Max Verstappen has admitted to having a love/hate relationship with this year’s Red Bull car, but finished the season feeling more positive about his performances than he did last year when he won the title.
Verstappen missed out on the title by two points to McLaren’s Lando Norris at Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix despite winning one more race over the course of the season than the new world champion.
Red Bull struggled for performance in the first half of the season, leaving Verstappen 104 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri following the Dutch Grand Prix, but made significant gains with upgrades from the Italian Grand Prix onwards.
“I have no regrets about my season,” Verstappen said. “I think the performance has been strong.
“I’ve hated this car at times, but I’ve also loved it at times. And I always tried to extract the most from it, even in the difficult weekends that we’ve had. But, yeah, it’s been, like I said before, a proper rollercoaster with the car. Luckily, the last, I would say, eight, nine rounds in general have been a lot more enjoyable.
“And also, in the team, we have a great atmosphere at the moment. We’re really on a roll — positive energy, belief, confidence — and that’s exactly what you want heading into next year.”
Norris’ title victory brought an end to Verstappen’s run of four consecutive championships from 2021 to 2024.
Despite missing out on the title this year, he said he felt better about the way Red Bull finished the 2025 season than he did in 2024 when McLaren started to emerge as the dominant force in F1.
“At the end of the day, of course, it’s always nicer to win it,” he said. “But, honestly, I’m sitting here now with probably a better feeling than what I had last year at this time because the second half of last year was pretty tricky at times as well.
“So, we have been struggling for, I would say, a year — the second half of last year and the first half of this year. But I actually feel a lot better now. Of course, shame to miss out on the title, but at the same time, for a long period of time I was not even thinking about the title.
“I never felt like I was in it until a few rounds ago. That’s pretty crazy.
“But, yeah, you take your pride in different ways. I’m happy with myself and going into next year I’m not in a state of having to worry about my skills or whatever. So, yeah, I feel good.”
