Red Bull F1 hit by COLOSSAL Max Verstappen problem

Verstappen at F175 event — Photo: © IMAGO

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Red Bull hit by COLOSSAL Verstappen problem

Max Verstappen is entering his 10th season with Red Bull in F1

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Monday 24 February 2025 08:12 Updated: 10:30

Red Bull Formula 1 team have been hit by a huge issue with regards to their reigning champion, Max Verstappen.

The Dutchman claimed his fourth consecutive drivers' championship in 2024 and heads into the upcoming campaign hoping to break the team's record by earning a fifth back-to-back title.

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The Dutchman has one final year of the sport's current regulations to try and beat Sebastian Vettel's record of earning four consecutive drivers' titles whilst racing for Red Bull, with the FIA's new regulations entering the sport in 2026.

There has been plenty of discussion around Verstappen's future ahead of the 2025 season, now just with Red Bull but in the sport as a whole.

Christian Horner's team endured a challenging year both on and off track last season after Red Bull lost the vital talent of F1 design legend Adrian Newey, with the mastermind signing a contract to join Aston Martin for 2025 and beyond.

With Newey set to officially join the Silverstone-based team next month, rumours have surfaced that Aston Martin also offered Red Bull star Verstappen a whopping £1billion deal to switch teams, although Lawrence Stroll's outfit denied the claims to GPFans.

Could Max Verstappen opt to leave Red Bull in the near future?

Max Verstappen will be joined by a new team-mate in Liam Lawson for 2025

Click here to purchase the 2025 Red Bull kit ahead of what could shape up to be the most competitive season yet.

Calum Nicholas reveals Verstappen issue plaguing 2025 season

With the season-opening Australian Grand Prix just three weeks away, Red Bull are ignoring the rumours of another team exit, instead focusing on their main aim of returning to the top of the team standings.

Last season, Verstappen's team-mate Sergio Perez failed to support the team in their constructors' campaign, with Red Bull opting to drop the Mexican racer and promote junior driver Liam Lawson up to the main team for 2025.

As Verstappen's team-mate, the former VCARB driver will be taking on one of the toughest jobs in motorsport, hoping to consistently finish high up in the points without interfering with Verstappen's own championship campaign entirely.

Ahead of the duo's debut season as team-mates, Red Bull star Calum Nicholas has opened up about the issue the team face pairing drivers with Verstappen.

Red Bull mechanic Calum Nicholas has pinpointed a major Max Verstappen problem for the team

Speaking on the High Performance podcast with Jake Humphrey, the Red Bull mechanic said: "More than anything, it’s resilience. What we’ve seen, certainly with Max’s team-mates over the years, what they struggle with is how resilient Max is.

"You can have a bad weekend where the car’s not great and he will drag something out of it. For a lot of the drivers who have sat alongside him in the garage, it’s really hard to see.

"It’s really hard to suck up. You might go out and put a great lap in and think, ‘I’ve dragged the most out of that car’, then Max will find two-tenths on you.

"Mentally, that really takes its toll on people, through no fault of Max’s. He’s just there to go the quickest but it’s a tough one to swallow sometimes."

Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

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Max Verstappen FIA Adrian Newey Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Formula 1 team