Max Verstappen might have now lost confidence in key Red Bull figure after his poor start to the 2025 F1 season

Max Verstappen has not enjoyed the start to his title defence in 2025 that he would have hoped for. Red Bull are desperately struggling compared to their rivals.

The Dutchman claimed his fourth world championship in 2024 by 63 points over Lando Norris. Despite Adrian Newey confirming his exit to Aston Martin and Red Bull clearly regressing in performance, Verstappen built enough of a buffer to win the title.

Verstappen admitted his title defence would be difficult in 2025, as McLaren have established themselves as the clear favourites. However, it has been much more challenging for the 27-year-old than he would have imagined.

Besides winning the Japanese Grand Prix, Verstappen has struggled to handle the RB21. The Dutchman has been getting increasingly frustrated with the car as Red Bull sit 80 points behind McLaren after four races.

Red Bull had an ‘intensive meeting’ after the Bahrain Grand Prix following their disaster over the weekend. A lack of performance and issues with the pit stops left Verstappen half a minute behind winner Oscar Piastri in sixth.

Verstappen may be out of the title race after failing to solve Red Bull’s ‘big crisis’ in 2025. The Milton Keynes-based outfit are struggling to fix their problems, which might have triggered the Dutchman to feel a lack of confidence in the operation.

Max Verstappen might have lost confidence in Pierre Wache after poor start to 2025

Since Newey’s departure, technical director Pierre Wache has struggled to pick up the pieces. The Frenchman has thus far overseen the team’s regression in development, which may have cast doubts from Verstappen in his ability.

Journalist Edd Straw discussed via Pit Pass F1 that the four-time champion might have lost confidence in Wache ahead of the 2026 technical regulations, when the team are set to bring their own power units to the sport.

“After that engine meeting that they had on Friday, where they agreed that one of the things they’ll do for ’26 was sort of a few concessions so that you weren’t locked in on the engine and the fuel spec basically straight away,” said Straw.

“Christian Horner said that was the most important decision from the meeting to open that up, so there is an indication that the Red Bull power unit is not the strongest, so there’s that as well.

“I don’t know this but I get the feeling that Verstappen’s just lost a bit of confidence in the technical team there under Pierre Wache.

“I look at it and I wonder if Verstappen thinks the same. They felt they learnt what the problems were last year and they’d fixed them. They’ve since said: ‘Oh we’ve maybe fixed 25% of the problem.’

“And they say: ‘Oh yeah, we understand the problem now, yeah now we can fix it.”

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Max Verstappen’s frustrations have heightened rumours that he could leave Red Bull

The 27-year-old had been voicing his concerns about his car, but these were ignored as Red Bull opted to drop Liam Lawson to solve their issues.

Verstappen is ‘most frustrated’ that Red Bull did not listen to him sooner as the team now find themselves as arguably the fourth-fastest team on the grid. His difficult start to the season has reignited rumours that the Dutchman could look for pastures new in 2026.

Some paddock insiders think Verstappen is headed for Aston Martin, with Newey and Honda on board Lawrence Stroll’s exciting project at Silverstone. They believe the deal is already done, but ‘names will remain anonymous.’

Aston Martin have reportedly tabled a £206m-a-year deal for Verstappen spanning over five years. Mercedes are also interested, but the Silverstone squad seem the most likely to land his signature at this stage.