Lining up on the F1 2025 grid with his crown on the line, Martin Brundle believes Max Verstappen should be the favourite but it will depend on how those in Adrian “Newey’s wake” sort out the RB21.

Last season Verstappen clinched his fourth successive World title, but unlike in the previous two seasons, the Dutchman was made to fight for it.

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He won seven of the season’s first 10 races to take a 69-point lead when suddenly, and somewhat unexpectedly, his visits to the top step of the podium dried up.

From Austria to Mexico, Verstappen recorded a 10-race winless streak, which was his longest barren spell since the 2018/19 season.

It was, some pundits suggested, noticed that Red Bull’s slump came on the back of their Hungarian Grand Prix upgrade, the first big change introduced without design guru Newey’s input.

Newey effectively left the team in early May with Pierre Wache taking over as the lead designer on the RB20 to which Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz noted in Hungary that Red Bull had stepped away from Newey’s engine cover design which had been “dropped in this upgrade.

“It looks like a much more sleek car, it looks much better, but that engine cover with the new sleek profile of it, without the cucumber canon channels on the inside is only on Max Verstappen’s car.”

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Amongst the notable Hungarian GP changes, the team also bolted a new floor onto the car with Verstappen describing the RB20 as “undriveable” before blasting the updates as “not good enough”.

Red Bull’s rivals put the team’s troubles down to Newey’s departure, McLaren’s Zak Brown saying: “Adrian Newey, I bet it’d be nice to have him around the conference room table right now looking at how to improve the car.”

But while Red Bull were adamant that the Aston Martin-bound Newey had left behind a robust design team, Brundle believes those in his “wake” still have questions to answer.

“What will be concerning him more,” he told Sky F1 of Verstappen’s hopes for a fifth title in 2025, “is as the car dropped off the pace as McLaren and Ferrari improved, he’ll be nervously awaiting as to whether they’ve recovered that or not.

“Remember, Adrian Newey effectively left the team in the team in the middle of last season so can the people in Newey’s wake sort that Red Bull out?

“If they can’t, I don’t think he’ll stay with the Ferraris and the McLarens.”

Asked which driver would be his bet for the F1 2025 World title, the former driver said he believes Verstappen is still the favourite, dependent on the RB21, given both McLaren and Ferrari have line-ups that will take points off one another.

“Formula 1 is data driven, it’s all about the next race, the next qualy,” he said. “And what I love about live sport is you don’t know what’s going to happen. And that’s why I’m going to so many races to find out.

“I don’t like guessing, I like knowledge. But honestly, we’ll see if Red Bull have recovered their car.

“That’s the key thing. If Red Bull have recovered their car and Verstappen is on form, he’ll still be the man. He’ll still be the man to beat for the title.

“Where Piastri could take points off of Norris and Hamilton and Leclerc could take points off each other. So I don’t know the answer to the question that’s that’s the beauty of live sport.”

McLaren will once again field Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri while Ferrari has the unknown of Lewis Hamilton versus Charles Leclerc. Red Bull, however, have a firm number one driver with Verstappen partnering Liam Lawson in the Kiwi’s first full season in the sport.

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