Max Verstappen gives tepid ‘won’t be in my memory forever’ verdict on F1 2025 season fight

After three years of near dominance and four consecutive World Championships, the power of the dynamic duo that is Max Verstappen at Red Bull Racing has begun to fade.

Though Verstappen could theoretically still snatch a fifth title away from the strong McLaren team, he’s already admitted that the title fight this year doesn’t actually feel like a fight.

Max Verstappen: F1 2025 title “doesn’t feel like a fight”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

For the first time in years, Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen no longer sits at the top of the Formula 1 World Driver Championship standings.

The Dutch driver’s dominant reign over the sport began to wane in the closing stages of 2024, and the team debuted its RB21 in 2025 to discover it was a challenging machine to drive.

At the same time, McLaren has faced a resurgence. Oscar Piastri has swept up an impressive four race victories thus far in 2025, with his teammate Lando Norris taking another two.

The only other driver to win? Verstappen. But that hasn’t exactly given him confidence that he can make a resurgence for the lead any time soon.

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Speaking to media, including PlanetF1.com, ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, Max Verstappen made a bold admission on the F1 2025 championship.

“For me, it doesn’t really feel like a fight, to be honest,” he said.

“I just try to do my best, have a bit of fun out there. It’s not like this season up until this point is going to be in my memory forever.”

Naturally, a statement like that is sure to prompt plenty of follow-up questions — and first up, Verstappen was asked if he didn’t enjoy racing more when his finishing position is unpredictable.

“I’m more excited if I know that we’re gonna be super quick,” he said.

“That’s the most exciting. I always try to do my best, but this year so far — it had some real positives but also some real negatives with some races we of course are really off the pace, which is not enjoyable.”

Asked about the status of his ‘fighting spirit, Verstappen assured reporters, “That is also never disappearing, but that doesn’t mean I’m enjoying it or loving it. I like it. It’s not going to be — up until this point — not gonna be remembered forever for me.”

He continued, “It’s not that I don’t believe.

“I just walk up to the track and I do the best I can every single weekend. I don’t need to believe in it fully or not.

“I know that every time that I go out there, I do the best I can.

“If that’s with the car that is capable of P5, I will put it P5. If it’s capable of winning, I’ll win.

“I just approach it very simple, which also doesn’t eat up a lot of energy as well. So I have a lot of free time outside of that.

“It’s not like trying to grab [the championship].

“I mean, you can try and grab it, but if you don’t have the car, there’s nothing to grab.”

The tides of favour could certainly turn, but you won’t catch Max Verstappen worrying himself about it.

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