It's been a very Max Verstappen-like performance throughout the 2026 Formula 1 season for the driver once dubbed the "next Max Verstappen".
And it doesn't seem like all that long ago when he was mocked for having been given that distinction.
While he hasn't mathematically clinched the world championship yet, Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli owns a 123-point lead over teammate George Russell and a 124-point lead over Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton with five races (up to 125 points) remaining on this year's schedule.
Antonelli earned his ninth win of the season in Sunday's United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas and is well on his way to becoming the first driver to win a world championship after entering a season with zero career wins since Keke Rosberg in 1982.
Max Verstappen eliminated at COTA with five races left
And while Russell and Hamilton are still mathematically in the fight, that can no longer be said for Verstappen, who fell from 119 points behind to 129 points behind with his third place finish on Sunday.
It marks Verstappen's earliest elimination from Formula 1 world championship contention since 2018, and it's tied for his earliest since 2017.
Verstappen won the world championship each year from 2021 to 2024, clinching before the season finale each year from 2022 to 2024, and he missed out by just two points to Lando Norris in the 2025 season finale.
In 2020, he was eliminated by Lewis Hamilton when Hamilton won at Imola, a result that left Verstappen 120 points behind with four races remaining on the calendar. In 2019, he was eliminated by Hamilton's third place finish at Suzuka Circuit, leaving him 126 points behind with four races left.
In 2018, Verstappen was eliminated with five races remaining, just as he was this year. He fell to 148 points behind Hamilton when Hamilton won in Sochi.
The 2017 season remains the most recent season in which Verstappen was eliminated with more than five races left, and that hasn't changed this year. With six races remaining, he fell to 195 points behind Hamilton with Hamilton's win in Singapore, in the race that featured Verstappen's infamous opening-turn three-car wreck with Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel.
Despite being eliminated from title contention this year, Verstappen's run of six straight podium finishes, including two victories that extended his win streak to 11 seasons, has the 29-year-old Dutchman suddenly positioned with a very real chance of finishing second, which would have seemed like a pipe dream after how the season's first four months went for him and Red Bull as a whole.
Just nine points separate Russell in second from Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in fifth, with Verstappen sitting only six points behind Russell in fourth after having outscored him 124-59 over the six most recent Grand Prix weekends. Verstappen has even managed to outscore Antonelli by one point over that stretch.
The 19th race on the 23-race 2026 Formula 1 schedule is the Mexico City Grand Prix, which is set to be shown live on Apple TV from Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez beginning at 2:55 p.m. ET on Sunday, November 1.
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