McLaren boys. You voted in your thousands, and the majority
verdict, with 53.3% of the vote, agreed that Verstappen was now
firmly in the hunt, as opposed to 43% who said it was strictly
between Piastri and Norris. The remaining 4.7% were unsure. Come on
guys, get off the fence. Anyway, thank you for voting as always. It
is very much appreciated.