Max Verstappen insists he doesn’t care whether or not he finishes runner-up in this year’s championship as his only priority is securing third place in the Constructors’ Championship for Red Bull.

Verstappen, who is fourth in the Drivers’ standings, is six points behind George Russell, while Red Bull leapfrogged McLaren for P3 in the teams’ standings in Austin. Although the two teams are tied on 355 points, and two wins apiece, though Red Bull is ahead thanks to its four second place finishes versus McLaren’s two.

Max Verstappen prioritises Red Bull’s Constructors’ Championship fight

Red Bull entered the fight for podium finishes in both the F1 2026 drivers’ and constructors’ championships following a late-season surge.

The team looked out of the fight at the Dutch Grand Prix when Verstappen lost control of his RB22 and crashed out on the opening lap of the race.

Verstappen left Zandvoort in sixth place in the standings with just 112 points on the board, 71 points behind Russell in second place.

Red Bull, meanwhile, fell 236 points behind championship leaders and was 76 points adrift of third-placed McLaren.

But one race later, Red Bull’s Monza upgrades put Verstappen on the podium, sparking a run of six successive podium results, including back-to-back wins at the Bahrain and Singapore Grands Prix.

Verstappen’s run of top-three results has seen the four-time world champion move to within six points of Russell in the race to finish runner-up in the championship, with Lewis Hamilton also in the mix, five points ahead of Verstappen.

As for Red Bull, the Milton Keynes team has leapfrogged McLaren for third place.

Verstappen says ensuring his team remains third is his priority as he doesn’t care about the Drivers’ standings unless he’s winning it.

“I don’t really care, because it’s only about first. So for me, I don’t care if I’m second or fifth,” he said.

“The only thing that we want to try and achieve is to be P3 in the Constructors’. That’s what I think the team wants, so that’s what we’ll try to do.”

F1 2026: The season’s winners and losers

Although Red Bull has put arguably the most improved car on the track since Monza, Verstappen says there’s a lot more work that the team needs to do.

“[There are] still a lot of things that we want to change, and I hope that it will bring the car a bit more together,” he said. “That’s been the target already for a long time.

“Of course, we have improved a lot this year, but I think we are nowhere near satisfied enough, so there will still be a decent amount of changes for next year.”