Key area identified where Red Bull and Max Verstappen would have an edge over McLaren and Ferrari, according to F1 pundit

F1 expert Martin Brundle feels one area where Red Bull and Max Verstappen could have an edge over Ferrari and McLaren in the driver's championship is having a designated No. 1 and No. 2 driver. The Austrian team were never essentially a team that had a designated driver role before the season began.

Whether it was the Sebastian Vettel-Mark Webber partnership from 2009 to 2013 or even the Daniel Ricciardo-Max Verstappen partnership from 2016 to 2018, there was no case of having one driver as designated team leader. More often than not, it came down to how the individual seasons panned out, and based on that, the team made the call.

This has, however, changed since Daniel Ricciardo left the team at the end of 2018. One of the reasons behind it has been Max Verstappen leveling up to such an extent that even capable drivers like Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, and Sergio Perez find it hard to keep up with him. Hence, the team have a structure where the second driver is not expected to beat the first, and the team tries to maximize the results this way.

This played into Red Bull's and Max Verstappen's hands last season as well when the driver did not have to worry about his teammate taking points off him. Lando Norris, on the other hand, would be forced to fend off his teammate, and that hurt him in the overall standings as well.

Talking to Sky Sports, Martin Brundle felt that the distinct approach of the teams could have their advantages and shortcomings. While the approach McLaren has tends to help in the constructors championship, it's Red Bull that gains ground on the drivers championship.

Brundle said:

“I think it’s very brave to write anybody off or write anybody into a championship-winning position. I think it’s different for McLaren a little bit because they’ve got two drivers who could take points off each other. Ferrari, that could well happen too. Max [Verstappen] and Red Bull, a one-horse race. We’ve got [Kimi] Antonelli in the Mercedes. He’s got a lot to learn, so Mercedes could be a one-horse race with George Russell, and I think that’ll play into their hands for the Drivers’ Championship."

He added:

“The Constructors’ Championship is a different deal, so I think McLaren has probably got the biggest challenge there. But if [Lewis] Hamilton and [Charles] Leclerc are close together, they’ll start stealing points off each other, and that is what will make the Drivers’ World Championship difficult.”

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McLaren boss claims Lando Norris and Max Verstappen were on par in 2024 post-Miami

McLaren boss Andrea Stella had also addressed Lando Norris losing the championship to Max Verstappen and felt that while there have been some impressive benchmarks in the past, the young Brit was on par with the Dutch driver once the team had upgraded the car.

He said:

“With the drivers, we have to say that recently we have had [Lewis] Hamilton and Verstappen, the bar is incredibly high. This requires the team to support the driver because Lando was unable been able to stay in the quest until the last race because we, as a team, did not provide him with a fast enough car at the start of the season. After we developed the Miami upgrade, pretty much he was on par with Verstappen in terms of points.”

The 2025 F1 season is a bit of a question mark for both Max Verstappen and even the fans. While the driver would be trying to equal Michael Schumacher's record for the most consecutive titles, it's still not entirely clear if he would have the car good enough to achieve that.