“The championship was Max’s” – Verstappen camp fires back at Barcelona penalty critics. Max Verstappen’s manager Raymond Vermeulen claims the Dutch driver produced one of his greatest ever seasons.

The chequered flag fell in Abu Dhabi weeks ago, but the debate over who was the true star of the 2025 Formula 1 season refuses to die down. Max Verstappen’s long-time manager Raymond Vermeulen has reignited the controversy by declaring that, in his eyes, the three-time world champion was the moral victor of the year – and delivered one of the finest campaigns of his career.

George Russell’s Mercedes off the track.

That incident cost Max Verstappen nine crucial points, but Raymond Vermeulen insists it was far from the moment the title slipped away.

“You could just as easily say Kimi [Antonelli] took Max out in Austria,” Raymond Vermeulen said. “Or point to the problems we had in Budapest. Look at Lando – he retired at Zandvoort. That’s racing. If you start counting lost points on paper, sure, you could argue we might have won it. But honestly, we lost the championship at the start of the season. Max was very often on his own in those early races.”

Despite the RB21 never being the class of the field for long stretches, Verstappen still ended 2025 as the driver with the most wins – eight Grand Prix victories and fifteen podiums, every single trophy Red Bull collected bearing the Dutchman’s name. No other driver dominated their team’s points haul quite like that.

After a first half of the season where Oscar Piastri looked untouchable – especially once Lando Norris crashed out of contention at Zandvoort – few expected Max Verstappen to claw his way back into a three-way fight that went down to the final lap in Abu Dhabi.

Yet that is exactly what happened, with the 28-year-old dragging an occasionally wayward Red Bull to within touching distance of an improbable fourth consecutive crown.

Raymond Vermeulen: “This was one of Max’s greatest seasons ever”

“What Max did this year was one of the best seasons he has ever had. For me, he won the title,” Raymond Vermeulen declared without hesitation.

“When you’re fighting the car and you can’t find the lap time, it’s frustrating. But they turned it around, changed the approach completely. The team stayed motivated and kept developing the car right until the very last race. They did a really, really excellent job.”

While the official record books will forever show a different name on the 2025 drivers’ trophy, Max Verstappen’s camp clearly believes the statistics, the victories and the sheer willpower on display tell a different story – one of a champion who refused to be beaten even when the odds were stacked against him.