Verstappen prepares for 2025: 'Looks like it will be exciting'
Red Bull Contentpool
F1 News
- Savannah Lenz
Max Verstappen has accepted his championship trophy for the fourth consecutive year at the annual FIA Gala. Unfortunately for Verstappen, Red Bull Racing could not claim the constructors as it was a difficult year overall for the team. In Kigali, Verstappen spoke at length about his team's performance and the fact that he's just joined an illustrious list of iconic Formula 1 drivers.
Verstappen compliments the Red Bull Racing team:
Verstappen began his FIA acceptance speech by reflecting on his Red Bull team's up-and-down season. "As you could see in the video, [the season] was quite up and down. We had a great start to the year, and everything was looking great. I think especially from the outside, of course, as a team, I think you always understand your limitations and what you want to work on, and then the competition did a great job they improved their cars a lot and made it a lot more difficult for us especially in the constructors"
After winning seven of the first 10 races, Max Verstappen had a long winless drought. Before he triumphed at the Brazilian Grand Prix, the last race he won was the Spanish Grand Prix in June. How did the team deal with this pressure? "We had a bit of a tough run in the middle of the season, but even when we're under pressure, we have tough times, I think the team really stuck together we didn't Panic, which could easily be done in those kinds of situations but at the end of the day, I'm just very proud of everyone in the team as well. We're not standing here as constructors’ Champions, but in a way, I do think we deserved a little bit more in that Championship. I try my very best, and we also know a lot about what we have to work on anyway for next year. I'm also very excited about that because it looks like it will be a proper fight between many teams. "
Verstappen joins a lineup of special Formula One drivers
Verstappen joins a very small list of drivers that have won four consecutive drivers' championship titles. He joins Alain Prost, Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, and Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen, therefore, feels honoured to be on that list of drivers: "It's, of course, something that as a kid when you grow up you don't think about these things; you look at the names, and you're like wow that's really impressive I hope one day I can be on the podium, but sometimes you get lucky in life you are in the right place at the right time, and as a driver, you have to take advantage of that, and luckily I've been able to to do that. At the same time, it's amazing four titles are definitely incredible. Of course, I also hope it doesn't stop here. I hope that we can be successful for a longer period, but as you can see, this year, the competition is very close; then again, in 2026, a lot is going to change, and maybe some other teams are going to be competitive again, but for the moment I think it's just very important to enjoy the moment be proud of what we have also achieved as a team and then we'll try again next year."
This article was written in collaboration with Cas van de Kleut
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