Max Verstappen praises Red Bull's resilience as he launches bid for fifth straight F1 title

Max Verstappen believes the knowledge Red Bull gained from a hard-fought 2024 Formula One season could help him in his quest to win a record-equalling fifth successive drivers' world championship.

The Dutchman claimed his fourth straight title in Las Vegas in November, becoming just the fifth driver in Formula One history to achieve that feat.

Were he to keep hold of his crown in 2025, Formula One's 75th anniversary season, Verstappen would join an even more exclusive club by drawing level with Michael Schumacher's record of five championships in a row.

While Verstappen eventually won the 2024 title by 63 points from Lando Norris, it was Norris's McLaren team who deprived Red Bull of a hat-trick of constructors' championships.

"If we are competitive as a team, then I'm sure that we can win it again," Verstappen told reporters during the 2025 Formula One Season launch at London's O2 Arena on Tuesday.

"We are very experienced and I think we showed that also last year that it was a bit tougher for us, we were still maximising our results. And that's, I think, the big strength of the team."

Verstappen said with pre-season testing in Bahrain still to take place ahead of the opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 16, it was hard to assess Red Bull's prospects.

"I don't know where we are at the moment," he said. "I think no one knows that. And in a few weeks we'll know."

The 27-year-old Dutchman added: "I've not driven my car, no-one has seen the other cars, so you can speculate about it, but it's just a waste of energy to think about that yet. It's good for the sport if it's exciting, but I don't know at the moment."

Last month, Britain's Daily Mail reported that Aston Martin were prepared to make an audacious £1 billion (R22.9 billion) bid to lure Verstappen away to a team that finished fifth - and a colossal 495 points adrift of Red Bull - last year.

New Aston Martin team principal Andy Cowell sidestepped the speculation on Tuesday by saying the team were lucky to have two-time former world champion Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, the son of team owner Lawrence Stroll, on "long-term contracts".

"The key work for this team is to create a fast race car and we didn't create that for them (the drivers) last year and they get a lot of media pressure because of that," said Cowell.

"The pressure should come in our direction, we have got the job to create a fast race car and I am absolutely certain that they are both going to deliver."

AFP