Max Verstappen highlights positives for Red Bull in 2025 amid disappointing season

Red Bull star Max Verstappen came into the 2025 F1 season as the defending champion. However, the Dutchman struggled from the onset of the season, and things only got worse as the season progressed. Verstappen came out at the Hungarian GP and highlighted the positives that Red Bull can carry forward to 2026.

Max Verstappen and Red Bull had one of the most dominant seasons in F1 in 2023, where the Dutchman won 19 of the 22 races, with his teammate Sergio Perez also winning two races. However, McLaren caught up in 2024 after the Miami GP upgrades, and it was a close fight between Norris and Verstappen for the title.

McLaren already beat Red Bull in the constructors' championship last year and came into the 2025 season with preparations to dominate, and that's exactly what's been the case. Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris go into the summer break less than 10 points apart while fighting for the title.

Max Verstappen, on the other hand, seemingly looked like a title challenger in the early parts of the season, but with the RB21’s performance varying from circuit to circuit, it seems unlikely. The Dutchman had a tough Belgian GP, which otherwise is a happy hunting ground for Verstappen.

F1 Grand Prix Of Hungary - Source: Getty

Coming into the Hungarian GP, Verstappen detailed how he isn't writing off 2025 just yet, and about the team's focus on the 2026 cars. He said,

“No one really knows for next year where they will be at. And for us this year, realistically it's going to be very difficult to fight McLaren. I think it's already difficult enough to fight with Ferrari and Mercedes.”

Speaking about the positives that the team can still extract in the remainder of 2025 and implement into 2026, he said,

“But I think there's still a lot of opportunity to learn more about the car and the behaviour of the car. Of course, I know that the cars will be different next year, but there are still things that you can take out of this year on the engineering side of things and also implement for next year.”

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Max Verstappen detailed his struggles at the Hungarian GP

Red Bull star Max Verstappen had a disastrous weekend at the Hungarian GP. Since the first practice session, the Dutchman complained about the car having no grip and the feeling of driving on ice. The same translated over the rest of the weekend, with Verstappen failing to make the Top 5 in qualifying.

The Dutchman was unable to find the facts throughout the race, and the two-stop strategy further put him on the back foot. Speaking about the issues in Hungary, he said,

“Like my whole weekend, there was just no grip and I was just struggling a lot. Not how we want to be, but I knew it was going to be a tough day.”

Max Verstappen finished the race in P9 behind Liam Lawson and Lance Stroll.