Max Verstappen and his worst vacations from F1 since 2018

The Dutch arrived at the World Cup recess at 97 points of the leader, Oscar Piastri, and with a performance that has it without real chances of competing for the crown.

Max Verstappen settled in the Olympus of Formula 1, a seat from which no one can remove it. The Dutch threaded four consecutive titles (2021-2024), seasons in which he won 53 of the 90 large prizes disputed. The successes he achieved with Red Bull impress even the most painted, but the successful cycles come to an end. In the history of the World Cup there are examples of plenty of and 2025 is the year in which the tetra -champion will finally raise its surrender flag and must deliver the crown to a new monarch. The numbers still give Max to dream of the Penta, but the RB21 walk with respect to the powerful McLaren is a reality cheek that disarticulates any desire. The figures are eloquent: Verstappen did not go so far from the top of the World Cup to the holiday break since 2018.

The current table shows Oscar Piastri as leader, with 284 points, followed by his partner Lando Norris, with 275. Max march third, with 187, that is, it is 97 units of the Australian, a giant gap. The champion barely scored 32 in the last four races, the same figure that the pointer took only from Belgium …

Verstappen had its first full season with Red Bull in 2017. That year he reached the recess in sixth place, 135 points of the leader (Sebastian Vettel). In 2018, he held the sixth place again, but with a 108 gap with respect to Lewis Hamilton. In 2019 he was third, 69 from English. In 2020 there was no recess in a season signed by the pandemic and an absolutely disrupted calendar. In 2021, the year of his first title, he arrived at the break as an escort of Hamilton, eight points. From there, he always arrived at the break as a leader: in 2022 with 80 advantage over Charles Leclerc, in 2023, with 125 more than Czech Pérez and last year, with 78 above Lando Norris.

The RB21 of 2025 enhanced the shortcomings shown by its predecessor, the RB20 of 2024, with which it won seven of the first ten roads of the season, but from there the team lost the course of technical development. The key staff out of the team, including nothing less than Adrian Newey, took its toll on Austrians. The memorable triumph of Max in the GP of San Pablo, in the flood of Interlagos, cut a drought of ten competitions without winning and sentenced the title. That overlapped the evils that the car had and finished removing the rumors that pointed to an exit from the Dutch of Milton Keynes.

By 2025, all the advances that McLaren had shown were confirmed and from Woking the overwhelming MCL39 came out, which has already won 11 of the 14 dates disputed. Verstappen does what he can with his car, which he suffers with the grip and balance problems, because he has an optimal small window. In fact, it does more than what RB21 gives. Only his inexhaustible quarry of talent and vehemence allowed him to win in Japan and Emilia-Romagna. A fact marks the clear that only the Dutch can do something with that Red Bull: of the 194 points that the team has in the World Cup in Constructors, 187 them achieved by Max … the remaining seven are from Yuki Tsunoda, who was anointed as a companion of the champion from the third appointment, after two very opaque races of Liam Lawson (degraded to Racing Bulls).

With the fight for title 2025 archived, again the flirting of Mercedes and Toto Wolff, its director, to seduce Verstappen began. The Dutch closed the issue in the last Hungary GP, when he announced that he will continue in Red Bull (he has a contract until 2028 inclusive). The next season is, for now, a huge question because a new technical regulation will be released and cars, engines and covers will be changed. No one knows for sure which team will begin by dominating. Therefore, for Max, signing with another team would be tied. Continuing with the brand of energizing drinks will allow you, in case of not having a competitive car, executing output clauses at the end of 2026 and being able to choose your future already knowing what Team should move to fight again.

In the meantime, Verstappen still has ten races of the season. After the Hungarian classification, disappointed by the lack of performance, it was lapidary: “As things go at this time, we will not win a race this year. Things are so, it is obvious. Anyway, I cannot change anything. I can get angry, but that will not make the car faster. The McLaren are increasingly unbeatable.”

A day later, after ending ninth in Hungaroring, Max softened his speech a bit: “I want to stay neutral so as not to fall into excessive optimism or pessimism. I hope we can win some races, in fact, we did it twice. But it is difficult. We must recognize that McLaren has done a fantastic job since last year until now and from our side, it was a little more difficult. For about four years I had very good results, so, success goes and goes”. The champion is a handful of races to resign his reign.