Max Verstappen accepts his defeat gracefully: "I was prepared for this ending."

Max Verstappen will not be crowned world champion of Formula 1 this year. His streak of four consecutive titles ended in 2025 in the face of the superiority of the McLarenDespite an excellent final race of the season, which he won, the Dutchman missed out on a fifth trophy by just two points.

Having gone into the final stretch twelve points behind, Max Verstappen accepts his defeat. Analyzing his campaign, he recalls the 100-point gap he had to the championship leader at the halfway point, and is therefore pleased to have made the effort he did to keep his and his team's hopes alive until the very end.

"I feel good, confides the dauphin of Lando Norris at the F1 microphone. I was prepared for this finale, because we needed a bit of luck to win. For our part, we optimized the weekend in the best possible way with pole position, the victory, and a dominant performance. There's nothing else to say about it. Ultimately, losing the championship by two points seems painful, but when you look at where we were at Zandvoort, more than 100 points behind the leader, I think it's not so bad!

He also thanks Red Bull, which, buoyed by a second wind in the second half of the season, never gave up in what was the longest title race in history.

“I am very proud of the whole team; we could easily have given up, being so far back,” continues Max Verstappen. That's not how this team works; we're always looking for what we can improve and understanding our issues. That's clearly what we did, and the comeback was great to experience, and today was great too! We didn't win the title, that happens, but that's life, it's not something that will make me too sad. Life goes on, I'm just very proud of the people I work with, they're my second family. We're going to enjoy this moment, the second half of the season, and next year will be a big question mark for everyone.

Indeed, the introduction of new technical regulations could shake things up between the teams. While Red Bull largely benefited from the regulations introduced in 2022, the tide could turn in favor of another manufacturer on the grid. Max Verstappen, however, has proven with the end of the 2025 season that he never gives up. He will almost certainly be expected to renew his efforts in February.

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