After completing the Monaco Grand Prix in fourth place, four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen was understandably non-committal when confronted over his chances of securing a fifth title in 2025.
The 27-year-old won the previous race at the Emilia-Romagna circuit in Italy, seemingly putting the Red Bull driver right back into contention, but issues during practice and qualifying, followed by something of a subdued race in Monaco, led to a rather sedate fourth-place finish.
That leaves Verstappen 22 points off second-placed McLaren driver Lando Norris and a further three points off the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri, with the Australian leading the standings after eight of the 24 races of the season.
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Having won four in a row, one could well understand a reduction in motivation from any other driver other than the laser-focused Verstappen, so in many ways, his failings this time around say more about advances achieved by both McLaren and Ferrari than his own driving talents.
When asked about the chances of a fifth straight success, Max Verstappen responded in a typically non-flustered fashion that one would associate with the Belgian, one that is somewhat at odds with his aggressive, commanding driving style.
“Well, honestly, I don’t really think about the championship. I just want to go race by race,”
“Of course, some tracks, you might be a bit more competitive, and some you will struggle a bit more,” said the Dutchman. “And I think it was clear that, again, in Monaco, we struggled.
“But honestly, every year we have struggled here with this new generation of cars. Only in ’23 we had a massive pace advantage, and then you still win the race. But all the other years for me, personally, have always been a big struggle.
“I think considering our pace the whole weekend, we did a good job, but yeah, I think as a team, of course, we’re never happy with P4. But we also have to accept when we know our limitations with the car.”
Verstappen vented his frustrations in terms of the obvious inability to overtake on the narrow street circuit and mocked the mandatory two-stop rule, which could be doubled and not, seemingly, impact on the result.
He comically responded to questions on the two-stop rule, stating.
“I mean, maybe next year, four stops?” quipped the four-time champion. “I could have done four stops; I would have still been P4. So, yeah, for us at least up front, It didn’t do anything.”
Verstappen won the Monaco race in both 2021 and 2023 but was well off the pace this time around, finishing more than 20 seconds behind the winner, Lando Norris. The season is still fresh and you wouldn’t expect the born winner to take things to heart.
You can be sure that in the upcoming races in Spain and then Canada, Verstappen will be hot on the heels of both Norris and Piastri, while also keeping a keen eye on ever-improving Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
