Max Verstappen has no plans to jump from the Red Bull ship despite the Milton Keynes squad’s challenging start to the season. The Dutchman sits second in the Drivers’ Championship standings after two races, but his team have what is widely regarded as the fourth-fastest car in the field. The four-time world champion capitalised on challenging conditions to finish second but was required to extract maximum performance from the RB21 to finish just fourth in the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday.
He now trails Lando Norris by eight points, with McLaren expected to consolidate their advantage over the coming events. With both Norris and Oscar Piastri capable of winning races and Mercedes and Ferrari boasting quicker machinery, Verstappen’s chances of securing a fifth successive Drivers’ Championship crown look incredibly slim. However, he is keeping faith in his team.
Asked how long he plans to wait before jumping ship, Verstappen told Sky Sports F1: “Yeah, I hear this all the time. But for me, nothing changes. I’m actually very relaxed, I’m very positive in my mind. I’m enjoying life, you know?
“So every time I jump in the car, I just try to do the best I can, and I’m not thinking about anything else, to be honest. Because I feel good in life, in general, if that is inside of the car, outside of the car, and that is actually what matters the most.”
In fact, rather than lose hope in his struggling team, Verstappen has been working overtime in the Red Bull simulator to aid the future development of the RB21. Christian Horner’s squad will need to make quick work of their issues with the window for significant upgrades rapidly narrowing as teams turn their attention to the new regulations in 2026.
“It’s race two, you can’t be that defeatist,” Horner explained to Sky Sports F1. “We are eight points behind in the constructors’ after two races. There is everything to play for. If nothing else, last year teaches you that you can start as strong as you like, but it’s about how you finish
“We have great strength in depth in our team. Everyone in the company knows we have got a bit of pace to find. We have the tools and the people to do that. It’s about unpicking it. We have the data from today.
“Max is working harder than ever. He’s more integrated with the engineering group that I’ve ever seen. He seems to be enjoying that aspect. He isn’t getting super stressed. Like any driver, he is impatient for performance, but he is working with the engineers saying, ‘What about this?’”
