2 days Ago By Jamie Woodhouse
Max Verstappen does not believe he and Red Bull go into F1 2025 as the title favourite – which the reigning four-time World Champion is treating as a positive. While Verstappen was dominant on his way to the 2022 and 2023 titles, his most recent run to the World Championship was a hard-fought affair in F1 2024. With the Verstappen and Red Bull dominance fizzling out, McLaren’s Lando Norris emerged as a genuine threat to his grasp on the F1 crown, Verstappen ultimately seeing off that challenge to win his fourth World Championship in as many seasons.
McLaren though were successful in knocking Red Bull off the Constructors’ Championship summit, with Ferrari securing a runner-up result. Verstappen is not so sure he and Red Bull are going into F1 2025 as the ones fancied for the titles. “We won’t be the favourites, but that’s okay,” Verstappen told Servus TV .
“We still have to change a lot of things to be number one again. But that’s okay and maybe sometimes it’s good not to be the favourite at the start of the season.” 👉 Inside Red Bull: Christian Horner and the other major players in Red Bull’s hierarchy 👉 Helmut Marko: The Red Bull motorsport boss with a fearsome reputation After a mid-season dip for Red Bull in F1 2024 season, the Italian Grand Prix was regarded by the team as a key turning point by Verstappen, who described the RB20 as a “monster” at Monza.
“All plans for new parts that were to come after that could go in the bin,” he said in an interview with De Telegraaf . “The team basically started all over again after that. They couldn’t find the exact problem before that.
“I saw some graphs at one point when we were looking at the data. I saw certain aerodynamic shifts in how we entered the corners, turned in and also in terms of ride heights. Different from the car from the year before.
“I said: ‘Hey, it’s very clear that this and this is the problem, isn’t it?’ “And that was right, I heard.” After an iconic drive from P17 on the grid to victory in Brazil, which effectively secured Verstappen his fourth World Championship on the trot, the 27-year-old sealed the deal at the following round in Las Vegas. Read next: Max Verstappen aims ‘failed’ dig at Zak Brown over Lando Norris incident.
