Red Bull are heading into the last season of Formula 1’s current regulations without being considered as the favourite for the first time during the current ruleset.
Max Verstappen is aiming for a fifth successive drivers’ championship in 2025 but he’s going to have to overcome a McLaren team who currently have a superior car.
After the departure of Adrian Newey to Aston Martin, Red Bull have fallen down the pecking order and struggled to maintain an effective development path.
Fortunately, the 2026 F1 regulations are nearing and there will be a big reset in just under 12 months, but it doesn’t mean that they want to give up on this year lightly.
Verstappen has an advantage over McLaren and Martin Brundle thinks that their drivers will end up taking points off each other.
After a quiet start at pre-season testing, Verstappen privately feels confident about Red Bull in 2025 and believes he will get the chance to compete for the title.
READ MORE: Max Verstappen admits ‘I keep hammering’ Red Bull over two issues during meetings
Juan Pablo Montoya expects Max Verstappen to face ‘many situations’ that will challenge Red Bull
If Red Bull begin the year with the fourth-fastest car in Formula 1, as may be the case on the evidence of testing, they could be in trouble.
The impact of falling behind early in the season was very visible for McLaren last season. It cost them a drivers’ championship they probably should have won.
Now the roles have reversed, Red Bull mustn’t replicate their rivals’ mistake and lose ground early on. Juan Pablo Montoya believes that Verstappen will face ‘many situations’ where he is forced to race his competitors hard for position.
“You can’t put yourself in a position that will go wrong, because surely it will go wrong and they will charge you in full. A person like Max is going to charge 100%,” he told Mundo Deportivo.
“So, the mentality of how to run and everything is super interesting, but I think this year is going to be very interesting because if Red Bull is not so competitive, Max will be in many situations like this and I think his partner too [Liam Lawson].”
READ MORE: Max Verstappen delivers bad news to Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari after what he saw in testing
Why Max Verstappen faces the toughest championship defence yet in 2025
After years of having a race-winning car to defend his championships with, Verstappen is now on the back foot heading into 2025.
Unless there was an extreme amount of sandbagging in Bahrain, they do not have the fastest car on the grid and it’s up to them to make up the difference with upgrades.
If they don’t, their Dutchman may find himself fighting a losing battle by himself on track. He can’t expect new teammate Liam Lawson to match his levels straight away.
Lando Norris now has experience in a title battle, Oscar Piastri is settled after two full seasons and Ferrari have just signed one of the greatest drivers of all time.
It creates a bit of a mountain to climb, but if the reigning champion can add a fifth this year, he may just go down as the greatest of all time.
