Max Verstappen Drops Bombshell: Red Bull's 2025 Car Could Be Their Toughest Challenge Yet

Saajan Jogia | Dec 31, 2024

MONZA, ITALY - SEPTEMBER 01: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing looks on in the garage prior to the F1 Grand Prix of Italy at Autodromo Nazionale Monza on September 01, 2024 in Monza, Italy. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) / Red Bull Content Pool

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has revealed that his team has been working on the 2025 car in full swing but securing a fifth championship is not on his mind yet. In addition, Verstappen admitted that Red Bull won't be a favorite team heading into the 2025 season as it tries to overcome problems that affected the 2024 RB20 car.

In 2024, Red Bull faced its most challenging season of the ground-effect era, grappling with both on-track car issues and off-track turmoil, including internal power struggles and the departure of key figures like chief technical officer Adrian Newey.

The first ten races of the season saw the Dutchman win seven Grands Prix, but a balance issue on the RB20 caused his performance to drop. As the season progressed, McLaren took top spot from Red Bull in the Constructors' Championship in Baku. The race in Austin saw Red Bull lose second place to Ferrari in the championship.

Verstappen's early-season dominance helped secure his fourth title, despite a late surge from Lando Norris, who came close to overtaking him in the Drivers' Standings. Considering the intensifying competition in Formula 1 due to the stability in the sport's regulations, Verstappen believes Red Bull won't be a dominant team in the early races of the season, but perceives the situation as a "good challenge" to overcome. Speaking to RacingNews365, he said:

"I am not expecting us to go into next season as the favourite, but that's a good challenge, I like it.

"We went into the 2024 season as favourites and maybe it is good for us as a team, like a little wake-up call like: 'Come on guys, we have to be on it', and it is a nice challenge to try and be back on top, because I think we're still not quick, but we are getting there and sometimes are able to win again.

"That is at least possible at the moment, and it is a good challenge over the winter to push on, learn from the mistakes, learn from what we learned in the season and how to optimise the car and find more performance.

"The car is getting better, it is still not fixed but we are getting on top of those things, and I'm sure that if we fully nail our issues, we can actually unlock a lot more performance out of the car.

"I don't really think about [becoming a five-time champion] too much, I just want to enjoy it, see where we are in the beginning of the year and trust the team.

"They are going flat out at it, I gave my feedback and they know what I want from a car, and hopefully we can make it work."