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Max Verstappen has made it clear that his future with Red Bull depends entirely on how he feels about the team more than anything else. The Dutch driver's future has been a topic of discussion since last season when the team was going through political turmoil.
The team began the season impressively on the track, but things took a turn for the worse when off-track issues within the squad coincided with the car losing performance. While Verstappen was still able to salvage a world championship run, the 2025 F1 season was always going to be a tricky one.
This time around, Red Bull's season began on the back foot, and after two races, Verstappen already faces an eight-point deficit.
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So much so that at this stage Red Bull does not appear to have an answer for McLaren on the track. Max Verstappen has been making sure he extracts the best result from the car at every race, but he was questioned about how long a rope he would give the team to make the car quicker. The driver said that for him, what matters is that he's happy. At the moment he feels good, hence for him, nothing changes.
He told Sky Sports:
"For me, nothing changes. I'm actually very relaxed, very positive in my mind. I'm enjoying life. Every time I jump in the car, I do the best I can and I'm not thinking about anything else. I feel good in life in general, if that's in or out of the car and that's what matters most."
Max Verstappen had an intriguing race on Sunday where the driver picked up the pace late into his second stint and would then jump from P6 to P4 by the time the chequered flag fell.
Talking about the stint, Verstappen said:
"I suddenly picked up tyre grip, not balance, that was the same. I had more tyre grip where others maybe plateaued a bit more and the lap times were more promising for us at least and also more fun to drive."
He added:
"The first half of the race was quite tough but we set out to do our own pace. In the Sprint, I tried to keep up with them but my tyres died. The tyres were still in decent shape when I pitted but that is also not how we want to race. A lot to analyse but at least the second stint was more promising and I hope we can take some learnings out of that into Japan."
Max Verstappen not sure about the areas where Red Bull needs to improve
Max Verstappen was questioned about the areas where he feels the car needs to improve compared to McLaren. The driver replied, saying that he wasn't entirely sure. The Dutch driver said he felt that he'd need to sit with the team and go through the data of the second stint to find out what they specifically needed to do.
He said:
"It's difficult to say when you don't really know where or how to find it. At least that last stint, there's a bit more of a clearer picture. We will go through the data, learn a bit more and hopefully be more competitive in Suzuka."
Max Verstappen would be hoping for more performance from the car in the upcoming stretch of races. The deficit to the front is substantial and it won't be easy for the driver to overcome it on his own.
