Max Verstappen will not be the one at fault if he is unable to retain the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship with Red Bull, according to his father Jos.
McLaren are hot favourites to defend the Constructors’ crown, leaving Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in a strong position to dethrone Verstappen.
Red Bull ended the previous campaign struggling with a capricious RB20 car and is also beginning a season without design genius Adrian Newey’s expertise.
That has prompted many to speculate that the team’s success under the current ground effect regulations will come to a shuddering halt during this campaign.
Speaking to Radio Joe, Verstappen Sr made it clear that if his son is unable to win a fifth straight championship, the responsibility will not fall onto his shoulders, and confirmed that his decision to stay with the team had not been made recently, amid previous and current speculation linking him with moves to Mercedes and Aston Martin respectively.
“That had been decided for a long time,” he said.
“We have confidence in the team and we give them our trust, but it won’t be Max’s fault if things don’t go well.
“They must continue to perform. They need to keep building a good car, that’s important.”
Is Red Bull heading for F1 defeat in 2025?
Verstappen’s Red Bull team are approaching the 2025 campaign, which kicks off in Australia next week, as supposed underdogs, with pre-season testing in Bahrain appearing to show the Milton Keynes squad at a performance disadvantage.
Whilst Verstappen set a number of competitive lap times, in-depth analysis has concluded that McLaren holds a significant edge, with Ferrari potentially also ahead.
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko told Sport.de that he sees the championship as being a “three-way or four-way battle” between the team, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes.
However, he concluded that the Woking-based squad is around three-tenths-of-a-second ahead, adding: “Although, if you look at the test results, McLaren already has a head start.
“That was the case in both the short and long runs. The current favourite is clearly McLaren.”
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