Max Verstappen fell to his biggest championship deficit in 1,148 days after finishing the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix in just P10, as Oscar Piastri of McLaren won from pole.
The Red Bull star trails Piastri by 49 points in the F1 drivers’ championship after nine rounds. It is the largest deficit that Verstappen has had to first place since he left the 2022 Australian Grand Prix down in only sixth place and also trailing Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc by 46 points.
Verstappen has not even had a greater deficit in the championship than his current 49-point margin since finishing the 2020 season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 133 points from Lewis Hamilton. The 2020 term was also the most recent year when Verstappen did not win a title.
But Verstappen matching Michael Schumacher as the only drivers to take five titles in a row in the 2025 F1 season is now firmly at risk. McLaren ace Lando Norris dethroned Verstappen for the first time in 1,029 days at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix and he is still yet to recover.
Max Verstappen has a ‘strange’ habit of failing to back up a podium with another rostrum
Michael Bleekemolen also thinks the 27-year-old has developed a ‘strange’ habit that could cost him the drivers’ title, beyond the 11 points he threw away when Verstappen drove into George Russell in the Spanish GP. He received a 10-second penalty to slip from P4 into P10.
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| ROUND | CHAMPIONSHIP LEADER | MAX VERSTAPPEN’S DEFICIT |
| Australian GP | Lando Norris (25 points) | 7 points |
| Chinese GP | Lando Norris (44 points) | 8 points |
| Japanese GP | Lando Norris (62 points) | 1 point |
| Bahrain GP | Lando Norris (77 points) | 8 points |
| Saudi Arabian GP | Oscar Piastri (99 points) | 12 points |
| Miami GP | Oscar Piastri (131 points) | 32 points |
| Emilia Romagna GP | Oscar Piastri (146 points) | 22 points |
| Monaco GP | Oscar Piastri (161 points) | 25 points |
| Spanish GP | Oscar Piastri (186 points) | 49 points |
Bleekemolen thinks Verstappen may pay the price for his inability to back up race wins with another high-scoring finish so far this season. The 65-time Grand Prix winner has taken two wins and four podiums, but he has not made the rostrum in back-to-back rounds for a year.
“Ultimately, they don’t like a third position,” Bleekemolen told RacingNews365. “But, in the end, it’s always impressive. But it’s strange that he wins a race and then drops back again.
“It’s also a matter of adjusting everything and an accumulation of all kinds of factors that make a car fast. And probably the basis of the car is no longer what it should be, compared to the McLaren.”
Max Verstappen has not secured back-to-back Grand Prix podiums since the 2024 Canadian GP and Spanish GP
Verstappen has not taken podium results in back-to-back Grands Prix since the Red Bull star won the Canadian GP and Spanish GP in June last year. He has since failed to back up a top-three finish with another podium in 23 races, including failing to make the rostrum 13 times.
| Position | Drivers’ Championship | Points |
| 1 |
Oscar Piastri |
186 |
| 2 |
Lando Norris |
176 |
| 3 |
Max Verstappen |
137 |
Leclerc punishing Verstappen’s poor safety car restart in Spain to claim third place on Lap 61 of 66 also ensured he failed to back up a podium with another rostrum for the first time this year. Verstappen has ended this term’s Grands Prix in P2, P4, P1, P6, P2, P4, P1, P4 and P10.
No driver has finished all nine of the first Grands Prix this season on the podium, with Norris and Piastri taking the most with their eight. Norris has only missed out on a podium with his P4 in the Saudi Arabian GP, and Piastri came P9 in the Australian GP after he spun whilst P2.
