Max Verstappen arguably faces his toughest title defence in 2025. His Red Bull machine is not as dominant as it once was.
The Dutchman has been almost unstoppable in this current era of cars with four consecutive championships. Verstappen is looking to become only the second F1 driver after Michael Schumacher to win five on the spin this year.
The 27-year-old managed to win the 2024 title despite a challenging end to the season. After winning seven of the first 10 races, he grabbed just two more wins and six podiums – but Lando Norris and McLaren failed to capitalise on the RB20’s dip in performance.
However, the car’s regression and the poor form of teammate Sergio Perez ultimately cost Red Bull in the constructors’ championship as they finished third, 77 points behind McLaren at the top.
Now with Liam Lawson on board next to Verstappen, Red Bull face an uphill battle regarding the constructors’ title and retaining the latter’s drivers’ crown. But Peter Windsor thinks they should not be ruled out.
Peter Windsor tells F1 fans not to discount Red Bull with a ‘stronger’ driver pairing in 2025
Pre-season testing in Bahrain left more questions than answers for Red Bull. Verstappen and Lawson completed the fewest amount of laps over the three days than any other driver pairing.
Helmut Marko even admitted McLaren were up to three tenths ahead of Red Bull after testing. The general feeling is that the Milton Keynes outfit are somewhere next to Ferrari and Mercedes in the pecking order – the exact order is interchangeable between the three teams.
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Some have Red Bull has the fourth-fastest team heading into the season opener in Australia. However, Windsor thinks they are ‘quite capable’ of winning both championships this year.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, he believes Red Bull look ‘a lot stronger’ with Lawson and Verstappen than with Perez and the Dutchman.
Asked whether he thinks Red Bull can win the title, Windsor replied: “Yeah I do. I think they’re quite capable of winning the world championship thank you very much, probably both championships thank you very much.
“Don’t discount them at all. Discount them at your peril. A lot of people seem to think: ‘Oh well, you [got] no chance in the Constructors’ Championship’. I wouldn’t have said that.
“Liam Lawson, Max Verstappen, pretty good driver line-up. A lot stronger than Sergio Perez, Max Verstappen that’s for sure and [it] only takes the car to be half reasonable and they’re in good shape.”
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Martin Brundle has Verstappen as the favourite for the 2025 title over Norris. It would be asinine to rule out the four-time champion as he can get his car into positions it arguably should not be in.
Red Bull will be confident with Lawson next to the Dutchman given his impressive performances with Racing Bulls. However, Lawson’s promotion could be linked to Verstappen’s possible exit as his future with the team is uncertain.
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The 27-year-old has had admirers since the start of 2024 with Mercedes placing him as the main target to replace Lewis Hamilton before signing Kimi Antonelli. Aston Martin are now the frontrunners to sign Verstappen before his Red Bull contract expires in 2028.
Jaime Alguersuari predicts Verstappen will join Aston Martin, seeing the Silverstone squad as ‘the team of the future’ with Lawrence Stroll’s heavy investment and recruitment of key personnel.
Ralf Schumacher thinks Aston Martin would ‘make sense’ for Verstappen given they will run Honda engines and have Adrian Newey designing their cars. The four-time champion has enjoyed unbelievable success with both at Red Bull and may want to replicate it in green if things go south in Milton Keynes.
