Max Verstappen is like a man in a horror movie who refuses to be beaten, according to McLaren boss Zak Brown.
Verstappen is in a three-way fight with McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri for the drivers' championship.
He and Piastri are 24 points behind Norris going into this weekend's Qatar Grand Prix, the penultimate round of the season.
Verstappen was a mammoth 104 points off the championship lead in September but has delivered one of the all-time F1 comebacks since.
Brown, whose team has already secured a second straight constructors' championship, has praised the Dutchman's ability.
"He's like that guy in a horror movie, that right as you think he's not coming back, he's back!" Brown told the Sports Agents podcast about Verstappen.
"What an unbelievable talent he is. He never makes mistakes. He seizes every opportunity. We've never thought he was out. You know, when we were, I think, at a 104-point lead on Max, people were like, 'Oh, this is a done deal.' We've never thought it was a done deal. And here we are."
McLaren has reiterated its commitment to allowing Norris and Piastri to fight freely without team orders until one of them mathematically is out of contention.
Even Verstappen defended that policy ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix -- joking that it was "perfect" for him -- as no driver who wants to win a world title wants to help another driver win it.
- Is it time for McLaren to prioritise Norris over Piastri?
- F1 title permutations: How Lando Norris can win it at Qatar
- Sebastian Vettel: Max Verstappen's F1 improvement is 'scary'
McLaren's approach to managing its drivers has been a big talking point this season and Brown said he's glad the atmosphere internally has remained so positive.
"We're not going to listen to the noise or take the bait of everyone trying to encourage us. Because they're a bit bummed that there's not been any arm-wrestling matches between our drivers. They don't kind of hang out, but they're very respectful and friendly. I've never felt once any tension in the room, which you can feel when you've kind of seen two people in the room. They're totally relaxed."
On online conspiracy theories about Brown preferring Norris over Piastri as McLaren's first world champion since Lewis Hamilton in 2007, the American scoffed.
"That's total nonsense," he said. "And we hear the nonsense out there, and there's a lot of it. On one end, it's frustrating, because people are so uninformed ... it's hard to prove it. But we know it, Oscar knows it, Lando knows it, our team knows it. But unfortunately, in today's social media world and clickbait headlines and everything, the facts are just so wide of the mark."