Max Verstappen continues to find a way to defy logic in Formula 1, and is somehow in the 2025 title battle despite having a much slower car than some of his rivals.
Red Bull’s winter development didn’t provide the expected results, leaving them behind Ferrari and Mercedes, and well behind McLaren.
It only enhances Verstappen’s workload, who has to spend a lot more time perfecting his setup to ensure he can be competitive and remain in the drivers’ championship picture.
With the daunting 2026 F1 regulations approaching, they will have to convince the reigning champion that they can still be the team to beat for years to come.
Ferrari could sign Verstappen in 2026 if he decides that he wants a new project for the future. It would be a ground-breaking transfer.
Aston Martin are the favourite to sign Verstappen according to ex-boss Franz Tost, who have been backed to be the team of the ‘future’.
READ MORE: Red Bull still haven’t resolved Max Verstappen issue that Martin Brundle was furious about last season
Max Verstappen has a ‘party trick’ like Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna
F1 fans would love to see Verstappen at Aston Martin, and his skills would immediately elevate their threat.
That’s not to say that they would be immediate Formula 1 title contenders, but an Adrian Newey-Verstappen combination could be dangerous.
Especially considering the skills the reigning champion has at his disposal, which Karun Chandhok has compared to Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.
“You look at these aggressive racing drivers in terms of wheel-to-wheel racing,” he said. “They’ve all got a party trick, haven’t they?
“Max’s party trick tends to be ‘I’m just going to steam into the apex and everyone else has got to sort it out and that’s just what I’m doing.’ Schumacher’s trick used to be ‘I’m going to swerve across on the straight.’
“Senna used to be ‘I’m just going to turn across and everyone else needs to back out of it.’ These are three examples I can think of, of drivers that were particularly strong and aggressive in their wheel-to-wheel combat.”
READ MORE: Christian Horner needs to stop putting on a ‘nonsense’ show for the F1 media to appease Max Verstappen
Why Max Verstappen might want to leave Red Bull at the end of the 2025 F1 season
For over 12 months, Red Bull have been sliding in the wrong direction, falling behind multiple rivals and failing to keep up with their development.
Correlation issues in the wind tunnel and some poor upgrades have contributed to their downfall, and it comes at a bad time.
When they want to be convincing their star driver that they are the team to be with for the next few years, they’re dropping off the boil.
Verstappen has one ‘not normal’ relationship at Red Bull which he may want to hold onto, having worked with race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase for nearly 10 years.
However, the Dutchman wants success and there’s no guarantee that his team will be able to offer him that opportunity when the new regulations arrive.
