Four-time World Champion Max Verstappen will be looking to snatch the lead of this season’s title fight from McLaren’s Lando Norris at Bahrain — and after Japan, it might be possible.

That’s all according to former F1 driver turned Sky Sports pundit Karun Chandhok, who has argued that McLaren may have unintentionally bolstered the Red Bull driver’s hopes.

McLaren’s ‘gift’ to Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen

By winning the 2025’s season opener in Australia, McLaren’s Lando Norris snatched the lead of the World Championship standings away from Max Verstappen for the first time in 1,029 days.

It was a fascinating swing in fortune; the Woking team emerged as a shock contender during the F1 2024 season after Norris’ first-ever Grand Prix victory at Miami, yet even though McLaren took the Constructors’ title, Verstappen never relinquished his grasp on the Drivers’.

Norris’ early lead in the F1 2025 championship signals the early stages of a paradigm shift… but not everyone is confident it will last. Particularly after Verstappen lodged a commanding victory last weekend in Japan.

The new tech at the Bahrain Grand Prix:

👉 Ferrari SF-25 upgrades explained with significant new floor on the list in Bahrain

👉 Uncovered: F1’s latest tech secrets on display at the Bahrain Grand Prix

One such person is Karun Chandhok, a former F1 driver turned prominent pundit at Sky Sports. In fact, he’d go so far as to say McLaren handed Verstappen a gift in Japan.

“I came away from that race a little bit disappointed that McLaren didn’t do something more aggressive strategically,” Chandhok said on Sky after the Japanese GP.

During the event at Suzuka, low-degradation conditions favored the notoriously challenging RB21, and Verstappen was able to take advantage of that in winning the race.

But Chandhok was particularly concerned about the fact that McLaren didn’t do something more exciting.

The papaya team spent the entire race tailing Verstappen. It didn’t put one of its drivers on an over- or undercut pit stop strategy, nor did it give Piastri a shot at chasing down the Red Bull driver by swapping him with Norris.

Thus, Verstappen won without too much of a challenge — and Chandhok was disappointed.

Strategy-wise, he argued that McLaren should “just go really bold, think really big and bold because psychologically, for Max to win that race was powerful for Max and the Red Bull team in the world championship battle.”

We’ve seen it time and again; Verstappen is extremely capable of making the most out of even the most difficult equipment, and when the conditions favor his machinery, he’s unstoppable.

Chandhok has argued that McLaren didn’t really try to stop him, either, which could signal to Red Bull — and to Verstappen — that wins are there for the taking regardless of conditions.

That being said, Red Bull can expect a far more difficult weekend in Bahrain. Tyre degradation is expected to be quite high, and the RB21 already struggles under high-deg conditions. But it would be foolish to underestimate the benefit of a psychological advantage in encouraging a driver like Verstappen to persevere.

Read next: Our bold predictions for the Bahrain Grand Prix