Eight rounds remain in the 2026 season, and the championship has become a purely internal Mercedes affair between Kimi Antonelli and George Russell, separated by 66 points. The problem for both of them: Max Verstappen hasn’t gone anywhere.

Red Bull is still winless this year and running the fourth-fastest car on average, yet Verstappen holds the most podiums (seven) of any non-Mercedes driver, five of them coming in the last six races. In Baku he finished within two tenths of Russell’s win, and an upgrade package — new floor, diffuser and sidepods — finally clicked, putting both Red Bull cars on the podium together for the first time in over two years.

The parallel to 2016 is hard to ignore. A 19-year-old Verstappen disrupted the Nico Rosberg-Lewis Hamilton title fight that year, passing Rosberg in three of the final four races. ‘My god, having him around in the races! The risk of a DNF for myself, it increases like tenfold,’ Rosberg said at the time.

The playbook now looks familiar: aggressive moves at restarts and on opening laps where he has nothing to lose, exceptional wet-weather pace with 2026 yet to see a single rain race, and track-specific strengths at Las Vegas and Mexico City still to come. Mercedes may be fighting itself for the title — but it shouldn’t forget who’s lurking.

Source: Sky Sports F1 (https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/13592609/how-max-verstappen-can-disrupt-kimi-antonelli-george-russell-title-fight-in-remainder-of-2026-formula-1-season)