Lando Norris
McLaren
Mercedes
Red Bull
Ferrari
Williams
Racing Bulls
Aston Martin
Haas
Alpine
Max Verstappen will have a new number on the front of his Red Bull next season and will be fully focused on regaining his title after losing out to Lando Norris.
A ninth-place finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix for Max Verstappen proved to be the nadir for Red Bull in 2025.
The Dutchman stated after that race that he wouldn’t win another Grand Prix that season, but nobody saw what happened next coming.
McLaren tripped over themselves time and again, and Red Bull took an important step forward under Laurent Mekies.
Fill in the gap: Max Verstappen will finish his F1 career with _____ titles
Verstappen won six more races after Hungary and came within two points of beating Norris, having previously been more than 100 points behind his teammate Oscar Piastri.
Damon Hill has praised Verstappen’s precision, and Karun Chandhok has been equally impressed by the 28-year-old.
The former F1 driver and current Sky Sports pundit has suggested that no one can ‘dispute’ that Verstappen is the best driver in the sport right now, despite not winning the drivers’ championship.
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Karun Chandhok claims Max Verstappen is the undisputed number one driver in Formula 1
Chandhok was speaking about Verstappen’s comeback on The Fast and The Curious Podcast.
He said: “Oh yeah. I mean, Laurent has come out this season amazingly, hasn’t he, since he took over, and you have to give Christian some credit because you know a lot of stuff was put in the pipeline while he was still around.
“I mean, ultimately, Max won more races than anyone else. He led more laps than anyone else.
“And he has emerged undisputedly as the number one driver in Formula 1. I don’t think anyone can dispute that.”
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Some fans think Verstappen won’t win another championship, but that’s almost impossible to believe.
He proved that even with an inferior car, nobody can rule him out of winning another title unless Red Bull are seriously off the pace.
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Max Verstappen’s list of Formula 1 records cements him as an all-time great
Anyone who goes through the most impressive records in Formula 1’s 75-year history will see Verstappen’s name pop up a lot.
Verstappen is F1’s youngest ever driver, a record that may never be broken because the FIA now needs to give special permission to anyone under the age of 18 to obtain a superlicense.
If he stays with Red Bull beyond 2026, he will break Lewis Hamilton’s record for most races with a single constructor, and he now has a higher win percentage than the seven-time world champion.
He’s the driver with the two most successful seasons in F1 history in terms of victories, with 19 wins in 2023 and 15 wins the previous year, beating the likes of Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.
Verstappen is also the only driver in history to win 10 consecutive races, and it’s hard to disagree with Chandhok that he’s the best driver in the sport right now.
Despite all of his success, Verstappen admits he’s still improving behind the scenes, but whether he can continue to win championships is currently out of his hands as Red Bull continue their hard work on his 2026 car.
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