There’s no doubt that McLaren has been the favorite for the F1 2025 championship sweep, but that hasn’t stopped Max Verstappen from snagging wins and staying hot on their tails.

However, the chase must be decided in someone’s favor at some point — and F1 2016 World Champion turned Sky Sports pundit Nico Rosberg thinks Spain will be ‘decisive’ for Verstappen’s hopes of a fifth consecutive title.

Why Spain is ‘decisive’ for Max Verstappen’s championship

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Ever since an update at the 2024 Miami Grand Prix transformed McLaren into a shock competitor for the Formula 1 World Championship, Max Verstappen’s days at the top of the driver standings were numbered.

While the Dutch driver held onto his title through the end of 2024, Lando Norris’ win at 2025’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix saw Verstappen knocked from the top of the charts. McLaren has been strong, while Red Bull’s RB21 has been a handful.

Nevertheless, as his teammates struggle to find their footing, Max Verstappen has stayed within striking distance of his rivals. He’s a mere 25 points in arrears of leader Oscar Piastri, 22 behind Norris, thanks in large part to two victories and a slew of strong finishes.

That in and of itself is massively impressive to 2016 Champion Nico Rosberg.

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Speaking about the reigning champion on Sky Sports F1, Rosberg said, “I’ve said now for a while that he’s moved himself into the top-five greatest of all time in this sport alongside Lewis [Hamilton], [Michael] Schumacher, [Ayrton] Senna and [Juan Manuel] Fangio, and he’s showing it again this year, because the car has not been very good at all, and yet he’s still in the championship fight and taking wins off that McLaren.

“Phenomenal job by Verstappen so far.”

Rosberg continued later to say, “Great to see that Max Verstappen is still in the hunt there at the front with the two McLaren drivers, just hanging in there.

“This weekend is going to be decisive for his championship hopes also. So we’re looking forward to seeing how he gets on.”

While there are still plenty of races remaining on the F1 2025 calendar, recent history has shown that drivers who are able to amass a strong points lead early on can be difficult to unseat later in the year.

Further, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is often regarded as one of the most ‘representative’ tracks on the Formula 1 calendar, in the sense that it provides a variety of corner types that affords insight into how cars will perform at upcoming race tracks.

Max Verstappen himself isn’t quite as convinced that Barcelona will serve as a measure of the remainder of 2025.

Speaking to media, including PlanetF1.com, on Thursday, Verstappen was asked if he felt Barcelona will tell us more about the championship development, to which he replied, “Possibly yes, possibly not.

“I mean, I know that our car is not good in low speed and street circuits. That’s a fact. That will stay also after Barcelona, you know.

“So I don’t think Barcelona is suddenly the one that you can say, like, ‘Oh, this is now where you lose it or win it.’ I don’t think you can say that.”

Still, Barcelona will be critical for Verstappen. The longer he can remain in striking distance of the McLaren duo, the better.

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