Max Verstappen is the ONLY good thing about F1 right now - and I’m a George Russell fan

Max Verstappen and George Russell — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Opinion

Max Verstappen is the ONLY good thing about F1 right now - and I’m a George Russell fan

The Dutch Red Bull star is saving F1

Matthew Hobkinson Lead Editor

F1 Editor & Journalist

Thursday 19 June 2025 17:57

Imagine the world of F1 without Max Verstappen in it right now. Calmer? Sure. Fewer penalties? Almost certainly. Boring? Absolutely.

The fact is that F1 is sleepwalking (or running) into a crisis. Long gone are the days of 2021 with Max and Lewis going wheel-to-wheel – neither giving up an inch – with the title on a knife edge.

F1 HEADLINES: Christian Horner regrets NOTHING as major decision made over team principal's future

Article continues under video

Now, we have the very capable, but very mundane, pairing of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris slowly but surely plodding their way to victory.

The Aussie racer seems to have it in the bag barring any major shocks for the rest of the season – but this isn’t the issue that F1 is facing right now.

The problem is, valued readers, the sport is boring.

Now hold on before you come at me with cries of hypocrisy, stones and glass houses. I love F1. I am always the one that defends the sport when chatting in the pub with mates. But I am finding it harder to do so with each passing race.

The top two in the drivers’ standings, who are team-mates I might add, just crashed into one another and the whole world shrugged. Lando got out of the car, said he was sorry and that was that.

Let me take you to football, just for a moment I promise, and play out the same (well, similar) scenario. Arsenal 4-4 Tottenham, 89th minute. Arsenal penalty. Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard both with two goals to their name want to win the game and seal their hat-trick.

Just as Saka is about to take the penalty, Odegaard pushes him over, runs in and hits the bar. What happens after the game? It is the single biggest and most explosive conversation in every pub in England…until the next scandal (likely VAR) rolls around.

So the fact that Norris and Piastri’s crash was much of a muchness is damning.

Lando Norris took himself out of the Canadian GP

Which brings me neatly on to the man of the hour, Mr. Verstappen.

Max Verstappen is F1’s saviour

As the headline so delicately alludes to, I do truly believe that Russell is an F1 champion in waiting. That is a tangential, albeit somewhat relevant, sidebar to the crux of this piece.

Such is the tribalism of F1 fandom these days – (not a dig at F1 fans themselves of which I am one, more a reflection of the modern day state of social media) – you can’t have it both ways.

What I mean by that is the clear dividing line – more of a chasm – between ‘us’ and ‘them’. You think Lewis was robbed in 2021? You think Max was a worthy winner? The two ideas shall never meet.

Abu Dhabi 2021 lives long in the memory for F1 fans

Which is why I find myself at a bit of a crossroads. I called Max a bully recently, a comment I stand by when he is in the car, but I also believe he is a generational talent and a hilarious, polite young man.

The fact I even think he could be perceived as a bully is most likely the reason he has won four F1 titles. Norris could learn a thing or two from him but that is a whole separate issue.

But regardless of what you think of Max, he is keeping the sport alive right now. F1 was on life support after a disastrous Monaco Grand Prix. It then headed to Spain to a track that is infamously boring, but was only saved by very late chaos.

And when there’s chaos, there is almost always Max. But no matter what you think of him, chaos is not boring. I would rather have Verstappen and Russell colliding every race and going 12 rounds in the media than two team-mates waiting to really see which of the two cars is actually a bit faster.

To summarise this ramble: F1 in 2025 without Max Verstappen would not be worth watching. Love him or hate him, the marmite Red Bull star is keeping the sport alive.

I just hope it becomes more interesting before he walks away. A reality that seems to be nearing with every FIA slap on the wrist.

Written by

Matthew Hobkinson - Lead Editor

After four years working for a Lloyd's of London insurance syndicate, lockdown gave Matt the chance to chase a career in sports journalism - he hasn't looked back. Matt has found a home here at GPFans where he can showcase the weird and wonderful world of F1 to the millions of fans around the world who are just as passionate as he is about the best sport in the world.

View full biography

F1 Max Verstappen Lando Norris Christian Horner Oscar Piastri