Max Verstappen only finished three corners at the 2025 Austrian GP. It was his worst weekend of the season. It was also one of the unluckiest race weekends of his career. The Dutchman was already well behind the McLaren drivers in the drivers’ standings. But his DNF at the Red Bull Ring has put him even further behind. So let’s discover the effect his DNF has had on his 2025 title hopes.
How does the Austrian GP DNF affect Max Verstappen’s 2025 title hopes?
Max Verstappen is very clearly in an inferior car to the McLaren this year. Coming into Austria, the defending world champion was already 43 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri. He was also 21 points behind Lando Norris in second.
So the Red Bull needed to have a good weekend at his team’s home race. But the exact opposite happened. Firstly, he got unlucky when a yellow flag interrupted his final run in Q3, meaning he started seventh. Then, he was taken out by Kimi Antonelli in lap one turn three, ending his race then and there.
To make matters worse, his direct title rivals finished first and second. This means Norris scored 25 points more than Verstappen, while Piastri added 18 to his tally. Now, the 4x world champion sits 61 points behind the championship leader.
This would be a significant margin to overcome even if Verstappen was in the quickest car. But with McLaren not showing any signs of slowing down, Verstappen now has more than just a mountain to climb if he is to claim his fifth world title.
The Dutch driver had already branded a championship bid as “unrealistic” recently. But after the points swing in Austria, his words may mean more than just mind games.
What Max Verstappen said about Austrian GP crash with Kimi Antonelli
While Max Verstappen was angry over the team radio after Kimi Antonelli crashed into him turn 3 on the first lap. But the Dutchman seemed calmer while talking to the Italian rookie after getting out of the car. After the race, Verstappen was also very understanding, and treated the incident as water under the bridge.
“Unlucky, I guess. It is what it is. I spoke quickly to Kimi, he came with me to the hospitality. I think every driver has made a mistake like that. No one does that on purpose as well so for me, that’s not a big deal.” said Verstappen. [via F1.com]
Speaking about his race weekend as whole, Verstappen simply branded it as “unlucky”.
“It was not the weekend that I guess we hoped for pace wise. Then of course we were a little bit unlucky in Qualifying with that yellow flag, otherwise you start a bit further ahead. Then the race was unlucky again. Sometimes you have those weekends.”
It is safe to say that it would take a miracle from now on for Verstappen to win the championship this year. That said, a window of opportunity could open again if the two McLaren drivers have an incident in the future, resulting in a double-DNF.
But for now, Verstappen is actually under more pressure from behind, with George Russell sitting just 9 points away in P4.
