Keeping the 2025 title fight alive until the very last race, coming within a step of the Drivers’ Championship that seemed lost over the summer when Oscar Piastri had a 104-point lead after the Dutch GP, was one of the greatest feats in Max Verstappen’s career. Paradoxically, the Red Bull driver’s standing increased this year more than in previous seasons, both in 2021 with the controversial Yas Marina finale influenced by race director Michael Masi, and during the 2022-2024 period when he won three consecutive titles with apparent ease. Being able to stay in contention until the final race of the year, without the pressure of needing to win a championship that had already seemed compromised, allows Verstappen to look back on his 2025 season without regret, beyond the typical end-of-year reflections on the season’s incidents.
Verstappen: “We didn’t lose the title because we never truly got in the game”
In his first interview after leaving Red Bull, Helmut Marko claimed that Verstappen would have won the 2025 title if Chris Horner had been fired earlier. The Dutchman disagreed in an interview with Viaplay, stating: “Well, I see it this way… We didn’t really lose it, because we never really got in the game. If you look at the entire season, we never really had a genuine chance to compete. Since there were two McLaren drivers, they took a lot of points off each other. For that reason, if you’re on your own and things start going better, of course, you catch up a bit. Some incidents or strategy errors, disqualifications, and suddenly you find yourself in contention. I really don’t think we missed out on anything.”
Looking back on 2025, many point to the penalty at the Spanish GP for colliding with George Russell as the moment that cost Verstappen his fifth title. Following his earlier reasoning, the Red Bull driver downplayed the incident’s real impact: “You know, I think we can be happy that we were able to fight for the title. First of all, we were never really leading the championship. Then we also received quite a few gifts. The championship certainly wasn’t lost in Barcelona.”
Verstappen added that in a long season there are inevitably many incidents to reflect on: “I think you have to look carefully at where we had the opportunity to compete. There are always incidents… for example, I was taken out in Austria (spun out by Kimi Antonelli on the first lap). But on the other hand, we had so many problems in so many races, pit stop mistakes, weekends where nothing went right… so, looking back, there are many things you could have done better.”
He concluded by recalling one of the key moments that kept him in contention until the Abu Dhabi GP, ending with an indisputable truth: “In the end, McLaren was disqualified in Las Vegas. If that hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t even have been in the championship race. So, it depends on how you see it. In the end, it doesn’t matter if it’s one point, half a point, twenty points. Not winning is not winning. Either you’re pregnant or you’re not. You’re not half-pregnant, right? Amen, Max.”
Showing solidarity to former rival Lewis Hamilton
Despite a title fight that lasted until the final race, the tensions and emotions of 2021 were nowhere near repeated. The Verstappen-Hamilton rivalry remains one of the most epic in F1 history, but with time, their relationship has become more relaxed, also because their battles have diminished, partly due to Lewis Hamilton’s disappointing 2025 season with Ferrari.
Verstappen’s thoughts on Hamilton were unsurprisingly candid: “It hasn’t been a good season for him at Ferrari; you can see it in everything. Honestly, it pains me to see. It’s not nice to watch. So, retirement? I don’t know, he’s not giving up, so he will definitely be there next year, but it’s not nice to watch.”
Verstappen changes number and sets another record
The driver numbers for the 2026 F1 season have been announced. Among many confirmations, there are some changes: reigning world champion Lando Norris temporarily switched from 4 to 1, reserved for the previous season’s winner, while rookie Arvid Lindblad chose the new number 41.
The main news concerns Max Verstappen. The Dutchman, who had to give up the number 1 he had used for the past four seasons, did not return to his previous 33 but took number 3, freed by Daniel Ricciardo. Ricciardo had originally chosen the number 3 in 2014 as a tribute to his childhood idol Dale Earnhardt, a NASCAR driver. The following year, Max opted for 33 as it was closest to the number he had wanted on his car.
F1 regulations state that a number becomes available if unused for two seasons or if the previous owner formally relinquishes it to the FIA. Ricciardo, retired since before the end of 2024, chose the latter, allowing Verstappen to seize the opportunity.
Speaking about his 2026 number, the four-time world champion said: “It won’t be 33. My favorite number has always been 3, apart from 1. Now we can change it, so it will be 3. 33 has always been fine, but I prefer
Leave a Reply