Max Verstappen is hoping for a "more stable" 2025 season with Red Bull following a year of both success and serious challenges.
F1 legend Gerhard Berger—Red Bull's first-ever sponsored athlete—recently commented on the team's decline in dominance last season, questioning whether Verstappen might eventually look elsewhere if the difficulties continue.
"It will be exciting to see whether Red Bull can return to its old strength or whether Verstappen will continue to have difficulty winning," Berger told Auto Motor und Sport.
"Then he will consider whether he is still in the right team."
Team principal Christian Horner, who weathered intense internal power struggles and controversy in 2024, sees the team's primary issues as performance-related rather than political.
"We have understood where the development was not optimal last year," Horner told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"When we managed to get the car into the right window, we were performing well, but when we moved away from it even a little, the car became really problematic."
He explained that Red Bull's engineering team has been working since mid-2024 to make the car's performance window more forgiving.
"The engineers have been focusing a lot from mid-2024 and throughout the winter break on how to widen this window," he said.
"Not necessarily by adding definitive performance, but simply by widening the window."
However, Red Bull's technical director Pierre Wache remains cautious about this approach.
"By opening up that sweet spot, we might miss out on the actual potential that is theoretically available," he warned.
Despite Red Bull losing the constructors' championship last season, Verstappen still secured his fourth consecutive drivers' title. Looking ahead, the Dutchman is eager to see where the team stands in 2025.
"What I'm looking forward to most is seeing how competitive we are," Verstappen said.
"Last year was challenging at times," he admitted. "Of course we had a lot of good moments, but also some difficult moments. Hopefully, we can be, let's say, a bit more stable and a bit more all-round throughout the season."
Verstappen dismissed any notion that the difficulties of 2024 had affected his mindset.
"Honestly, my mindset hasn't really changed," the 27-year-old said. "Of course, winning four titles has been a dream—more than a dream, even. So I'm relaxed.
"I have a new teammate in Liam (Lawson), and I'm excited to work with him. I'm just looking forward to seeing how competitive we can be. And from there, once you realise how competitive you are, you set a target.
"But it's too early to tell right now."
