Red Bull's Resurgence Catches Everyone Off Guard, Verstappen Eyes Runner-Up Spot

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Red Bull's Resurgence Catches Everyone Off Guard, Verstappen Eyes Runner-Up Spot

Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing are absolutely flying right now, and honestly, nobody saw this coming just a few weeks ago. The Dutchman's been on a proper winning streak, taking a dominant one-two in both the Sprint and Grand Prix races in Singapore after already nabbing the Bahrain Grand Prix the week before in Malaysia. It's the kind of form that gets you talking because Red Bull looked like they were struggling not that long ago.

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Former F1 driver and ServusTV pundit Christian Klien reckons Red Bull's turnaround is genuinely impressive. He says the team's shown they can perform well across different types of circuits since their upgrade in Baku, where Verstappen actually had the pace to win but didn't quite get the job done. Since then though, it's been all systems go. The points total tells the story, really: Verstappen's scored more points since Monza than championship leader Kimi Antonelli from Mercedes, which is mental when you think about where everyone stood not long ago.

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The title's basically gone to Kimi Antonelli, barring some absolute chaos between now and the end of the season. The Mercedes driver's got his first mathematical chance to seal it this weekend in Austin. But the runners-up spot? That's still wide open and it's absolutely brutal. George Russell sits second on 238 points with Lewis Hamilton third on 229. Verstappen's in fourth with 221 points, just seven behind, and there's a five-way battle happening with Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris also in the mix.

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While the runners-up spot might seem a bit of a participation trophy to outsiders, Klien reckons there's real honor in it plus the constructor's championship implications. McLaren's currently leading that battle by just seven points over Red Bull, while Ferrari sits comfortably second. The constructor's championship brings serious money and internal bonuses, so don't be fooled by how it might look from the outside. For ambitious drivers and teams, every single point matters now.

Shop the collection: Max Verstappen merch  •  Lando Norris merch  •  Charles Leclerc merch  •  Lewis Hamilton merch  •  George Russell merch  •  Kimi Antonelli merch  •  McLaren merch  •  Scuderia Ferrari merch  •  Red Bull Racing merch  •  Mercedes-AMG merch

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