Max Verstappen believes that McLaren did itself no favors in the 2025 season – in his opinion, every team should have a clear number 1 driver.
At Red Bull, Max Verstappen is the undisputed number 1 driver. And the four-time world champion himself believes that every racing team should internally designate one driver as number 1. Otherwise, problems could arise, according to the Dutchman.
“If I were team boss, I would always designate a clear number 1 and number 2,” he emphasizes to Viaplay, explaining: “When you’re on your own, you can attack, you can be much more aggressive. I always prefer that.“
In the past season, Verstappen was a ”lone fighter” in the World Championship battle against McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. However, in his opinion, this was not necessarily a disadvantage, because Norris and Piastri also took points away from each other.
“Since McLaren had two drivers [fighting for the title], they gave away a few things with their strategy. Of course, we also benefited from that,” said Verstappen. This is because McLaren regularly tried not to disadvantage either of its two drivers.
Verstappen, on the other hand, was able to choose more aggressive strategies without having to consider his teammate. McLaren, on the other hand, often relied on conservative strategies, which were sometimes too conservative.
At the end of the year, Verstappen was only two points behind world champion Lando Norris in the drivers’ championship. And the Dutchman himself has repeatedly emphasized that this gap should actually have been much bigger.
According to Verstappen, the fact that he still had a chance of winning the title going into the season finale in Abu Dhabi was also due to McLaren never committing to a clear number one driver, which may have cost them some points in the championship battle.
Verstappen explains that, as a team, you naturally have to choose a number 2 “who still scores enough points to compete for the constructors’ title.” But in any case, he believes there must be “a clear number 1 and 2.”
Red Bull’s number two driver was not good enough this year to have a chance at the constructors’ title. Of the Bulls’ 451 points, 421 were scored by Verstappen. Yuki Tsunoda contributed only 30 points, while Liam Lawson did not score a single point.
