Max Verstappen did something in 2025 that ‘makes no sense’ in modern Formula 1

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Max Verstappen might have lost the 2025 F1 drivers’ championship by just two points to McLaren’s Lando Norris, but the Red Bull star astounded throughout the campaign.

The 28-year-old faced a lot during the season, as Red Bull started 2025 without a clear idea for how to unlock the RB21’s full potential. Verstappen initially lamented the through-corner balance of the car, which eventually finished the season as the quickest package on the grid.

Unlike most teams, Red Bull continued to produce upgrades to keep Verstappen’s F1 drivers’ championship hopes alive. Ferrari stopped developing their car in April and McLaren ceased the development of their 2025 car in July, as most teams prioritised the 2026 F1 regulations.

Red Bull’s belief that continuing to design updates for the RB21 would not cost them in 2026 allowed Verstappen to fight back from a 104-point deficit to McLaren’s Oscar Piastri after 15 of the 24 rounds. He even left August’s Dutch Grand Prix facing a 70-point deficit to Norris.

Max Verstappen’s fastest lap in the 2025 Las Vegas GP ‘makes no sense’ in modern F1

Verstappen outscored Norris during seven of the final nine rounds and Piastri during all nine to end the term only two points shy of a fifth drivers’ title in a row. And Mike Hezemans will “never forget” the performance that Verstappen delivered in the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix.

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Hezemans could not believe it when Verstappen blitzed the fastest lap en route to winning the Las Vegas GP by 20.741 seconds over Norris in P2 in November. Norris and Piastri were both disqualified from the 2025 Las Vegas GP after the race owing to excessive floor wear.

“I’ll never forget,” Hezemans told RacingNews365. “We were waiting for him at the media pen in Las Vegas. There are two laps left, and he’s got the fastest time.

“And on the last lap, he’s three or four tenths faster than his fastest lap, and seven tenths faster than the entire field. In Formula 1, it makes no sense. I think that’s so clever. And that they still manage to do that, that’s incredible.”

Max Verstappen left it late to set the fastest lap in Imola, Baku and Las Vegas

Verstappen set the fastest lap of the Las Vegas GP on the last of his 50 tours around the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, with a 1:33.365. His lap time was 0.600s faster than any other driver set during November’s race, with Norris leading the other drivers with a best time of 1:33.965.

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It was also one of just three times that Verstappen set the fastest lap of the race during the 2025 season. He also set the fastest lap en route to winning the Emilia Romagna GP, with a 1:17.988 on Lap 58/63, and when he won the Azerbaijan GP, with a 1:43.388 on Lap 50/51.

Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli posted a 1:33.998 on Lap 48 of the Las Vegas GP, for the second-best lap time for a driver classified in the final results. The Italian’s lap time was even more impressive given he had completed his only pit stop of the race on only Lap 2.

Antonelli recorded just as many fastest laps in 2025 as Verstappen with three, having also done so in Japan and Belgium. Norris and Piastri both set the fastest lap six times, George Russell did so three times and Lewis Hamilton, Alex Albon and Charles Leclerc did so once.