'Mad Max' Verstappen is famous for his ruthlessness. But it's his recklessness that could define the F1 championship

Max Verstappen is a force to be reckoned with when fighting for a F1 drivers' championship.

He has four titles to his name, a record-breaking amount of wins in a single season and not an ounce of track to give his opponents on the road.

His ruthlessness has ruffled feathers over the years and he rarely makes apologies when he crosses the line to recklessness. The fine line he walks between those two hard to distinguish forms of driving could now define the 2025 drivers' championship and his looming shadow is undoubtedly unsettling for Lando Norris, Australian Oscar Piastri and the whole McLaren garage.

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In Mexico, Verstappen was four-wide going into the first corner and knocked wheels with Charles Leclerc, sending him off the left hand side of the track.

F1 pundit Martin Brundle made the claim that the move was premeditated by the Dutchman to cut the corner.

"You can see Max accelerate," he said.

"Really skilful driving through the grass, I must say. But Max made no effort whatsoever to take turns one, two or three, and that should have been a penalty.

"Max took the risk on the outside, knowing full well he could just bury the throttle and carry on.

"The sort of thing if the fireproof boot had been on the other foot, Max would have been screaming about on the radio, saying he had no intention of making that corner. He didn't.

"I might even have given somebody doing what Max did, a drive-through, as a proper deterrent to stop the silliness, because then it all gets chaotic.

"I completely can understand those drivers that were minding their business actually staying on the racetrack, going like, 'Well, hang on, I'm losing out here. I might as well have just made my own race track up in the first few corners and gain some places'."

Max's dominance in the final races

As we enter the final four races of the season, Verstappen's dominance seems to build exponentially.

The Red Bull driver has scored a hefty 116 points in the last five races, in comparison to Piastri who has only managed a measly 47 since Italy and lost out to his teammate for the lead.

And he's hunting for more as he is only 36 points shy of the championship lead.

At the final four tracks of the year, Verstappen totals 10 career wins.

In Brazil, he has won three times, Las Vegas once, Saudi Arabia twice and Abu Dhabi four times.

Abu Dhabi is a track that has served the Red Bull driver particularly well.

In 2023, he signed off the most dominant season for a Formula 1 driver ever and handed Red Bull a winning percentage of 95.4 per cent.

At Yas Marina Circuit, scoring pole will be crucial as for the past 10 seasons, the polesitter has won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

So if Piastri, Norris and Verstappen are all tangled up in a championship battle, whoever comes out flying on Saturday may take the title.

Here's some instances of 'Mad Max' Verstappen's bold moves that have caused waves in the sport.

2018 Brazil

The beginnings of the 'Mad Max' nickname.

On lap 44 of the 2018 Brazil Grand Prix, backmarker Esteban Ocon tagged Verstappen, who was the race leader at the time and cost him the race.

The two tangled and Ocon sent Verstappen into a spin, but it was an incident afterwards that sent the two drivers to the stewards.

Verstappen stormed up to the then-Force India driver in the FIA garage as the Frenchman was participating in post-race weight checks and shoved Ocon in the chest multiple times.

The stewards called the two to explain their 'physical contact' after reviewing CCTV footage from within the garage and Verstappen was handed two days of community service.

They decided that Verstappen had "started an altercation" before "pushing or hitting Ocon forcefully several times in the chest."

2024 Hungary

It is not only drivers that have fallen victim to Verstappen's harsh words.

In Hungary 2024, Verstappen fumed over his radio to his race engineer after he deliberately ignored orders to gradually bring his tyres up to temperature.

In the race, Piastri took his first F1 win as his teammate came home in second after obeying team orders to let the quicker Australian through.

Verstappen was undercut by Hamilton and Leclerc and felt he was racing a lost battle - snapping at his team for their dismal strategy.

"Well, that's some gentle introduction," Lambiase radioed sarcastically when Verstappen rapidly tore rubber off his tyres chasing the front runners.

"No, don't give me that bullshit now," Verstappen spat back.

"You guys give me the f---ing strategy, okay? I'm trying to rescue what's left, for f---'s sake."

2025 Saudi Arabia

Verstappen found himself worse off in an opening battle with Piastri in Jeddah this year, the two nose-to-nose going into turn one.

As Verstappen cut through the run-off at the opening complex, the McLaren driver seized the apex into the left-hander as his Red Bull rival attempted to hang on around the outside.

Verstappen eventually bailed out, trying his hand at running off the track and cutting behind the apex of turn two to retain the race lead.

Investigated by the stewards, Verstappen was handed a five-second penalty for the incident.

"Ordinarily, the baseline penalty for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage is 10 seconds," the stewards said.

"However, given that this was lap one and turn one incident, we considered that to be a mitigating circumstance and imposed a 5 second time penalty instead."

2024 Abu Dhabi

Piastri and Verstappen had an earlier tangle in the season finale of 2024 as the two collided on the opening lap.

This left Norris to take the eventual victory. It was deemed an "unnecessary" lunge from Verstappen took him out of contention.

Paddock figures called the move "unfair" of Verstappen, arguing that Verstappen was fighting for the sake of getting in drivers' way.

"It's so unfair of Max wasn't it," Brundle said.

"They are not in the championship. He's won his championship.

"To put such a risky move, I know it's the first lap of a grand prix, there was a gap, Piastri, would he know he would lunge like that?"

2021 championship - battle for the ages

The 2021 F1 title battle was a 'win at all cost' mentality for both drivers in the fight.

Wheel to wheel skirmishes headlined each race, the British Grand Prix saw the catalyst as Hamilton's ambitious move sent Verstappen flying into the barriers at Copse corner.

After that, the claws were out.

The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix saw procedural dramas between the two as Verstappen brake-checked the Mercedes driver to make contact, highlighting the desperation between the two going into the finale level on points.

Although memorable, this season's fight was one that divided the sport on Verstappen's bold moves and relentless drive.

2017 United States

Verstappen decided to cut turn 17 on the final lap of the 2017 United States Grand Prix to pass Ferrari's Kimi Raikonnen.

He was penalised five seconds for the passing move and "gaining an advantage", his team calling it an "appalling" decision.

Verstappen said, "Consistency is lacking and understanding racing. They [The FIA] do understand how to kill the sport."

He had fought from 16th on the grid to the final podium step, but the stewards believed his bold move on the final lap, where all four wheels of his Red Bull dipped of the track, was cause for a penalty.