Max Verstappen’s 2025 Red Bull campaign has now reminded F1 fans of one ‘truly phenomenal’ Ayrton Senna season

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It would be a stretch to say that Max Verstappen has had everything go his way throughout his Red Bull Racing career in Formula 1.

Although Max Verstappen won his first race as a Red Bull driver at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, he had to wait five seasons before he was in a fight for the drivers’ championship.

Verstappen ultimately defeated Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021, and that has started a period of domination rarely seen in Formula 1.

Each of the Dutchman’s three subsequent titles have been different, and the campaign that made Verstappen a four-time world champion was another unique season for the 27-year-old.

By the halfway point in the 2024 campaign, it was obvious that Red Bull were going to lose the constructors’ championship to McLaren, and all eyes were on whether Verstappen could hold off challenges from Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc.

Verstappen expertly held off Norris’ challenge, but the 2025 season is proving to be an even tougher test for Red Bull’s star driver.

Red Bull have falled further away from McLaren, and suddenly, Verstappen has to deal with Norris and Oscar Piastri.

However, his pole position at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after his incredible victory earlier in the season in Japan, is beginning to draw parallels between Verstappen and the great Ayrton Senna.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

Max Verstappen’s 2025 F1 season being compared to Ayrton Senna’s 1993 campaign

Journalist Roberto Chinchero posted on X after Verstappen’s pole position in Saudi Arabia and said, “This Verstappen and this Red Bull remind me of the Senna-McLaren tandem of 1993.

“Starting beaten is sometimes exhilarating, it helps to squeeze the last drop of performance as they did in qualifying at Suzuka and Jeddah. Beautiful chapters of motorsport.”

Plenty of fans reacted to Chinchero’s post and the majority agreed with him, with one stating, “The fact that he manages to set milestones within a season that will not be a title season makes me happy all the same.”

Another said, “Max is a phenomenon but in my opinion Red Bull is not the dud that they often make out to be, it is a good car that unfortunately for the team only he manages to exploit. I think McLaren’s gap in 1993 was much bigger, especially on an engine level.”

One comment added, “I’ve never been a super fan of Max…but I have to say he’s truly phenomenal.”

Another fan said, “A driver like Verstappen is born once every 25 years. Not recognizing his greatness means being in bad faith or not understanding anything about motorsport. Recognizing his greatness does not mean diminishing the qualities of other drivers.”

“The more Verstappen grows, the more he matures and the more I like him. A complete driver, no longer impulsive. Only applause for him,” an additional reply added.

One fan made an important point and stated, “It also helps that a teammate is at the mercy of the first driver, I dare say.”

However, not everyone agreed with Chinchero, as one fan replied, “It is clear that he did not follow the 1993 season because Williams was much superior to McLaren, who also had a customer Ford engine, and not an official Honda. In the rush to bring in Senna every Sunday, they say nonsense.”

READ MORE: All to know about Ayrton Senna including Alain Prost rivalry and Imola crash

What happened to Ayrton Senna during the 1993 Formula 1 season?

Verstappen will be hoping that he doesn’t emulate Senna’s 1993 season when he was racing for McLaren.

After a year out, Alain Prost returned to Williams to replace reigning world champion Nigel Mansell who departed the sport, which bizarrely saw his teammate Damon Hill race with the number 0 as he wasn’t allowed to use the number one retained for the current title holder.

Although Prost and Senna on paper played out another title battle in 1993, in reality, it was never that close.

Senna won three of the first 10 Grand Prix, but Prost was unstoppable for much of the campaign, winning the remaining seven races during that period.

The Frenchman didn’t win again for the rest of the year, but back-to-back victories at the final two races in Japan and Australia wasn’t enough to overturn the advantage Prost had built up.

Verstappen has a slightly different task this season, as Piastri and Norris could take plenty of points off each other, although Hill only finished four points behind Senna that year.

In contrast, Michael Andretti and Mika Hakkinen barely worried the scorers alongside Senna, which appears to be eerily similar to the situation that Verstappen is facing at Red Bull.