Jos Verstappen believes Las Vegas saw McLaren pay the price for an unnecessary gamble.

With both its drivers disqualified, and the FIA insisting that the rules breach was unintentional, McLaren has bitten the bullet and accepted that the 2025 drivers' title is at risk.

Jos Verstappen, father of four-time world champion Max, believes the Woking team took a huge, unnecessary risk at the weekend.

"This is a big mistake from McLaren, a huge blunder," says the former F1 driver, according to F1i.com.

"Why would you push so much on the limit?" he continues. "Maybe it really was an error, but maybe the car just works less well otherwise and they have to do this."

As talk of a possible investigation spread on social media, Jos clams that Max was already aware of the breach and the likely outcome.

"I spoke to Max briefly before he left, he already knew then that they would be disqualified," he admits, confirming claims that other drivers had noticed Lando Norris' dramatic lack of pace in the final two laps, which suggested either a fuel issue or concern at excessive plank wear.

"The pressure at McLaren is now enormous and they will feel it," says Jos, in a masterpiece of understatement. "It's still the case that if Max wins the remaining races and Norris finishes second every time, then Norris becomes world champion. But Oscar Piastri is still there as well, and he won't be too happy at the moment either."

And just in case Oscar is happy, Jos lobs a grenade into the pot.

"You can clearly see a difference between the two McLarens on track," he suggests, "how they go through the corners. One slides, the other doesn't, and that raises questions.

"In any case, it's going to be an incredibly exciting end to the season, and for Max everything has to fall into place. But he still has nothing to lose and can go all-out. And he will."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by ffracer, 26/11/2025 7:44

"Absolutely, what a classic psych job. 'Jos the boss' at his intimidating, bullying best. One nasty remark from another bar room brawl.

"

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2. Posted by Celtic Tiger, 25/11/2025 23:29

"@Dirt - You could be right. From the outside I just find it all very strange that Piastri has suddenly gone from Hercules to Sisyphus."

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3. Posted by Obsidian, 25/11/2025 18:25

"I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, lol, but yeah I am pretty sure McLaren has manipulated their cars in Lando's favor. As sensitive as these cars are to setup changes, it would not take much.

If so, I very much hope it comes back to bite them and Max takes the title."

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4. Posted by dejan, 25/11/2025 18:08

"The most recent 3-way final race championship was 2010 - VET/ALO/WEB

Vettel was behind the two with a race to go, however when Webber pitted, Alonso also pitted to cover and then could not overtake Petrov - might have lost the championship even if overtaking quickly (from what I remember of that last race) but that definitely didn't help much.

https://www.pitpass.com/src/seasons/2010/championship/driverschampionship.php"

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5. Posted by Dirt, 25/11/2025 16:51

"@ Celtic Tiger: The sliding could be as simple as setup preference on differential locking. One prefers a relatively open diff for predictability when traction breaks, one prefers a relatively locked diff that's more tail happy but grips up for better traction out of low speed corners. "

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6. Posted by Celtic Tiger, 25/11/2025 16:47

"Any other time I would advise Jos to go huddle by the fireplace with a big steamy mug of STFU but on the rear sliding on car #2 that Jos points out, I had noticed the same thing. That said, whatever is going on, it doesn't take away from the fact that Norris has been getting the job done and it's his championship to lose now. Max has missile lock on Norris and Piastri went really well in Qatar last year winning the sprint and coming third so whatever fire Jos is trying to light here will be quickly smothered by the weight of more important concerns for Lando & Co. this coming weekend. "

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7. Posted by Alex_V10_USA, 25/11/2025 14:57

"Only two other 3-way title fights this century and the last was almost 20 years ago.. (RAI/HAM/ALO in 2007 V8 era and the epic 2003 V10 season with RAI/MSC/JPM)

Who cares, just pass the popcorn! "

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8. Posted by Superbird70, 25/11/2025 13:09

"Not a big Jos fan, but this is a masterclass psyche-job. Way to twist the knife."

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9. Posted by KKK, 25/11/2025 12:41

"Jos should keep his mouth firmly shut. Who cares what he thinks anyway?"

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Jos stirs the pot

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