DOHA, Qatar -- Max Verstappen said McLaren are right to avoid team orders in their title fight against him, adding that if any team tried to make him a No. 2 against a teammate, he would not stand for it.
"I'd have told them to F off," the Dutchman said of that hypothetical situation ahead of F1's crucial Qatar Grand Prix, where he has a chance to take the title battle to the final race of the season.
Verstappen's mesmerizing form in the run-in has made him an unlikely championship outsider against McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
After Verstappen's win McLaren's double DQ in Las Vegas last weekend Verstappen and Piastri are 24 points behind Norris going into the penultimate round.
McLaren's commitment to a fair fight between its drivers has been a talking point all year and on Thursday the team reiterated in a statement nothing would change while both drivers had a mathematical chance of winning the championship as Piastri currently does.
Asked Thursday if he was surprised by that call and if it actually complicates his chances that McLaren are not putting all their eggs in one basket, Verstappen laughed.
"No, it's perfect, I think!" he said.
He then elaborated, defending the call and saying no driver who wants to win a world championship would accept that situation anyway.
"I think you can't do a better job than allowing them to race as well. Why would you suddenly now say that Oscar wouldn't be allowed anymore to fight? I mean, if that was said to me, I would have not rocked up. I would have told them to F off.
"So yeah, if you're a real winner and a racer as a driver, then you go for it. I mean, even if you're behind, what's the point otherwise to turning up? Otherwise, you can easily just label yourself as a number two driver, which I think he doesn't want to be.
"I know that I'm equal on points with Oscar. A lot still needs to go right [to be champion].
"But I think it should be like that, that they are free to race and hopefully we can make it a great battle till the end."
Verstappen's turnaround has been as remarkable as Piastri's collapse in the final months of the season.
At the start of September, Piastri won Verstappen's home race, the Dutch Grand Prix, ahead of the Red Bull, with Norris retiring with a late car issue.
Piastri left Zandvoort 34 points up on Norris and 104 points up on Verstappen, a deficit he has overhauled in the races since.
When asked if he ever could have imagined then still being in the fight now, he said: "No, personally not. I mean, I was probably after that race, when I got home, I was like, that's it.
"We checked out of the championship. But after that, we had a really good turnaround. We definitely understood the car a bit better, put upgrades on the car.
"So yeah, all in all, together with probably some mistakes as well on the other side and us maximizing quite a few results meant that we are here. And I'm happy with it. I would have been a bit happier if we would have had a better first half.
"But that's how life is. You cannot turn back in time and then change it. Overall, now until the end, we'll just try and do the best we can."